So your topic is tales from your levelling days that epitomise playing a hunter for you.
There are a couple of stories...
First off, Trick-or-treating. Garetia was level 22 or so, and this was before you could get mounts at that level. I got it into my head that I wanted to trick or treat the entire Eastern Kingdoms for the achievement. So I grabbed my trusty cat Llofios (since released into the wild), hit Aspect of the Cheetah, and started running. I had no idea where most things were and spent quite a bit of time alt-tabbing out to figure out where to go and how to get there. Now, aspect of the cheetah may make you run faster, but you also get dazed if you get hit, so running away becomes a bit challenging. I have these vivid memories of frantically running through Alterac, aggroing something, and leaving my pet to defend me (and die) while I continued to run away. I actually managed to get all of them but the plaguelands done without a ghost run, but getting to Light's Hope was just impossible. I ended up researching how to do a ghost run (check Jan's archives for an explanation) and while I was up there I picked up a dragonhawk.
Second, while I was leveling, and for a while afterwards, I had to be special. The dragonhawk pet was unique for a long time (as in I didn't see another Alliance with one), but by level 50ish or so, I'd decided to go for a rare spawn pet. I did my research (thank you petopia) and decided on the white wind serpent in Feralis. I wandered around for quite a while before I got him, and was insanely proud. I did eventually release him back into the wild (wtb more stable slots plz Blizz), but I do have very fond memories of wandering around looking for him.
I find it kind of amusing that my hunter experience is so wrapped up in pets, since I started a hunter thinking they would be like the LotRO hunters, who have traps and use bows, but have no pets. I was rather happy when I did finally learn I could have a pet, mostly because till that point I was dying a lot. So much, in fact, that for a short while last fall, my now much-neglected mage was my main. That's right, the mage who I find frustrating because she dies frequently was actually less death-prone than my hunter. Of course, once I got a pet (a cat from the Exodar, not an owl from Teldrassil like I had originally wanted and kinda still want), my hunter became my much-loved main. Now that I'm in the process of switching mains, I find I miss having that pet padding along besides me, ready to protect me if I go afk and ready to take the blows for me.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
BIG NEWS!
*cough*
This thing on?
I have big big news. Monumental news. News that will shake the fabric of your world!
Okay, maybe not the last one.
Lyllea, with a gearscore of 1898 (which puts her in the healing Naxx 25 and Eye 10 category) healed Ulduar 25! Okay, so it was just XT, I basically shielded the crap out of everyone, and I ran out of mana 3/4 of the way through, but I RAID HEALED! And I topped the charts on absorbs. I was shaking the entire time, and getting thrown into the deep end is probably not the best way to start my healing career in raiding, but I DID IT!
Now back to running dungeons for shiny emblems, and possibly actually getting Merrymaker done. Or not. I'm not sure if I want to bother or not.
This thing on?
I have big big news. Monumental news. News that will shake the fabric of your world!
Okay, maybe not the last one.
Lyllea, with a gearscore of 1898 (which puts her in the healing Naxx 25 and Eye 10 category) healed Ulduar 25! Okay, so it was just XT, I basically shielded the crap out of everyone, and I ran out of mana 3/4 of the way through, but I RAID HEALED! And I topped the charts on absorbs. I was shaking the entire time, and getting thrown into the deep end is probably not the best way to start my healing career in raiding, but I DID IT!
Now back to running dungeons for shiny emblems, and possibly actually getting Merrymaker done. Or not. I'm not sure if I want to bother or not.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
I can now tell you what dungeon I am about to enter by the loading screen...
That should tell you just how many dungeons I've run in the past 2 days. I've gotten some upgrades, lost out on some upgrades (grumble mage with lucky dice winning all my healy gear), and can now queue for heroic POS. And every time I see POS, I think piece of shit, which I don't think it deserves. I rather like it, mostly because ooh, shiny purples in normal!
I've even gotten to dps as shadow, and managed to break 1k. With no to hit at all, and completely in disc gear, I figure that isn't bad.
The next couple of days will probably be a combination of pugging till my brain melts, then rep grinding and holiday stuff. I don't have any toons exalted with Hodir, but Garetia's pretty close so I'll finish the grind on her. Lyllea's new i245 shoulders need a shiny enchant to go with their shiny epic gem, after all. I've gotten criticized for not having all my gear enchanted, which seems silly to me. I enchant stuff when I think I'm going to keep it for a while. Otherwise, I'll stick gems in it (since gems don't really cost me anything) and call it a day.
Currently my gearing philosophy is... does it have more int? (if yes, then MINE!) does it have more spellpower? (if I'm not losing int, then MINE!) does it have to hit? (if yes, then not mine unless no other clothies, then oooh, offpsec). I'm using ratingbuster and Pawn (I have strings for shadow above hit cap, shadow below hit cap, disc throughput and disc mana pool). Since I don't know which role I'll be taking in a raid (though I'm guessing damage mitigation and extra raid heals), I don't really know which one to prioritize.
As I understand it, tank healing focuses on throughput (powerful heals=good) and damage mitigation focuses on mana pools (since you're throwing many more spells and shields). I could have that wrong, just to warn you, since running all these dungeons has kinda made my brain melt.
I've even gotten to dps as shadow, and managed to break 1k. With no to hit at all, and completely in disc gear, I figure that isn't bad.
The next couple of days will probably be a combination of pugging till my brain melts, then rep grinding and holiday stuff. I don't have any toons exalted with Hodir, but Garetia's pretty close so I'll finish the grind on her. Lyllea's new i245 shoulders need a shiny enchant to go with their shiny epic gem, after all. I've gotten criticized for not having all my gear enchanted, which seems silly to me. I enchant stuff when I think I'm going to keep it for a while. Otherwise, I'll stick gems in it (since gems don't really cost me anything) and call it a day.
Currently my gearing philosophy is... does it have more int? (if yes, then MINE!) does it have more spellpower? (if I'm not losing int, then MINE!) does it have to hit? (if yes, then not mine unless no other clothies, then oooh, offpsec). I'm using ratingbuster and Pawn (I have strings for shadow above hit cap, shadow below hit cap, disc throughput and disc mana pool). Since I don't know which role I'll be taking in a raid (though I'm guessing damage mitigation and extra raid heals), I don't really know which one to prioritize.
As I understand it, tank healing focuses on throughput (powerful heals=good) and damage mitigation focuses on mana pools (since you're throwing many more spells and shields). I could have that wrong, just to warn you, since running all these dungeons has kinda made my brain melt.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
I do have a topic from Tam, of the ever-entertaining Righteous Orbs, but that needs some polishing, so instead you get my usual ramble.
Lyllea is now 77. I finally managed to complete Escape from Silverbrook, a quest that has thwarted my ambitions of getting the Grizzly Hills quest achievement for many months now. Of course, I got it on Lyllea, not Garetia, but the amount of lore that quest unlocks is really interesting, and it's nice to do something I haven't before. I need to get her cooking up to 350 (mostly so I can learn the recipes sitting in my bank) but she's got the cooking achievement for Winter's Veil done, so no rush. I also hit WG in an attempt to get the pvp aspect done, and well, let's just say that I go squish quickly.
It did occur to me that I want Merrymaker on both Garetia and Lyllea. Garetia because, well, Winter's Veil, Lunar Festival, the Valentine's day one, and Orphan's week and she's got the drake, and Lyllea more or less just because. Lyllea will probably end up with both the patient title and the pug, which kinda makes me sad for Garetia. But on the other hand, the idea of pugging that much would likely drive me insane, so I'll think I'll just try to be happy with one toon having the nifty dog.
I did dualspec Adowa, the pally, and she is now next on the list to level, once I get her professions up to Outlands. I also should probably learn to heal, and I'm considering going prot/holy and just leveling through instances. Or even, and this is likely over-ambitious, leveling Adowa through dungeons and leveling Monera (the druid) through questing and switching back and forth as I get tired of one or the other. I do have enough heirlooms for both (though I need to get the plate shoulders), but there's no rush to level. I think Lyllea will be taking most of my time for quite a while to come.
Lyllea is now 77. I finally managed to complete Escape from Silverbrook, a quest that has thwarted my ambitions of getting the Grizzly Hills quest achievement for many months now. Of course, I got it on Lyllea, not Garetia, but the amount of lore that quest unlocks is really interesting, and it's nice to do something I haven't before. I need to get her cooking up to 350 (mostly so I can learn the recipes sitting in my bank) but she's got the cooking achievement for Winter's Veil done, so no rush. I also hit WG in an attempt to get the pvp aspect done, and well, let's just say that I go squish quickly.
It did occur to me that I want Merrymaker on both Garetia and Lyllea. Garetia because, well, Winter's Veil, Lunar Festival, the Valentine's day one, and Orphan's week and she's got the drake, and Lyllea more or less just because. Lyllea will probably end up with both the patient title and the pug, which kinda makes me sad for Garetia. But on the other hand, the idea of pugging that much would likely drive me insane, so I'll think I'll just try to be happy with one toon having the nifty dog.
I did dualspec Adowa, the pally, and she is now next on the list to level, once I get her professions up to Outlands. I also should probably learn to heal, and I'm considering going prot/holy and just leveling through instances. Or even, and this is likely over-ambitious, leveling Adowa through dungeons and leveling Monera (the druid) through questing and switching back and forth as I get tired of one or the other. I do have enough heirlooms for both (though I need to get the plate shoulders), but there's no rush to level. I think Lyllea will be taking most of my time for quite a while to come.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The State of Things a Week after 3.3
I've been loving the new LFG tool, even though I haven't gotten much of a chance to play since 3.3 hit. It's really helping me improve my healing skills, and let's face it, healing a tank your own level through stuff is quite a bit different than healing a lvl 80 geared tank. It's giving me loads of practice in the "oh shit" category.
I have yet to set foot in the new instances, mostly because well, I'll be farming the heck out of them on the priest, and don't want to bore myself. Also, for what my guild is currently doing, Garetia's gear is adequate, and since I will be switching mains, it doesn't make any sense to gear her further. I've already let the other hunter in guild know that he gets first dibs on drops, but I must remember to let the guild leadership know as well.
I did get bored at an event over the weekend and checked the priest's gear score. It's not bad, I think (I'm not sure what a level 75's gear score should be), and I found it interesting that it placed Violet Hold in the challenging section. Since I've now successfully healed it, go me!
And last but not least, a bit of luck that made me happy. The night of the patch, I picked up an Enchanted Broom for 1000g in the AH. After seeing another toon with it, I decided to resell it (didn't like the look of it). I made 1000g profit off it, yay! I'm not a big AH player (mostly just sell what I've farmed), but I do keep an eye on certain things, like the pet market, the uncut epic gem market, and the market for certain glyphs.
Speaking of certain glyphs, there is apparently a new glyph that makes the mage's water elemental a real pet. I will have to go get this for my mage as soon as humanly possible. Maybe having a pet will make her easier to level.
I have yet to set foot in the new instances, mostly because well, I'll be farming the heck out of them on the priest, and don't want to bore myself. Also, for what my guild is currently doing, Garetia's gear is adequate, and since I will be switching mains, it doesn't make any sense to gear her further. I've already let the other hunter in guild know that he gets first dibs on drops, but I must remember to let the guild leadership know as well.
I did get bored at an event over the weekend and checked the priest's gear score. It's not bad, I think (I'm not sure what a level 75's gear score should be), and I found it interesting that it placed Violet Hold in the challenging section. Since I've now successfully healed it, go me!
And last but not least, a bit of luck that made me happy. The night of the patch, I picked up an Enchanted Broom for 1000g in the AH. After seeing another toon with it, I decided to resell it (didn't like the look of it). I made 1000g profit off it, yay! I'm not a big AH player (mostly just sell what I've farmed), but I do keep an eye on certain things, like the pet market, the uncut epic gem market, and the market for certain glyphs.
Speaking of certain glyphs, there is apparently a new glyph that makes the mage's water elemental a real pet. I will have to go get this for my mage as soon as humanly possible. Maybe having a pet will make her easier to level.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Putting the Ammo Thing in perspective for non-hunters
I got pointed to this thread on hunters and I noticed that many of the non-hunters posting didn't really understand the complaints. Now, I am not hugely upset about the ammo thing, just kinda annoyed, but I thought that maybe this might help some non-hunters understand why so much QQ.
Imagine, if you will, that to cast a spell, any spell, you need Pixie Dust. And to hit someone with a weapon, you need Weapon Polish. Every time you cast a spell or hit someone you use up one Pixie Dust or Weapon Polish. Once you run out, you can't cast spells or hit things till you get more. The basic stuff comes from vendors, but to get the dps/spellpower a raiding guild expects, you have to get an enchanter or a blacksmith to make special dust or polish for you. Oh, and each kind of weapon requires its own kind of polish, and healing and damage spells need different kinds of dust as well.
Now, originally you got special bags to store this stuff and it stacked in hundreds. Then one magical day, the developers told you that soon you wouldn't need it anymore, that they'd be getting rid of it entirely. Then, a bit later, they said that the code was very complicated and it'd take longer to get rid of it, but in the meantime they'd make it stack in thousands so you wouldn't need that special bag anymore.
Now, in 3.3, they announce new dust and polish. But wait, there's a couple of hitches. First off, your friendly BS must have the right specialization for the kind of polish you need. And so must your enchanter friend for the kind of dust you need (okay, enchanters don't have specializations, but work with me here). Second, they have to be Honored with a new faction just to get the pattern. So, that handy alt whose BS you leveled so you didn't have to hit the AH just to hit things, well, they're not useful anymore. Oh, and the awesome enchanting guildie, well, you'd better hope they're either the right spec or willing to switch for you. And at a cost of 150g, that respec does not come cheap.
Of course, you can always go back to using the vendor-crafted stuff, but that would make your spells and hits less powerful. Some guilds and raid leaders will likely be okay with that, and some won't. Oh, and if you get a shiny new weapons upgrade, you'd better hope that it's the same kind of weapon, cause you can't use all that axe polish you have on a sword.
So there you go. Thats why hunters bitch so much about ammo.
As far as the pet scaling thing goes, well, 10% to 40% of our dps does not scale. (A pet is about 10% of a marksman's damage, and about 40% of a beast master's damage). I think you can understand why some might be miffed about that.
Imagine, if you will, that to cast a spell, any spell, you need Pixie Dust. And to hit someone with a weapon, you need Weapon Polish. Every time you cast a spell or hit someone you use up one Pixie Dust or Weapon Polish. Once you run out, you can't cast spells or hit things till you get more. The basic stuff comes from vendors, but to get the dps/spellpower a raiding guild expects, you have to get an enchanter or a blacksmith to make special dust or polish for you. Oh, and each kind of weapon requires its own kind of polish, and healing and damage spells need different kinds of dust as well.
Now, originally you got special bags to store this stuff and it stacked in hundreds. Then one magical day, the developers told you that soon you wouldn't need it anymore, that they'd be getting rid of it entirely. Then, a bit later, they said that the code was very complicated and it'd take longer to get rid of it, but in the meantime they'd make it stack in thousands so you wouldn't need that special bag anymore.
Now, in 3.3, they announce new dust and polish. But wait, there's a couple of hitches. First off, your friendly BS must have the right specialization for the kind of polish you need. And so must your enchanter friend for the kind of dust you need (okay, enchanters don't have specializations, but work with me here). Second, they have to be Honored with a new faction just to get the pattern. So, that handy alt whose BS you leveled so you didn't have to hit the AH just to hit things, well, they're not useful anymore. Oh, and the awesome enchanting guildie, well, you'd better hope they're either the right spec or willing to switch for you. And at a cost of 150g, that respec does not come cheap.
Of course, you can always go back to using the vendor-crafted stuff, but that would make your spells and hits less powerful. Some guilds and raid leaders will likely be okay with that, and some won't. Oh, and if you get a shiny new weapons upgrade, you'd better hope that it's the same kind of weapon, cause you can't use all that axe polish you have on a sword.
So there you go. Thats why hunters bitch so much about ammo.
As far as the pet scaling thing goes, well, 10% to 40% of our dps does not scale. (A pet is about 10% of a marksman's damage, and about 40% of a beast master's damage). I think you can understand why some might be miffed about that.
Well, 3.3 is here, and I for one welcome our new overlords. Or something. I did have a nice ooh, nifty things in patch notes list, but well, there was eating by blogger and then there was WoW cannot install this patch (and now there is repairing and cursing) , so instead I give you the random things I'm thinking about on this, the last content patch before Cat.
1. What addons do I really really need? A major patch is always a good time to try new addons, get rid of ones I'm not using, and generally winnow things down.
2. When will the stupid repair utility be done, and will it fix my problem?
3. Will I have to reset all 3rd party things (and what a nightmare that will be)?
4. Do I know both a goblin and a gnome engineer? (My pally's goblin, but she is 60 so not much help there)
5. Will I actually bother with the new ammo? (Okay, probably not. After all, I haven't been bothering to pick up the crafted in quite a while)
6. Do I have the stamina to PUG enough groups to get the pug pet?
7. Does this mean I don't have to go back to TOC? (For the love of God, please let it be so. I don't mind the 5 man so much, but 10 man is BLEGH)
8. Does this new PUG thing mean I can get to 80 by dungeon running and only dungeon running? Probably not. If nothing else, there are factions I need to unlock.
1. What addons do I really really need? A major patch is always a good time to try new addons, get rid of ones I'm not using, and generally winnow things down.
2. When will the stupid repair utility be done, and will it fix my problem?
3. Will I have to reset all 3rd party things (and what a nightmare that will be)?
4. Do I know both a goblin and a gnome engineer? (My pally's goblin, but she is 60 so not much help there)
5. Will I actually bother with the new ammo? (Okay, probably not. After all, I haven't been bothering to pick up the crafted in quite a while)
6. Do I have the stamina to PUG enough groups to get the pug pet?
7. Does this mean I don't have to go back to TOC? (For the love of God, please let it be so. I don't mind the 5 man so much, but 10 man is BLEGH)
8. Does this new PUG thing mean I can get to 80 by dungeon running and only dungeon running? Probably not. If nothing else, there are factions I need to unlock.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Nope, the Alt Project is not dead, just hibernating
The Alt Project has been more or less sidetracked by the need for healers in guild, but I do occasionally wander onto one of them to take a break from healing or shadow.
The warlock's now 30, and I hope to get back to her eventually. I love seeing all the Horde quests. I kinda want an Alliance warlock now, since my Alliance toons get played more, have a built-in support system, and heirlooms, but I think that'll wait till Cata and I'll roll a worgen.
Shammy hit 21, and I tried to do the next totem quest. Got my arse handed to me repeatedly, then gave up. I need to sit down and figure out what spec I should be using and what rotation and all that jazz, and quite frankly I have enough to figure out with the shadow rotation/gear vs disc rotation/gear on Lyllea. Two gear sets with different goals confuse me. I even reinstalled Pawn in an effort to help me keep it straight (since apparently Shadow may want other stuff besides int, spellpower, and crit).
The mage, warrior, and rogue continue to languish. I know 3.3's supposed to bring some nice changes for leveling rogues, and I'm hoping that'll make her more fun. If nothing else, I'll try WSG with her. I have a LOOONG history of hating WSG, but maybe it'll be more fun on a rogue at 19 than on a priest or hunter.
If nothing else, I have come to some conclusions about my prefered playstyles. I tend to like ranged dps, hate fragile toons (at high levels a priest is surprisingly hard to kill), will put up with slow kills for more survivability, and am not a huge fan of melee or anything that requires precise positioning.
The warlock's now 30, and I hope to get back to her eventually. I love seeing all the Horde quests. I kinda want an Alliance warlock now, since my Alliance toons get played more, have a built-in support system, and heirlooms, but I think that'll wait till Cata and I'll roll a worgen.
Shammy hit 21, and I tried to do the next totem quest. Got my arse handed to me repeatedly, then gave up. I need to sit down and figure out what spec I should be using and what rotation and all that jazz, and quite frankly I have enough to figure out with the shadow rotation/gear vs disc rotation/gear on Lyllea. Two gear sets with different goals confuse me. I even reinstalled Pawn in an effort to help me keep it straight (since apparently Shadow may want other stuff besides int, spellpower, and crit).
The mage, warrior, and rogue continue to languish. I know 3.3's supposed to bring some nice changes for leveling rogues, and I'm hoping that'll make her more fun. If nothing else, I'll try WSG with her. I have a LOOONG history of hating WSG, but maybe it'll be more fun on a rogue at 19 than on a priest or hunter.
If nothing else, I have come to some conclusions about my prefered playstyles. I tend to like ranged dps, hate fragile toons (at high levels a priest is surprisingly hard to kill), will put up with slow kills for more survivability, and am not a huge fan of melee or anything that requires precise positioning.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Random Weekend Amusements
Ulduar 10 with three pally healers. Yes, the holy trinity. And we only died once (or rather I only died once). Granted we only did trash and attempted Kologarn, but still, go Holy Trinity!
(during a Heroic MT run)
"Parley"
"Fail parley, move on to violence."
(random guild chat discussion)
"So, leveling-wise we have two pallies, and one disc priest to add to our stable of three holy pallies and one holy priest. What happened to all the druids?"
"They rerolled pallies, or Horde, or both."
"Ah. So raid heals will be lacking, but darn it, the tanks will be golden."
"Pretty much."
"And you're not going holy, are you?"
"Nah, disc for life baby!"
(I am willing to go raid-wide damage mitigation (yay PW:S), but I refuse to give up my healing lasers. And yet I rarely use my healing lasers. Go figure.)
(MT again)
"Ooh, I figured out how to configure Vuhdo so I can see your health percentages with PW:S on you."
rest of group facepalms and starts looking into new healer recruitment
(in my defense I keep the tank selected, and xperl does show me health as well so no one was likely to die, but it was funny. I should probably figure out where greater heal and penance are bound so I can cast them without having to select the tank and hit the button. After all, flash heal can't cure everything.)
And very late last night I confused our jcer by asking for gems, then remembering a) Lyllea's a jcer, b) I got a very shiny gem from the MT quest, and c) I can use Dragon's Eyes. So now one of my new shinies Rod of the Blazing Light is all nicely gemmed, and I got Vial of the Sunwell the same run. What can I say, RNG was kind.
So yes, it was a fun weekend. I got to dps in Nexus (and wow does my shadow dps stink), healed UK, MT, and heroic MT, leveled, ran a bit of Ulduar, got my jcing to 425, and even managed to convince the dragon guys they like me enough to give me a tabard.
(during a Heroic MT run)
"Parley"
"Fail parley, move on to violence."
(random guild chat discussion)
"So, leveling-wise we have two pallies, and one disc priest to add to our stable of three holy pallies and one holy priest. What happened to all the druids?"
"They rerolled pallies, or Horde, or both."
"Ah. So raid heals will be lacking, but darn it, the tanks will be golden."
"Pretty much."
"And you're not going holy, are you?"
"Nah, disc for life baby!"
(I am willing to go raid-wide damage mitigation (yay PW:S), but I refuse to give up my healing lasers. And yet I rarely use my healing lasers. Go figure.)
(MT again)
"Ooh, I figured out how to configure Vuhdo so I can see your health percentages with PW:S on you."
rest of group facepalms and starts looking into new healer recruitment
(in my defense I keep the tank selected, and xperl does show me health as well so no one was likely to die, but it was funny. I should probably figure out where greater heal and penance are bound so I can cast them without having to select the tank and hit the button. After all, flash heal can't cure everything.)
And very late last night I confused our jcer by asking for gems, then remembering a) Lyllea's a jcer, b) I got a very shiny gem from the MT quest, and c) I can use Dragon's Eyes. So now one of my new shinies Rod of the Blazing Light is all nicely gemmed, and I got Vial of the Sunwell the same run. What can I say, RNG was kind.
So yes, it was a fun weekend. I got to dps in Nexus (and wow does my shadow dps stink), healed UK, MT, and heroic MT, leveled, ran a bit of Ulduar, got my jcing to 425, and even managed to convince the dragon guys they like me enough to give me a tabard.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Patches, alchemy, boomkins, and face-melters, oh my!
Well, a bunch of stuff has happened. We're all waiting with bated breath for 3.3 (or rather some people are), I switched to transmute specialization (so so worth it), my druid went crit chicken, and my dear leveling priest has gone to the dark side.
First off, 3.3 (and the transmute thing)...
I'm hoping we get a couple more weeks, but I doubt it. I've been making a nice chunk of change off the epic gem market (140-160g per gem and the only gem that costs me more than 20 g in mats is the red one), and I'm not thrilled with that changing. On the plus side, I now have a miner at 450 (and hopefully her jcing will catch up soon), so if titanium ore goes through the roof I can get some of that market. But I have greatly been enjoying the log on, transmute (I keep the mats in bulk in my bags) go squee if I get a proc (I got 5 cardinal rubies once), mail to bank alt, log on to bank alt and put in AH, get 140-160 g. Repeat as needed, and occasionally check market for underpriced gems and scoop those up for more profit. In fact, the epic gem thing has paid for cold weather flying and dual spec for Lyllea, and I'm hoping that it'll pay for the same on both Monera (the druid) and Adowa (the pally).
As far as transmute mastery vs the flask mastery (or whatever it's called), flask mastery allowed me to justify using frost lotuses rather than selling them. Lotuses go for 40g or so, and a flask goes for about 30, so the guaranteed 2 proc made it economically viable. But I have lousy luck with getting frost lotuses, so I wasn't really making many flasks. However, every time I logged in, I transmuted a gem, so in the end, switching just made sense.
Now for crit chickens. I switched the druid from feral mostly because I have two heirloom cloth items, the chest and the shoulders, and I wanted them to be useful. Plus, the boomkin rotation was a bit easier to figure out, and I can heal better with boomkin gear than I could with feral. Sadly, I now know why they're also called oomkins, but it's not much of a hardship for me to have water on hand. Of course, I stripped the heirlooms off Monera so that Lyllea could use them, but once she hits 80, back to the boomkin they go. And, can I put in a vote for different forms or at least different color choices like the cat and bear forms now have? Please?
Last but not least, face-melting. I dual-specced Lyllea earlier this week, and then promptly got my face eaten by undead. I went back to disc since disc makes her hard as heck to kill if she doesn't go oom, and went on my merry leveling way. But I knew sooner or later I would have to learn to shadow for gearing purposes (a badly geared dps can be carried through heroics, but less so a healer), so I hit shadowpriest.com, got some glyphs, and figured out some semblance of a rotation/priority. I played with it for a while last night, and WOW! I can kill two to three mobs in the time it used to take me to kill one, I can still PW:S to my heart's content, and I can still heal me if stuff goes south. I love disc, but for leveling and running around, shadow beats it hands down. I do think being disc this long (and being disc in bgs) has helped me a lot in learning how to heal, but at this point I think I can safely switch to shadow for most stuff without losing what healing skills I have acquired.
Now, which spec would I recommend for leveling? If you want to heal end-game, going disc (aka lolsmite) will help you get a handle on the tools you have, especially if you wander into bgs from time to time and try to get the most heals. But once you go shadow, going back to slower pace of lolsmite will probably be frustrating. Thus, I'd go disc till 67 or so since by then you have almost all your healing spells and hopefully a good grasp on them, then dual-spec to shadow and go nuts. Heck, you could even go holy/shadow at that point if you're planning to go holy end game.
First off, 3.3 (and the transmute thing)...
I'm hoping we get a couple more weeks, but I doubt it. I've been making a nice chunk of change off the epic gem market (140-160g per gem and the only gem that costs me more than 20 g in mats is the red one), and I'm not thrilled with that changing. On the plus side, I now have a miner at 450 (and hopefully her jcing will catch up soon), so if titanium ore goes through the roof I can get some of that market. But I have greatly been enjoying the log on, transmute (I keep the mats in bulk in my bags) go squee if I get a proc (I got 5 cardinal rubies once), mail to bank alt, log on to bank alt and put in AH, get 140-160 g. Repeat as needed, and occasionally check market for underpriced gems and scoop those up for more profit. In fact, the epic gem thing has paid for cold weather flying and dual spec for Lyllea, and I'm hoping that it'll pay for the same on both Monera (the druid) and Adowa (the pally).
As far as transmute mastery vs the flask mastery (or whatever it's called), flask mastery allowed me to justify using frost lotuses rather than selling them. Lotuses go for 40g or so, and a flask goes for about 30, so the guaranteed 2 proc made it economically viable. But I have lousy luck with getting frost lotuses, so I wasn't really making many flasks. However, every time I logged in, I transmuted a gem, so in the end, switching just made sense.
Now for crit chickens. I switched the druid from feral mostly because I have two heirloom cloth items, the chest and the shoulders, and I wanted them to be useful. Plus, the boomkin rotation was a bit easier to figure out, and I can heal better with boomkin gear than I could with feral. Sadly, I now know why they're also called oomkins, but it's not much of a hardship for me to have water on hand. Of course, I stripped the heirlooms off Monera so that Lyllea could use them, but once she hits 80, back to the boomkin they go. And, can I put in a vote for different forms or at least different color choices like the cat and bear forms now have? Please?
Last but not least, face-melting. I dual-specced Lyllea earlier this week, and then promptly got my face eaten by undead. I went back to disc since disc makes her hard as heck to kill if she doesn't go oom, and went on my merry leveling way. But I knew sooner or later I would have to learn to shadow for gearing purposes (a badly geared dps can be carried through heroics, but less so a healer), so I hit shadowpriest.com, got some glyphs, and figured out some semblance of a rotation/priority. I played with it for a while last night, and WOW! I can kill two to three mobs in the time it used to take me to kill one, I can still PW:S to my heart's content, and I can still heal me if stuff goes south. I love disc, but for leveling and running around, shadow beats it hands down. I do think being disc this long (and being disc in bgs) has helped me a lot in learning how to heal, but at this point I think I can safely switch to shadow for most stuff without losing what healing skills I have acquired.
Now, which spec would I recommend for leveling? If you want to heal end-game, going disc (aka lolsmite) will help you get a handle on the tools you have, especially if you wander into bgs from time to time and try to get the most heals. But once you go shadow, going back to slower pace of lolsmite will probably be frustrating. Thus, I'd go disc till 67 or so since by then you have almost all your healing spells and hopefully a good grasp on them, then dual-spec to shadow and go nuts. Heck, you could even go holy/shadow at that point if you're planning to go holy end game.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Possible Guild Names
The drama has been resolved, and I am back in Silver Dragoons at the moment (and likely for good). But since there is a well-known RP guild on Shadow Council called The Silver Dragoons, we're going to be changing our name. And this seemed like the easiest place to stick the list of possibles for guildies to see...
Note, names are in the order I wrote them down, and no, I did not come up with all of them. I play D&D (the old school version with paper and pencil) with some of my guildies, and we did some brainstorming. Most of these are either a bit silly or have some guild/pop culture reference, or possibly both. And Eg is our mage of awesome/new guild leader/the mage who originated the "It's not a raid till the mage dies" saying.
1. Unbreakable Eg
2. Council of Madness
3. Shiny Boomage
4. Squirrely Wraith
5. The Mage Dies First
6. Oooh Look SHINY
7. Big Gorram Heroes
8. Show Me on the Bear
9. Bad Touch
10. We kill... oooh shiny!
11. Justice League of Azeroth
12. Cloth Equals Death
13. Druids R Us
14. Wonder Guild Powers Activate
15. Puddlemere United
16. Chudley Cannons
17. Distracted for Life
18. May Explode When Used
19. Bacon
20. Ministry of Silly Walks
21. Space Goats Can't Land
22. Poke It with a Stick
23. Pure Gibberish
Note, names are in the order I wrote them down, and no, I did not come up with all of them. I play D&D (the old school version with paper and pencil) with some of my guildies, and we did some brainstorming. Most of these are either a bit silly or have some guild/pop culture reference, or possibly both. And Eg is our mage of awesome/new guild leader/the mage who originated the "It's not a raid till the mage dies" saying.
1. Unbreakable Eg
2. Council of Madness
3. Shiny Boomage
4. Squirrely Wraith
5. The Mage Dies First
6. Oooh Look SHINY
7. Big Gorram Heroes
8. Show Me on the Bear
9. Bad Touch
10. We kill... oooh shiny!
11. Justice League of Azeroth
12. Cloth Equals Death
13. Druids R Us
14. Wonder Guild Powers Activate
15. Puddlemere United
16. Chudley Cannons
17. Distracted for Life
18. May Explode When Used
19. Bacon
20. Ministry of Silly Walks
21. Space Goats Can't Land
22. Poke It with a Stick
23. Pure Gibberish
Sunday, November 15, 2009
I am slightly less fail now!
I got bored the other day and gearchecked myself. It was enlightening, to say the least. This would be it. Now, some stuff I knew, like the glove enchant being eh (it was in the gbank), but other stuff, well that was a bit of a shock. Beserker is nifty (ooh, lookie at all the AP and I really don't die much). But, given that my guild may have gone exploding (we'll see, there's a meeting soonish), I figured it was time to make myself slightly more appealing to gearchecking PUGs.
First off, the stupid helm enchant. I can hear those of you in the back yelling about "You've been 80 and raiding since April, why didn't you have a head enchant?" Mostly because I didn't realize I could have one until recently. So a month or so ago, I wandered up to Icecrown and spent a day unlocking the Ebon Blade quartermaster, bought the tabard, and then more or less stopped running heroics. Needless to say, this was not thought through well. So I sat down today, and finally made it to Revered though two heroic runs (CoS and I got the drake and AN for the daily heroic) and the Arcanum of Torment is now mine.
Second, getting the wolf up to 80 so I don't have to listen to "you have the wrong pet" remarks anymore. Thanks to the two heroics, one Ony 10, and the slaughter of hundreds of scarlets (because killing scarlets never gets old) he's 79 and a half. I even managed to only have him die once on Ony (a new record for me).
Third, getting the offhand enchanted. A guildie leveling enchanting stuck the exceptional agility enchant on for me.
Now all I need to do is get a wrist enchant, or I may not bother. The wrists are one of my lowest i-level pieces, and it might make more sense to go get the thrown weapon from badges (yes, the thrown weapon is better than my bow, and yes, that annoys me) and get a nice enchant on that.
First off, the stupid helm enchant. I can hear those of you in the back yelling about "You've been 80 and raiding since April, why didn't you have a head enchant?" Mostly because I didn't realize I could have one until recently. So a month or so ago, I wandered up to Icecrown and spent a day unlocking the Ebon Blade quartermaster, bought the tabard, and then more or less stopped running heroics. Needless to say, this was not thought through well. So I sat down today, and finally made it to Revered though two heroic runs (CoS and I got the drake and AN for the daily heroic) and the Arcanum of Torment is now mine.
Second, getting the wolf up to 80 so I don't have to listen to "you have the wrong pet" remarks anymore. Thanks to the two heroics, one Ony 10, and the slaughter of hundreds of scarlets (because killing scarlets never gets old) he's 79 and a half. I even managed to only have him die once on Ony (a new record for me).
Third, getting the offhand enchanted. A guildie leveling enchanting stuck the exceptional agility enchant on for me.
Now all I need to do is get a wrist enchant, or I may not bother. The wrists are one of my lowest i-level pieces, and it might make more sense to go get the thrown weapon from badges (yes, the thrown weapon is better than my bow, and yes, that annoys me) and get a nice enchant on that.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
The DPS survey
What is the name, class, and spec of your primary dps?
Garetia, marksman hunter
What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
10 mans, with the occasional 5 man heroic
What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?
Kill shot, with Chimera coming in a close second. Yay massive dps.
What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?
Silencing Shot. I think I've used it twice, maybe. I know some Marksmen have it macroed to all their damage spells, but I've always been reluctant to use the extra mana.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?
Flexibility. We can kite adds, trap them, volley the crap out of them, or dps the heck out of the boss, depending on what the raid needs. I've kited Gluth trash, been on bomb-killing duty with XT, and trapped the heck out of casters.
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?
Our reputation. And also, for Beastmasters, the pet AI.
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?
Anything that involves volley. I like volley. And I can do massive damage with it.
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?
I like mages cause if the tank loses the mobs, they tend to go for the mages first. It's why my guild has a saying "it's not a raid till the mage dies"
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?
Feral kitties, because we're competition for the same weapons and they get first dibs.
What is your worst habit as a dps?
Whee, dps dps dps, crap here comes the boss. FD. My spec is a bit bursty, and if my first few shots are crits, hello boss. I should really misdirect more.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?
People telling me I have the wrong pet. My pet is my choice, and it's maybe 10% of my dps. If I'd rather have a raptor than a wolf and lose about 60 dps, well, that's my choice. And if I'm bringing a non-80 pet to a heroic, it's cause I need to level it and quite frankly, my dps by itself is more than enough for a heroic.
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?
Yes, I think we are.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps’er?
Recount, and Ensidia Fails so that I can keep track of the times I do something stupid and try not to do it again.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That we're all huntards. I think all those idiots are now face-rolling DKs. Competent DKs, I feel your pain.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?
Pet control. No matter what your spec, keeping your pet alive while getting the rotation going and keeping it going is a challenge.
What dps class do you feel you understand least?
Warriors. Rage is confusing.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?
I use a hunter mark and pet attack macro so that I don't forget to mark things. Also, I use Power Auras Classic to tell me when I'm in Viper or trinkets have proc'ed or Furious Howl has popped.
What stat to stack, and why?
Agility and AP are both yummy.
And my own question: what's your offspec (if you have one) and why?
Offspec is beast master, so I can solo old content and do group quests by myself.
Garetia, marksman hunter
What is your primary dpsing environment? (i.e. raids, pvp, 5 mans)
10 mans, with the occasional 5 man heroic
What is your favorite dps spell/ability for your class and why?
Kill shot, with Chimera coming in a close second. Yay massive dps.
What dps spell do you use least for your class and why?
Silencing Shot. I think I've used it twice, maybe. I know some Marksmen have it macroed to all their damage spells, but I've always been reluctant to use the extra mana.
What do you feel is the biggest strength of your dps class and why?
Flexibility. We can kite adds, trap them, volley the crap out of them, or dps the heck out of the boss, depending on what the raid needs. I've kited Gluth trash, been on bomb-killing duty with XT, and trapped the heck out of casters.
What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your dps class and why?
Our reputation. And also, for Beastmasters, the pet AI.
In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best dps assignment for you?
Anything that involves volley. I like volley. And I can do massive damage with it.
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with most and why?
I like mages cause if the tank loses the mobs, they tend to go for the mages first. It's why my guild has a saying "it's not a raid till the mage dies"
What dps class do you enjoy dpsing with least and why?
Feral kitties, because we're competition for the same weapons and they get first dibs.
What is your worst habit as a dps?
Whee, dps dps dps, crap here comes the boss. FD. My spec is a bit bursty, and if my first few shots are crits, hello boss. I should really misdirect more.
What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while dpsing?
People telling me I have the wrong pet. My pet is my choice, and it's maybe 10% of my dps. If I'd rather have a raptor than a wolf and lose about 60 dps, well, that's my choice. And if I'm bringing a non-80 pet to a heroic, it's cause I need to level it and quite frankly, my dps by itself is more than enough for a heroic.
Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other dps?
Yes, I think we are.
What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a dps’er?
Recount, and Ensidia Fails so that I can keep track of the times I do something stupid and try not to do it again.
What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?
That we're all huntards. I think all those idiots are now face-rolling DKs. Competent DKs, I feel your pain.
What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new dpsers of your class to learn?
Pet control. No matter what your spec, keeping your pet alive while getting the rotation going and keeping it going is a challenge.
What dps class do you feel you understand least?
Warriors. Rage is confusing.
What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in dps?
I use a hunter mark and pet attack macro so that I don't forget to mark things. Also, I use Power Auras Classic to tell me when I'm in Viper or trinkets have proc'ed or Furious Howl has popped.
What stat to stack, and why?
Agility and AP are both yummy.
And my own question: what's your offspec (if you have one) and why?
Offspec is beast master, so I can solo old content and do group quests by myself.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The Mindset Difference Between Healing and DPS
As Lyllea (my disc priest) continues to level and run dungeons (Nexus, Mechanar, and Botanica last night), I've really noticed a massive mindset difference.
It's easy to figure out whether you're a decent dps or not. Are you winning the Omen game (aka pulling threat off the tank)? Are you killing the things that are supposed to die in the marked order? Are you staying out of the bad stuff on the floor? Are you doing decently on recount? If the answer to the first one is no, or yes with the immediate reaction of an aggro dump or bringing the wayward mob back to the tank (for those times when your aggro dump is on cooldown), and the answer to the other three is yes, then congrats, you're a decent dps.
Now, are you a decent healer? This question's much harder to answer. Can you keep the tank alive? But is he appropriately geared and speced? Because if he isn't, well, then the best healer in the world's going to have some issues keeping him alive. And guess what, if he dies, then it's seen as your fault, even if his defense is so low that the boss one-shot him. Now, it is not your fault. Tanks range from the frighteningly idiotic to the inexperienced to the awesome and you're going to run into and possibly attempt to run a dungeon with all of them.
And then there's the rest of the group. Are the dps dying frequently? Are they pulling off the tank? Are they all in cloth and really squishy and gorram it I do not have enough heals to keep all these idiots alive? Then you look above and see that winning the Omen game and not doing anything about it makes them bad dps (or there's an inexperienced tank and if that's the case, the mobs are probably trying to eat you too). And bad dps go lower on the healing list then good dps (who are lower still than the tank). Now that probably won't stop you from going "Frack!" (or the non-work safe curse of your choice) and it probably won't stop them from blaming you, but at least you know why they died (and can stick them on the No Heals list (aka the Ignore List) should you wish to).
What this all amounts to (for me anyway) is that I feel like a good healer after a good PUG and a bad healer after a bad one. Now, I have my healing flaws. It took me too long to figure out where the heck Greater Heal was (apparently I don't have it keybound in Vuhdo and I need to figure out how to keybind to my 4th and 5th mice buttons) and I still don't know all my keybindings. Levitate does not substitute for Circle of Mending. Though it was kind of funny to see the floating dps just before he died. And don't even get me started on Dispel Magic and Abolish Disease and when each one is required. I should figure out what Vuhdo's trying to tell me with the changing box colors, I really should, but in the middle of a battle it's just easier to hit both and see if that fixes it. And if neither one does, I shield them. Because PW:S fixes everything. Except death, sadly.
I'm attempting to cultivate a "Any PUG I learn something from is a good PUG" attitude, and apparently I don't suck as a healer, but when the only real feedback I get is from my fellow PUGers, it's a bit of an ego rollercoaster. But in the end, the lasers make it all worthwhile. Yes, I can heal you with LASERS! It's awesome.
It's easy to figure out whether you're a decent dps or not. Are you winning the Omen game (aka pulling threat off the tank)? Are you killing the things that are supposed to die in the marked order? Are you staying out of the bad stuff on the floor? Are you doing decently on recount? If the answer to the first one is no, or yes with the immediate reaction of an aggro dump or bringing the wayward mob back to the tank (for those times when your aggro dump is on cooldown), and the answer to the other three is yes, then congrats, you're a decent dps.
Now, are you a decent healer? This question's much harder to answer. Can you keep the tank alive? But is he appropriately geared and speced? Because if he isn't, well, then the best healer in the world's going to have some issues keeping him alive. And guess what, if he dies, then it's seen as your fault, even if his defense is so low that the boss one-shot him. Now, it is not your fault. Tanks range from the frighteningly idiotic to the inexperienced to the awesome and you're going to run into and possibly attempt to run a dungeon with all of them.
And then there's the rest of the group. Are the dps dying frequently? Are they pulling off the tank? Are they all in cloth and really squishy and gorram it I do not have enough heals to keep all these idiots alive? Then you look above and see that winning the Omen game and not doing anything about it makes them bad dps (or there's an inexperienced tank and if that's the case, the mobs are probably trying to eat you too). And bad dps go lower on the healing list then good dps (who are lower still than the tank). Now that probably won't stop you from going "Frack!" (or the non-work safe curse of your choice) and it probably won't stop them from blaming you, but at least you know why they died (and can stick them on the No Heals list (aka the Ignore List) should you wish to).
What this all amounts to (for me anyway) is that I feel like a good healer after a good PUG and a bad healer after a bad one. Now, I have my healing flaws. It took me too long to figure out where the heck Greater Heal was (apparently I don't have it keybound in Vuhdo and I need to figure out how to keybind to my 4th and 5th mice buttons) and I still don't know all my keybindings. Levitate does not substitute for Circle of Mending. Though it was kind of funny to see the floating dps just before he died. And don't even get me started on Dispel Magic and Abolish Disease and when each one is required. I should figure out what Vuhdo's trying to tell me with the changing box colors, I really should, but in the middle of a battle it's just easier to hit both and see if that fixes it. And if neither one does, I shield them. Because PW:S fixes everything. Except death, sadly.
I'm attempting to cultivate a "Any PUG I learn something from is a good PUG" attitude, and apparently I don't suck as a healer, but when the only real feedback I get is from my fellow PUGers, it's a bit of an ego rollercoaster. But in the end, the lasers make it all worthwhile. Yes, I can heal you with LASERS! It's awesome.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Well, it's been an exciting couple of weeks here.
First, Lyllea is Hallowed, has hit 70, and her crafting skills are well within Northrend levels. Yay.
Second, I tried to heal UK. Tried. With a tank 4 levels higher than me, and 3 mages, it did not go well. On the plus side, I now know my keybindings slightly better, though I will be putting them on a sticky note by my monitor. Not being able to find greater heal when I need it is BAD. And it's not like I would have managed to get any gear from it anyhow, with 4 people rolling on cloth.
Third, I attempted Sunwell. And got squished. Over and over again. I still say we should have been freezing trapping those scouts, but the tank overruled me. On the plus side, I managed to break 11k dps at one point. Volley for the win.
I have been paying attention to the AP debate, but since I don't have enough AP to worry about it, I'll just point you there for a nice breakdown.
First, Lyllea is Hallowed, has hit 70, and her crafting skills are well within Northrend levels. Yay.
Second, I tried to heal UK. Tried. With a tank 4 levels higher than me, and 3 mages, it did not go well. On the plus side, I now know my keybindings slightly better, though I will be putting them on a sticky note by my monitor. Not being able to find greater heal when I need it is BAD. And it's not like I would have managed to get any gear from it anyhow, with 4 people rolling on cloth.
Third, I attempted Sunwell. And got squished. Over and over again. I still say we should have been freezing trapping those scouts, but the tank overruled me. On the plus side, I managed to break 11k dps at one point. Volley for the win.
I have been paying attention to the AP debate, but since I don't have enough AP to worry about it, I'll just point you there for a nice breakdown.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Well, after over a week of no WoW, it's been good to be able to play again. Sadly, I may not end up getting Hallowed on Lyllea, due to lack of trick or treating, but I still have two days to get that stupid helm. All my hunter needs is GNERD rage, and I've just been procrastinating on that. Ick pvp.
I'm currently tinkering with a disc damage spec. Yes, I know, disc is for damage mitigation, but she does do decent damage. Really. Especially with the Glyph of Smite. Granted, shadow might do much more, and eventually I will try it, but for the moment, I love disc.
Other than that, I've mostly been working on my list of stuff to do before Cat and leveling professions. Loremaster's on hold till after the next patch, since I will be able to get an addon that tells me what I've done in old world. Yays.
And just a brief reminder, some pets may become unavailable with Cat. The Azure Whelpling, the Mechanical Chicken, the Ancoma Chicken, and the engineering pets from Gnomer are top of my list to get if you haven't already.
Azure Whelpling drops from elites in Azshara, and that zone's getting a complete revamp.
The Mechanical Chicken takes three quests (Feralis, Hinterlands, and Tanaris) and so if any of those zones is altered, it may go away.
The Ancoma chicken (and I may have that name wrong) is purchased at the racetrack in Thousand Needles, and with the flooding of that zone, the NPC may drown.
And with hints of Gnomer getting a revamp, the schematics for the two engineering pets may no longer be available.
I'm currently tinkering with a disc damage spec. Yes, I know, disc is for damage mitigation, but she does do decent damage. Really. Especially with the Glyph of Smite. Granted, shadow might do much more, and eventually I will try it, but for the moment, I love disc.
Other than that, I've mostly been working on my list of stuff to do before Cat and leveling professions. Loremaster's on hold till after the next patch, since I will be able to get an addon that tells me what I've done in old world. Yays.
And just a brief reminder, some pets may become unavailable with Cat. The Azure Whelpling, the Mechanical Chicken, the Ancoma Chicken, and the engineering pets from Gnomer are top of my list to get if you haven't already.
Azure Whelpling drops from elites in Azshara, and that zone's getting a complete revamp.
The Mechanical Chicken takes three quests (Feralis, Hinterlands, and Tanaris) and so if any of those zones is altered, it may go away.
The Ancoma chicken (and I may have that name wrong) is purchased at the racetrack in Thousand Needles, and with the flooding of that zone, the NPC may drown.
And with hints of Gnomer getting a revamp, the schematics for the two engineering pets may no longer be available.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Well, while I know Hallow's Eve has started, I haven't been able to log in to do any of it yet.
Mr Chilly is ridiculously cute, and I am proud to have him as my 77th pet. Yes, the fawn is mine. Now to get all the baby dragons and hatchlings.... because I can and I wanna.
I tried Aion this weekend (because the person I'm visiting has an account) and well, it wasn't bad. Very pretty and I liked being able to level by gathering (it's so nice to put my "ooh, an herb" skills to good use), but I'm not forsaking WoW for it any time soon. PVP focus at high levels = no.
Next post: actual semi-useful content once I get home to my own machine. Which will only be after the 7 hour drive tomorrow. Ick.
Mr Chilly is ridiculously cute, and I am proud to have him as my 77th pet. Yes, the fawn is mine. Now to get all the baby dragons and hatchlings.... because I can and I wanna.
I tried Aion this weekend (because the person I'm visiting has an account) and well, it wasn't bad. Very pretty and I liked being able to level by gathering (it's so nice to put my "ooh, an herb" skills to good use), but I'm not forsaking WoW for it any time soon. PVP focus at high levels = no.
Next post: actual semi-useful content once I get home to my own machine. Which will only be after the 7 hour drive tomorrow. Ick.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Links for Vudho, and a better screenie
I should not post that late at night. I just shouldn't. I forget things like, say, links.
Vuhdo is on curse here
The 80+ thread on Vuhdo on the Plus heal forums is there
and last, but not least, the VuhDo wiki is there.
I will be going out of town this week, so the blog may be a bit light on content. But did you know that there's a new achievement for collecting all the rare pets (the crocs, raptors, and whelplings at least) that's been datamined? Guess I should bite the bullet and get farming. Cause once that's introduced, the prices will go up, and they're already high.
Raiding frustrations were discussed with guild leadership (aka my friend Fi, the awesome-sauce healer) and we'll be doing hit head against wall for bit (with the wall being either Ony or TOC), then hit Ulduar.
And last, but not least, the priest's current raid setup. Or rather, BG setup, since she hasn't raided yet and is unlikely to till 80. 5 mans, yeah, raids no. She has been doing a lot of pvp, since I've discovered the fun of it. Granted, the only BGs I actually really understand are Eye and WSG, but run behind and heal seems to work in all of them. The druids do keep beating me on the meters, but a) I'm mitigation far more than healing (since I can PW:S while moving), and b) if I have a spell I can move and heal with, I don't know what it is. My damage is laughable, but my healing's what counts. I did switch out shadowed unit frames for pitbull, but we'll see if I keep it. I love the look of the portraits like that, but the options confuse me, and I ended up adding vuhdo to my hunter's ui just so I had some sort of raid frames I knew how to fiddle with.
Vuhdo is on curse here
The 80+ thread on Vuhdo on the Plus heal forums is there
and last, but not least, the VuhDo wiki is there.
I will be going out of town this week, so the blog may be a bit light on content. But did you know that there's a new achievement for collecting all the rare pets (the crocs, raptors, and whelplings at least) that's been datamined? Guess I should bite the bullet and get farming. Cause once that's introduced, the prices will go up, and they're already high.
Raiding frustrations were discussed with guild leadership (aka my friend Fi, the awesome-sauce healer) and we'll be doing hit head against wall for bit (with the wall being either Ony or TOC), then hit Ulduar.
And last, but not least, the priest's current raid setup. Or rather, BG setup, since she hasn't raided yet and is unlikely to till 80. 5 mans, yeah, raids no. She has been doing a lot of pvp, since I've discovered the fun of it. Granted, the only BGs I actually really understand are Eye and WSG, but run behind and heal seems to work in all of them. The druids do keep beating me on the meters, but a) I'm mitigation far more than healing (since I can PW:S while moving), and b) if I have a spell I can move and heal with, I don't know what it is. My damage is laughable, but my healing's what counts. I did switch out shadowed unit frames for pitbull, but we'll see if I keep it. I love the look of the portraits like that, but the options confuse me, and I ended up adding vuhdo to my hunter's ui just so I had some sort of raid frames I knew how to fiddle with.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Actual useful stuff (I know, you've all just died of shock)
Part of leveling Lyllea is figuring out the whole healing thing. And after doing some research (and asking in wow_ladies), I found the shiny, decently-easy to set up healing addon of my dreams.
Vuhdo.
It tells me buffs and debuffs, and I was able to add Weakened Soul and Power Word: Shield to it. It also allows me to just mouse over someone's square and hit the left mouse button to PW:S, the right to Flash heal, and wow, is that useful both in soloing and running stuff. And it allows me to have a funny resurrection saying without building a macro, and there's nifty buffing things (which I have not played with since a 5 man is pretty easy to keep buffed and I don't even try in pvp).
Anyway, here's it is while questing...
And here's a screenshot from Alterac Valley (and I've neated things up a bit since but I haven't been in a raid since, so no new screencap. I'll post an updated one as soon as I have one). Basically, now all the raid frames fit into the gap between my bars so they're front and center, but I can still see where I am and that I'm not standing in fire.
Nifty things to point out...
people greyed out are out of range for casting.
you can see my custom PW:S and Weakened Soul debuff on someone in group 6.
it's clear and easy for me to read (and tells me how much my heals will hit for on the bars).
Plus, there's an 86 page thread on it, the developer responds quickly and does his.her best to fix bugs as they are reported, and it's fairly useable just out of the box, but has a ton of customizable options.
And here's a slightly better picture. Because I was busy healing in the BG rather than screencaping, it isn't that good, but you can at least see the bars and more or less how I've arranged them.
Vuhdo.
It tells me buffs and debuffs, and I was able to add Weakened Soul and Power Word: Shield to it. It also allows me to just mouse over someone's square and hit the left mouse button to PW:S, the right to Flash heal, and wow, is that useful both in soloing and running stuff. And it allows me to have a funny resurrection saying without building a macro, and there's nifty buffing things (which I have not played with since a 5 man is pretty easy to keep buffed and I don't even try in pvp).
Anyway, here's it is while questing...
And here's a screenshot from Alterac Valley (and I've neated things up a bit since but I haven't been in a raid since, so no new screencap. I'll post an updated one as soon as I have one). Basically, now all the raid frames fit into the gap between my bars so they're front and center, but I can still see where I am and that I'm not standing in fire.
Nifty things to point out...
people greyed out are out of range for casting.
you can see my custom PW:S and Weakened Soul debuff on someone in group 6.
it's clear and easy for me to read (and tells me how much my heals will hit for on the bars).
Plus, there's an 86 page thread on it, the developer responds quickly and does his.her best to fix bugs as they are reported, and it's fairly useable just out of the box, but has a ton of customizable options.
And here's a slightly better picture. Because I was busy healing in the BG rather than screencaping, it isn't that good, but you can at least see the bars and more or less how I've arranged them.
Don't mind me, I just need to rant
*cough*
Raid was frustrating for the second week in a row. I JUST WANT TO GO TO ULDUAR. Not TOC, not Onyxia, Ulduar. I still have a ton of upgrades I could get there, and I'd like to see all of it, and you know, we might not spend the entire evening wiping. I don't mind wiping, but after the 6th or 7th try, I'd kinda like to go hit something we can take down. Yes, we've taken down Ony, once, and the beasts once, but we've also wiped a lot on both of them, and I feel like I spend 3 hours of my life, and at least a hundred gold, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Why we can't wipe on one for a bit, then hit Ulduar and take down Flame Leviathan and XT and Razorscale, maybe make it all the way to Freya if we feel ambitious, and then hit TOC the next night is beyond me. (I do know why we went to TOC, but I don't agree with it, and I think we would have done far better to hit Ulduar and try TOC when we're fresh)
Plus, Freya's room makes me happy with the ridiculous amount of herbs. TOC, well, that is not a happy. That is a "frack, this again. I hate this," thing. It's a gear check/skill check and you know, I'd be much more successful if I got some gear from Ulduar first. (I have no idea where the rest of the raiders are gear-wise, so I can't speak for them. They may have geared completely past Ulduar by running heroics, but given the faceplanting, I'm not so sure) Now, Ony, Ony I don't mind. It's a short fight, and wiping isn't too painful. But the beasts, well, you wipe to the third one, you have to start all over again with the snobolds.
So what do I do while I'm frustrated and bored and waiting for everyone to come back from afks?
If you said redesign my ui, you'd be right. And I would have a screenshot, but for some reason WoW stopped registering me hitting print screen right after Lyllea helped win Eye of the Storm. No clue why, really, and I am far too tired and migrainy to figure it out.
And to any guildies reading this, please do not take it personally. I just need to rant, okay, and since it's my blog, I figure I can rant here. And while I'm ranting... Raids go on calendar at least 36 hours before raid, please? Generally I assume raids on Thursday, but the other one/two raiding days (if they happen at all) are always up in the air, and if you schedule something for Monday after Sat, I probably won't see it. Now I know, I'm just a dps and not essential, but I do show up every week (unless I say I won't be there ahead of time) and I'm flasked and I generally manage to not die in the fire and do what I'm told. Am I the best raider ever? Heck, no. And am I a good raid leader? No, cause I loathe telling people what to do. Seriously, seriously loathe it.
Raid was frustrating for the second week in a row. I JUST WANT TO GO TO ULDUAR. Not TOC, not Onyxia, Ulduar. I still have a ton of upgrades I could get there, and I'd like to see all of it, and you know, we might not spend the entire evening wiping. I don't mind wiping, but after the 6th or 7th try, I'd kinda like to go hit something we can take down. Yes, we've taken down Ony, once, and the beasts once, but we've also wiped a lot on both of them, and I feel like I spend 3 hours of my life, and at least a hundred gold, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Why we can't wipe on one for a bit, then hit Ulduar and take down Flame Leviathan and XT and Razorscale, maybe make it all the way to Freya if we feel ambitious, and then hit TOC the next night is beyond me. (I do know why we went to TOC, but I don't agree with it, and I think we would have done far better to hit Ulduar and try TOC when we're fresh)
Plus, Freya's room makes me happy with the ridiculous amount of herbs. TOC, well, that is not a happy. That is a "frack, this again. I hate this," thing. It's a gear check/skill check and you know, I'd be much more successful if I got some gear from Ulduar first. (I have no idea where the rest of the raiders are gear-wise, so I can't speak for them. They may have geared completely past Ulduar by running heroics, but given the faceplanting, I'm not so sure) Now, Ony, Ony I don't mind. It's a short fight, and wiping isn't too painful. But the beasts, well, you wipe to the third one, you have to start all over again with the snobolds.
So what do I do while I'm frustrated and bored and waiting for everyone to come back from afks?
If you said redesign my ui, you'd be right. And I would have a screenshot, but for some reason WoW stopped registering me hitting print screen right after Lyllea helped win Eye of the Storm. No clue why, really, and I am far too tired and migrainy to figure it out.
And to any guildies reading this, please do not take it personally. I just need to rant, okay, and since it's my blog, I figure I can rant here. And while I'm ranting... Raids go on calendar at least 36 hours before raid, please? Generally I assume raids on Thursday, but the other one/two raiding days (if they happen at all) are always up in the air, and if you schedule something for Monday after Sat, I probably won't see it. Now I know, I'm just a dps and not essential, but I do show up every week (unless I say I won't be there ahead of time) and I'm flasked and I generally manage to not die in the fire and do what I'm told. Am I the best raider ever? Heck, no. And am I a good raid leader? No, cause I loathe telling people what to do. Seriously, seriously loathe it.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Things to do:
In an effort to keep myself semi-organized, I figured I should make out a to-do list of stuff I want to get done before Oct ends. Or just get done, period. Getting it all done before Oct ends would be nice. This includes stuff I want to get done before Cat hits, which might give you guys some ideas on stuff you want to do before Cat as well. Yes, that is my justification for posting this here.
1. Get Lyllea the Hallowed title. This means she needs to get to Northrend, and needs to be moved to the main account (for the Tome of Cold Weather Flying and heirloom gear). Since she's hit 64, I don't think getting her to 75ish should be too much of a problem. Yes, still having a blast leveling disc, and have even dipped my toe into pvp on her. Much more fun than it is on the hunter. Just need to stick with a fairly large group and heal and shield everyone I can. Plus, people actually try to defend me. Granted, I have very little idea what I'm doing in any battlefield, but I'll learn.
2. Roll a DK on the second account (before I transfer Lyllea) and start leveling alts via dungeon runs. I have 3 alts at Deadmines levels, and well, the the rogue and the fighter are probably not going to get leveled any other way. (I'm hoping that, like Lyllea, they will be much more fun at higher levels) And that allows me to do the same on other servers to level Horde side. I would like to get Loremaster on one Horde and one Alliance before Cat, but I really doubt that's going to happen.
3. Get Garetia the Hallowed title. Also, finish at least 2 more zones in Northrend, one in Outlands, and two in Eastern Kingdoms for Loremaster. (I have/really want to get Loremaster done before Cat hits, so I figure if I break it up, it won't be so painful).
4. Get Lyllea's mining and jewelcrafting to a point where I can level them while I level her. So far she's hit Mithril in mining, and is lagging on jcing. This is actually tomorrow's job. I've already leveled her past Hellfire, so I need to get this done.
5. Get exalted with the Skyguard and unlock the Netherwing on Garetia. Possibly on Lyllea as well. (or at least unlock the factions on her)
6. Figure out what to do with the pally. And level her professions. GAH, leveling mining AGAIN! Shoot me now. Dual spec ret and holy maybe?
7. Get the DK's enchanting up to Northrend levels. Or at least to Outlands levels, and then level her. I have a ton of greens I'd like to be able to de. And she can funnel ore to Lyllea for prospecting.
8. Get those last 3/4 pets. I want the fawn, gorram it. This may involve a ton of farming for whelplings and hatchlings, since the fishing dailies hate me (grumble, give me my crab and the other two crocolisks already!)
9. Get Garetia Classic Dungeonmaster (or whatever that achievement is) and Classic raider if I can get groups together for it (again, more of a before Cat thing)
10. Get exalted with the Timbermaw on Garetia. Then all I'd have left for Diplomat is the broken people, and they have mounts! (Cat again)
11. Get Lyllea exalted with the two driud factions, cause I want the title on her.
12. Explore Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor on every toon I can.
13. Level Lyllea's fishing and cooking and possibly first aid. Cry when she gets the Sewer Rat that has so far eluded Garetia. (Lyllea has much better luck than Garetia on drops. No clue why.)
14. Dual-spec Lyllea and learn how to play the dark side.
15. Continue to level by doing every quest I can find in a zone before moving on. Lyllea's 66/70 or 76/80 for the Hellfire Loremaster achievement, which a) brings in the gold like no one's business, and b) makes it easier to go back later on if I want Loremaster on her. (There appear to be some quests in HF you can't get till 70 and I think those and the pvp one are the only ones she's missing).
Okay, that should keep me busy. Oh, and I should probably add get exalted with Sons of Hodir and Ebon Blade to the list, but um, heroics not fun anymore. I have an entire rant on the running heroics for nothing but badges thing. Takes all the fun out of it (for me). So I just don't. I understand why Blizz did it, and I know it'll make gearing up Lyllea much easier, but part of the fun of heroics/raiding is seeing what we get and getting new shinies. Otherwise I run it once to see it, and maybe again if a guildie needs me.
1. Get Lyllea the Hallowed title. This means she needs to get to Northrend, and needs to be moved to the main account (for the Tome of Cold Weather Flying and heirloom gear). Since she's hit 64, I don't think getting her to 75ish should be too much of a problem. Yes, still having a blast leveling disc, and have even dipped my toe into pvp on her. Much more fun than it is on the hunter. Just need to stick with a fairly large group and heal and shield everyone I can. Plus, people actually try to defend me. Granted, I have very little idea what I'm doing in any battlefield, but I'll learn.
2. Roll a DK on the second account (before I transfer Lyllea) and start leveling alts via dungeon runs. I have 3 alts at Deadmines levels, and well, the the rogue and the fighter are probably not going to get leveled any other way. (I'm hoping that, like Lyllea, they will be much more fun at higher levels) And that allows me to do the same on other servers to level Horde side. I would like to get Loremaster on one Horde and one Alliance before Cat, but I really doubt that's going to happen.
3. Get Garetia the Hallowed title. Also, finish at least 2 more zones in Northrend, one in Outlands, and two in Eastern Kingdoms for Loremaster. (I have/really want to get Loremaster done before Cat hits, so I figure if I break it up, it won't be so painful).
4. Get Lyllea's mining and jewelcrafting to a point where I can level them while I level her. So far she's hit Mithril in mining, and is lagging on jcing. This is actually tomorrow's job. I've already leveled her past Hellfire, so I need to get this done.
5. Get exalted with the Skyguard and unlock the Netherwing on Garetia. Possibly on Lyllea as well. (or at least unlock the factions on her)
6. Figure out what to do with the pally. And level her professions. GAH, leveling mining AGAIN! Shoot me now. Dual spec ret and holy maybe?
7. Get the DK's enchanting up to Northrend levels. Or at least to Outlands levels, and then level her. I have a ton of greens I'd like to be able to de. And she can funnel ore to Lyllea for prospecting.
8. Get those last 3/4 pets. I want the fawn, gorram it. This may involve a ton of farming for whelplings and hatchlings, since the fishing dailies hate me (grumble, give me my crab and the other two crocolisks already!)
9. Get Garetia Classic Dungeonmaster (or whatever that achievement is) and Classic raider if I can get groups together for it (again, more of a before Cat thing)
10. Get exalted with the Timbermaw on Garetia. Then all I'd have left for Diplomat is the broken people, and they have mounts! (Cat again)
11. Get Lyllea exalted with the two driud factions, cause I want the title on her.
12. Explore Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor on every toon I can.
13. Level Lyllea's fishing and cooking and possibly first aid. Cry when she gets the Sewer Rat that has so far eluded Garetia. (Lyllea has much better luck than Garetia on drops. No clue why.)
14. Dual-spec Lyllea and learn how to play the dark side.
15. Continue to level by doing every quest I can find in a zone before moving on. Lyllea's 66/70 or 76/80 for the Hellfire Loremaster achievement, which a) brings in the gold like no one's business, and b) makes it easier to go back later on if I want Loremaster on her. (There appear to be some quests in HF you can't get till 70 and I think those and the pvp one are the only ones she's missing).
Okay, that should keep me busy. Oh, and I should probably add get exalted with Sons of Hodir and Ebon Blade to the list, but um, heroics not fun anymore. I have an entire rant on the running heroics for nothing but badges thing. Takes all the fun out of it (for me). So I just don't. I understand why Blizz did it, and I know it'll make gearing up Lyllea much easier, but part of the fun of heroics/raiding is seeing what we get and getting new shinies. Otherwise I run it once to see it, and maybe again if a guildie needs me.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Well, the priest is now 61, and has healed both Blood Furnace and Underbog. It was an interesting experience. Blood Furnace started as 2 DKs, a pally tank, a mage, and me, and ended up with just the mage, pally, and me. We did really well, and I learned that it is much easier to deal with one designated (and obvious) tank than one tank and two DKs who stink at the Omen game.
Underbog wasn't too bad. It was a mostly guild run (with me as the only PUG), and while once again there were two dks, there was also a tank telling them what not to do. He did have some problems holding aggro, but I think that was as much being way overgeared by the DKs as anything else. They were a bit surprised when I got one shotted by the hunter boss, but I wasn't. I was level 60, after all, and a clothie. I did get a level out of it, so I can't complain much.
Also, Lyllea has a hat that makes beer. This is possibly the most awesome hat ever!
In other, more huntery and end-game news, Garetia was finally able to replace her Tier 7 helm thanks to Onyxia. Then I got into a VOA pug, we one-shotted everything, and I got new gloves (twice). This embarrassment of riches almost makes up for my having no idea where helm enchants come from, and upon doing the research, discovering that the one I need comes from the faction I hadn't unlocked yet. Well, that's fixed and now Ebon Blade knows who I am. They're not overly fond of me, but at least they know who I am.
Underbog wasn't too bad. It was a mostly guild run (with me as the only PUG), and while once again there were two dks, there was also a tank telling them what not to do. He did have some problems holding aggro, but I think that was as much being way overgeared by the DKs as anything else. They were a bit surprised when I got one shotted by the hunter boss, but I wasn't. I was level 60, after all, and a clothie. I did get a level out of it, so I can't complain much.
Also, Lyllea has a hat that makes beer. This is possibly the most awesome hat ever!
In other, more huntery and end-game news, Garetia was finally able to replace her Tier 7 helm thanks to Onyxia. Then I got into a VOA pug, we one-shotted everything, and I got new gloves (twice). This embarrassment of riches almost makes up for my having no idea where helm enchants come from, and upon doing the research, discovering that the one I need comes from the faction I hadn't unlocked yet. Well, that's fixed and now Ebon Blade knows who I am. They're not overly fond of me, but at least they know who I am.
Monday, September 28, 2009
And I have 3 level 60s!
So after a weekend of power-leveling (I got the druid and priest from lvl 51 to 60 in two days), I've been trying to figure out a few things.
1) How to play each one separately.
2) Why my pally now stinks (gear+having no idea what I'm doing is my best guess)
3) If power-leveling mining on two more characters will drive me insane.
4) Why my DK has no talents and how to spec her This was the answer
Well, I've found some answers to number 1, and figured I should share them with you.
First, disc leveling. This is a great forum post that gives you specs, rotations, glyph choices, and gear. I haven't followed the spec exactly, but the rotation is quite effective, and a lot of fun. All I want to do now is play the priest. But she has no rested XP, so I must wait. Grr.
The druid's going feral kitty, and here are two nice guides for leveling feral.
And last, but not least, a slightly outdated guide for leveling as an aoe paladin.
And just for kicks, my favorite profession leveling site is here. The druid's herbalism and inscription are both at around 270, but the pally's still in iron, and well, the less said about the priest's mining and jewelcrafting the better.
1) How to play each one separately.
2) Why my pally now stinks (gear+having no idea what I'm doing is my best guess)
3) If power-leveling mining on two more characters will drive me insane.
4) Why my DK has no talents and how to spec her This was the answer
Well, I've found some answers to number 1, and figured I should share them with you.
First, disc leveling. This is a great forum post that gives you specs, rotations, glyph choices, and gear. I haven't followed the spec exactly, but the rotation is quite effective, and a lot of fun. All I want to do now is play the priest. But she has no rested XP, so I must wait. Grr.
The druid's going feral kitty, and here are two nice guides for leveling feral.
And last, but not least, a slightly outdated guide for leveling as an aoe paladin.
And just for kicks, my favorite profession leveling site is here. The druid's herbalism and inscription are both at around 270, but the pally's still in iron, and well, the less said about the priest's mining and jewelcrafting the better.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Power Auras Classic, a basic primer
I am no expert on Power Auras Classic, but I can make it do a few simple things. Mostly I've figured out how to make it tell me when I do or do not have a buff.
So, here's how you set it up to tell you you're missing a buff...
Type /powa to get the first config menu. It should look something like...
Now, there are no auras, so you want to hit new. Now you get a window that looks like...
Now, first you can customize what your aura looks like. Change texture and color to something you like (and that will make you think of the buff). In the above case I used red to tell me something's wrong. Basically all the options on the top half of the window are to do with visual customization, so play around till you get something you think will work.
Now for the important stuff, the bottom half. In the above picture I've...
Filled out the name of the buff I want the aura to use (Trueshot Aura)
And told it to tell me when it isn't active.
Here's another example...
Pretty similar, except I've used a different texture and color, and it tells me when Inner Fire isn't active.
Now, Power Auras Classic can do much, much more than just tell you if you're missing class buffs. It can tell you if say, you're missing a particular pally buff in raid, if Lock and Load (or any other action) is ready, if an item is ready, and a ton of other things. Check out these options...
On Garetia it tells me when I'm in Aspect of the Viper, when Furious Howl procs, when I'm in Rapid Fire, and when I've got certain combat buffs (mostly related to the pet). On my priest, it reminds me to buff, and does the same for my druid. On my mage, it tells me when my armor spell needs to be reapplied. And that's just barely scratching the surface. Honestly, this addon just makes life a bit easier.
(and yes, these screenshots switch between my bank toon, Garetia, and Lyllea, just in case you were wondering).
So, here's how you set it up to tell you you're missing a buff...
Type /powa to get the first config menu. It should look something like...
Now, there are no auras, so you want to hit new. Now you get a window that looks like...
Now, first you can customize what your aura looks like. Change texture and color to something you like (and that will make you think of the buff). In the above case I used red to tell me something's wrong. Basically all the options on the top half of the window are to do with visual customization, so play around till you get something you think will work.
Now for the important stuff, the bottom half. In the above picture I've...
Filled out the name of the buff I want the aura to use (Trueshot Aura)
And told it to tell me when it isn't active.
Here's another example...
Pretty similar, except I've used a different texture and color, and it tells me when Inner Fire isn't active.
Now, Power Auras Classic can do much, much more than just tell you if you're missing class buffs. It can tell you if say, you're missing a particular pally buff in raid, if Lock and Load (or any other action) is ready, if an item is ready, and a ton of other things. Check out these options...
On Garetia it tells me when I'm in Aspect of the Viper, when Furious Howl procs, when I'm in Rapid Fire, and when I've got certain combat buffs (mostly related to the pet). On my priest, it reminds me to buff, and does the same for my druid. On my mage, it tells me when my armor spell needs to be reapplied. And that's just barely scratching the surface. Honestly, this addon just makes life a bit easier.
(and yes, these screenshots switch between my bank toon, Garetia, and Lyllea, just in case you were wondering).
Friday, September 25, 2009
UI Addons (or what does base WoW look like again)?
I figured it's been a while since I've done an addon post, and what I'm using has changed substantially since the last time I talked about UIs.
First, a screenshot of Garetia's UI. It won't win any pretty awards, but it's functional (if a bit overcrowded). All addons are available on Curse, unless otherwise specified.
So, starting at upper left and going counter-clockwise, we have...
Shadowed Unit Frames. I switched from XPerl to save some memory.
Below that we have Vuhdo, which I installed for the leveling priest and druid for healing purposes. But since I try to keep my ui fairly consistent, it's showing here. I did fiddle with it a bit so that it only shows the group I'm not in, and it's nice for knowing if it's a wipe or not.
At the bottom, we have bartender 4, and button facade:Caith to make it look all pretty.
Then at the bottom right, those gears are SatrinaBuffFrames (installed again for priest and druid) and ButtonFacade: Gears so that they look like that. I don't really use this on the hunter (except for knowing how much time is left on my ram racing buff), but I do like the look. I also like the fact that it puts debuffs in their own column and colors them red.
Then we have recount (cause I like to know how I'm doing on dps) and if I were in combat, you'd see Omen in the same spot.
At the top is Titan Bar. It's the first addon I ever got and I still love it.
Last but not least, the bars around Garetia are MetaHud.
And if Blizzard didn't reset my "enable out-of-date addons" with every patch, you'd also see...
SexyMap because it's pretty
Power Auras Classic because it's insanely powerful and I have no idea how I lived without it. Expect a post on it next because honestly, it's an addon I think everyone should have.
Autotrack and Viper Notify (great hunter addons)
Quest Helper
Deadly Boss Mods
And these are my new weapons. Bask in their awesomeness...
First, a screenshot of Garetia's UI. It won't win any pretty awards, but it's functional (if a bit overcrowded). All addons are available on Curse, unless otherwise specified.
So, starting at upper left and going counter-clockwise, we have...
Shadowed Unit Frames. I switched from XPerl to save some memory.
Below that we have Vuhdo, which I installed for the leveling priest and druid for healing purposes. But since I try to keep my ui fairly consistent, it's showing here. I did fiddle with it a bit so that it only shows the group I'm not in, and it's nice for knowing if it's a wipe or not.
At the bottom, we have bartender 4, and button facade:Caith to make it look all pretty.
Then at the bottom right, those gears are SatrinaBuffFrames (installed again for priest and druid) and ButtonFacade: Gears so that they look like that. I don't really use this on the hunter (except for knowing how much time is left on my ram racing buff), but I do like the look. I also like the fact that it puts debuffs in their own column and colors them red.
Then we have recount (cause I like to know how I'm doing on dps) and if I were in combat, you'd see Omen in the same spot.
At the top is Titan Bar. It's the first addon I ever got and I still love it.
Last but not least, the bars around Garetia are MetaHud.
And if Blizzard didn't reset my "enable out-of-date addons" with every patch, you'd also see...
SexyMap because it's pretty
Power Auras Classic because it's insanely powerful and I have no idea how I lived without it. Expect a post on it next because honestly, it's an addon I think everyone should have.
Autotrack and Viper Notify (great hunter addons)
Quest Helper
Deadly Boss Mods
And these are my new weapons. Bask in their awesomeness...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Brewfest Tips
Yay Brewfest. Boo server lag. Double boo lag ending my keg runs for the day.
Yay YAY YAY volley buff!
So, some useful things for Brewfest...
1. When doing the Coren Direbrew, it's a good idea to have everyone pick up the daily before you start and then make sure that you see 4 next to the quest in your quest log. Prevents people lying about having summons.
2. /target Wild Wolpertinger
/use net
(Or whatever the item is that you catch the Wolpertingers with). The macro makes it much easier (and they show up on tame beasts as well).
3. Jumping off the Shat bridge will get you the failing achievement.
4. You can sell the clothing back for an hour after you get it. So you can get the gear, hearth to Dal, get the achievement, then head back to IF and sell it all back.
Yay YAY YAY volley buff!
So, some useful things for Brewfest...
1. When doing the Coren Direbrew, it's a good idea to have everyone pick up the daily before you start and then make sure that you see 4 next to the quest in your quest log. Prevents people lying about having summons.
2. /target Wild Wolpertinger
/use net
(Or whatever the item is that you catch the Wolpertingers with). The macro makes it much easier (and they show up on tame beasts as well).
3. Jumping off the Shat bridge will get you the failing achievement.
4. You can sell the clothing back for an hour after you get it. So you can get the gear, hearth to Dal, get the achievement, then head back to IF and sell it all back.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Into Ulduar (again)
The weekly runs of Ulduar continue. We've managed to get through crazy cat lady and beat our heads against the Council of Iron and Freya trash. Tomorrow, we attempt more Ulduar and 10 man TOC. I really dislike 5 man TOC, so this could be really interesting in a bad way.
I've installed Ensidia Fails (after managing to waste two battle rezes last week on Razor), and learned that it is automatically set to post in raid. Not good. I just want it to tell me when I fail (which isn't too often). Did manage to do that, eventually. It's helpful, especially on bosses I haven't seen before. I don't think I'd want to use it as a raid leader, since it's really easy to fail on some things (stupid Kologarn eyebeams for one), but for personal feedback it's great.
I'm also now running Old World Fun Runs every Sunday, and this week it's Blackwing. The plan is to get attunement for Molten Core at the same time, so that next week I can try some extreme soloing. I played with the BM build a bit while getting the Dragonblight Loremaster achievement, and it's pretty solid. I took it from there and am looking forward to trying a few things. Like Heroic MT, because I want the pet and mount. I'm at 68 pets out of 75, and I'm slowly slogging through the Skyguard rep grind for another pet. Then I'll start grinding Kurenai rep for the mounts, and if I ever manage to get enough gold for epic flying, hello Netherwing faction.
Now I just need to sit down, get the priest and druid to 60, and then figure out what I want to do about professions. The druid will need to have her herbalism boosted a bit (since it is very difficult keeping up with her leveling speed) and I need to decide what I want the priest to be. Right now she's a tailor/miner, and I could either a) not change that, or b) make her a jewelcrafter since having a high level jewelcrafter would be really nice.
And last but not least, a group shot. We had a birthday party for the raid leader in the Beer Garden...
I've installed Ensidia Fails (after managing to waste two battle rezes last week on Razor), and learned that it is automatically set to post in raid. Not good. I just want it to tell me when I fail (which isn't too often). Did manage to do that, eventually. It's helpful, especially on bosses I haven't seen before. I don't think I'd want to use it as a raid leader, since it's really easy to fail on some things (stupid Kologarn eyebeams for one), but for personal feedback it's great.
I'm also now running Old World Fun Runs every Sunday, and this week it's Blackwing. The plan is to get attunement for Molten Core at the same time, so that next week I can try some extreme soloing. I played with the BM build a bit while getting the Dragonblight Loremaster achievement, and it's pretty solid. I took it from there and am looking forward to trying a few things. Like Heroic MT, because I want the pet and mount. I'm at 68 pets out of 75, and I'm slowly slogging through the Skyguard rep grind for another pet. Then I'll start grinding Kurenai rep for the mounts, and if I ever manage to get enough gold for epic flying, hello Netherwing faction.
Now I just need to sit down, get the priest and druid to 60, and then figure out what I want to do about professions. The druid will need to have her herbalism boosted a bit (since it is very difficult keeping up with her leveling speed) and I need to decide what I want the priest to be. Right now she's a tailor/miner, and I could either a) not change that, or b) make her a jewelcrafter since having a high level jewelcrafter would be really nice.
And last but not least, a group shot. We had a birthday party for the raid leader in the Beer Garden...
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
And the leveling continues...
My RAF pair have now hit 48, and I took a bit of a time-out to go play in Arathi Basin with the priest. It was interesting, and rather entertaining in a "Oh god, WTF, what the heck is going on!" sort of way. I did learn that shield is my friend, and um, I got some shiny achievements. The XP wasn't really worth it, sadly, but it was a good experience.
In other news, my hunter wanders back into Ulduar later this week, and I'm hoping that we do as well as we did last time. We one shotted the first three bosses and got Undying on two of them. For a new group, we did so well!
I also went to DragonCon, and won shinies. I have yet to redeem them (mostly because I have yet to unpack), but yay shinies to play with. I also got to be a quest giver for a bit, and even got a screenshot!
In other news, my hunter wanders back into Ulduar later this week, and I'm hoping that we do as well as we did last time. We one shotted the first three bosses and got Undying on two of them. For a new group, we did so well!
I also went to DragonCon, and won shinies. I have yet to redeem them (mostly because I have yet to unpack), but yay shinies to play with. I also got to be a quest giver for a bit, and even got a screenshot!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Not about Cataclysm
I could be talking about Cataclysm, but honestly the idea of using focus for hunters depresses me, so instead happy things!
My little priest/druid combo is at 42/41. They're my highest alts ever (DKs don't count). And I even got to heal the first two bosses of Uldaman on the priest. Twice. Once with fail tank.
And today, I am leveling in Feralis. I pull a lvl 48 water elemental, and take it down. Then I manage to pull another and another. Not only do my pair take all 3 down (very slowly and painfully but they go down) but my priest still has 40% mana left. I can't figure out if this pairing is just OP, if the priest is overgeared, or a combo thereof.
And one last thing...
I love Power Word: Shield! (yes, my priest is disc, and wow, it's great for damage prevention).
And if you want to weigh in on the overgeared vs op question, Here's the priest and the druid is here
My little priest/druid combo is at 42/41. They're my highest alts ever (DKs don't count). And I even got to heal the first two bosses of Uldaman on the priest. Twice. Once with fail tank.
And today, I am leveling in Feralis. I pull a lvl 48 water elemental, and take it down. Then I manage to pull another and another. Not only do my pair take all 3 down (very slowly and painfully but they go down) but my priest still has 40% mana left. I can't figure out if this pairing is just OP, if the priest is overgeared, or a combo thereof.
And one last thing...
I love Power Word: Shield! (yes, my priest is disc, and wow, it's great for damage prevention).
And if you want to weigh in on the overgeared vs op question, Here's the priest and the druid is here
Thursday, August 20, 2009
How Garetia would really do TOC
TOC, the current pinnacle of raiding in Wraith. The shining beacon of hope in Icecrown that drops epics like candy. That really annoying place that makes no sense to my character.
Garetia is a hunter. She has spent her life understanding the ways of Nature and how best to shoot it in the head. She's gotten quite good at this shooting things in the head. And now, she must prove her worth by hitting people with long pointed sticks while fighting on horseback. Obviously, this is not going to work. A new plan is required. Thus I give you...
Garetia's Plan to Defeat the Colosseum Idiots
Step 1: Find a friendly mage or one I can bribe with potions. Maybe Eg or Keera? Convince mage to create water all over the Colosseum floor to make lots and lots of mud, the kind that tries to eat your shoes. The mud is key. I wonder if there's a way to make quicksand out of the floor instead? No, probably not.
Step 2: Get as many rogues and death warrior people as possible. Set them along the edges of the floor. Convince death people that walking in the mud would be bad, but really funny. I might have to bring in some ferals as well, since I don't know that many rogues. Obviously I need to expand my pool of allies.
Step 3: Issue challenge. Mock herald just because. Prove I can shoot an arrow through a 2 inch thick plank of wood. Watch riders come in.
Step 4: Hope riders are a) stuck in mud or b) mount maneuverability is poor. Either way, mage should keep the mud from drying out. Maybe summoning a rainstorm? (Can mages even do that? May need a druid for that bit. Or maybe the mage could explode a water elemental? Or, ooh, frozen mud?)
Step 5: Have the DKs pull the knights off their mounts and engage the little ones. Then send the rogues in. Rogues sap and kick and do all that other stuff to keep the head guys dazed while we see how many arrows we can stick in them. I'm thinking about a hundred would do it. If we knock them into the mud, with all that armor they should have trouble moving about and thus their blows can be easily avoided.
Step 6: Profit, and mock all the idiots who thought mounted combat was the way to go.
(loosely based on the battle of Agincour, where, if I remember correctly, the French knights got slaughtered because they couldn't maneuver in mud. It could work, and it'd certainly be more fun than hitting things with a big stick)
Garetia is a hunter. She has spent her life understanding the ways of Nature and how best to shoot it in the head. She's gotten quite good at this shooting things in the head. And now, she must prove her worth by hitting people with long pointed sticks while fighting on horseback. Obviously, this is not going to work. A new plan is required. Thus I give you...
Garetia's Plan to Defeat the Colosseum Idiots
Step 1: Find a friendly mage or one I can bribe with potions. Maybe Eg or Keera? Convince mage to create water all over the Colosseum floor to make lots and lots of mud, the kind that tries to eat your shoes. The mud is key. I wonder if there's a way to make quicksand out of the floor instead? No, probably not.
Step 2: Get as many rogues and death warrior people as possible. Set them along the edges of the floor. Convince death people that walking in the mud would be bad, but really funny. I might have to bring in some ferals as well, since I don't know that many rogues. Obviously I need to expand my pool of allies.
Step 3: Issue challenge. Mock herald just because. Prove I can shoot an arrow through a 2 inch thick plank of wood. Watch riders come in.
Step 4: Hope riders are a) stuck in mud or b) mount maneuverability is poor. Either way, mage should keep the mud from drying out. Maybe summoning a rainstorm? (Can mages even do that? May need a druid for that bit. Or maybe the mage could explode a water elemental? Or, ooh, frozen mud?)
Step 5: Have the DKs pull the knights off their mounts and engage the little ones. Then send the rogues in. Rogues sap and kick and do all that other stuff to keep the head guys dazed while we see how many arrows we can stick in them. I'm thinking about a hundred would do it. If we knock them into the mud, with all that armor they should have trouble moving about and thus their blows can be easily avoided.
Step 6: Profit, and mock all the idiots who thought mounted combat was the way to go.
(loosely based on the battle of Agincour, where, if I remember correctly, the French knights got slaughtered because they couldn't maneuver in mud. It could work, and it'd certainly be more fun than hitting things with a big stick)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Looky what I did!
There was tank drama (our mt decided he didn't want to tank, so he ran Naxx 25 with another group and screwed us). So instead we formed a semi-organized mob and ran Onyxia and Drak Keep. It was fun, and our new bear tank learned many things. Friday we ended up doing a quick OS 25 (no drakes).
Needless to say, I am not thrilled with the mt right now, but I had fun and got to turn in Onyxia's head. That was very cool.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Just when I think I can get out....
Big news. Onyxia will be updated to a lvl 80 raid. With a mount and new loot and everything. On the one hand this makes me hope that Blizz will update more lvl 60 raids (because I hear Molten Core was epic) but on the other, it makes me sad that they're removing the lvl 60 raid. I'd much rather have them do it like this...
leveling raid (aka the original lvl 60)
10 man (lvl 80)
25 man (lvl 80)
But um, Blizz kinda seems to be all about the endgame. And the tournament. (hate the tournament with a firey passion, and I hate everyone who tells me jousting is easy even more. Grr. I stink at melee positioning and I have lousy reflexes.)
Now, a random story. I am a pet collector (68 or 69 at this point) and last night it occurred to me that I hadn't checked the Shat fishing daily quest and I still needed 3 pets from it. I go look, it's Crocolisks, I go get one, and I get Muckbreath's bucket. Which would be insanely yay except for one fact. Muckbreath's the only one I have. So, I log off grumpy and then this morning I found out...
Crocodilisks in the City now has a near 100% drop rate for the fishing pets!
So go forth all ye pet collectors, and all ye who think the baby crocs are cute and get some pets! Personally, I plan to go forth later. Must knit more now, or nap. One of the two.
leveling raid (aka the original lvl 60)
10 man (lvl 80)
25 man (lvl 80)
But um, Blizz kinda seems to be all about the endgame. And the tournament. (hate the tournament with a firey passion, and I hate everyone who tells me jousting is easy even more. Grr. I stink at melee positioning and I have lousy reflexes.)
Now, a random story. I am a pet collector (68 or 69 at this point) and last night it occurred to me that I hadn't checked the Shat fishing daily quest and I still needed 3 pets from it. I go look, it's Crocolisks, I go get one, and I get Muckbreath's bucket. Which would be insanely yay except for one fact. Muckbreath's the only one I have. So, I log off grumpy and then this morning I found out...
Crocodilisks in the City now has a near 100% drop rate for the fishing pets!
So go forth all ye pet collectors, and all ye who think the baby crocs are cute and get some pets! Personally, I plan to go forth later. Must knit more now, or nap. One of the two.
Monday, August 10, 2009
There was no Wow this weekend because....
a) I had a life. I actually managed to get out, have fun, and drink homemade wine. I know, you're all dying of shock.
b) DragonCon. ACK!
c) all of the above.
And the answer is c. I had fun, went to a party, and discovered that with less than a month to go till DragonCon, I am not prepared. (note: Dragoncon is a huge Sci-fi/fantasy/science/gaming/everything else convention in Atlanta. Tom Felton will be there this year. And Patrick Steward. I hope someone warned them about the heat)
So as I frantically try to get 4 costumes together, discover nothing fits (which happens when you lose 50 pounds), and renew my acquaintance with my sewing machine (which hasn't been used in 12 years), plus panic about the fact that I am talking about knitting again in a official capacity when I have yet to make a sweater, I give you random pictures to distract you. Most are from DragonCon last year (except the shawl. The shawl is there because I made it and I like it and I really need to figure out where I put it.) Also, I am not in any of these pictures because I took them all.
Ignore the lack of actual content and enjoy the shiny!
b) DragonCon. ACK!
c) all of the above.
And the answer is c. I had fun, went to a party, and discovered that with less than a month to go till DragonCon, I am not prepared. (note: Dragoncon is a huge Sci-fi/fantasy/science/gaming/everything else convention in Atlanta. Tom Felton will be there this year. And Patrick Steward. I hope someone warned them about the heat)
So as I frantically try to get 4 costumes together, discover nothing fits (which happens when you lose 50 pounds), and renew my acquaintance with my sewing machine (which hasn't been used in 12 years), plus panic about the fact that I am talking about knitting again in a official capacity when I have yet to make a sweater, I give you random pictures to distract you. Most are from DragonCon last year (except the shawl. The shawl is there because I made it and I like it and I really need to figure out where I put it.) Also, I am not in any of these pictures because I took them all.
Ignore the lack of actual content and enjoy the shiny!
Friday, August 7, 2009
the Pet Search Continues
And the search continues....
Sadly the wasp was vetoed by the melee, who complained about not being able to target. I've picked up a raptor, but so far am unimpressed. The color change is nice, but um, I only like one of the two schemes. Le sigh.
In other news, the replenishment nerf is making my life more interesting, but isn't too bad. Instead of being at 90% or above all the time, I might actually run out now. But it is nowhere near as bad as it was right after 3.1, when I could spend 40% of my mana in 3 shots.
Naxx is bugged, which derailed our raid this week. When both the live side and the dead side decide to eat your face at the same time no matter what side you're on, and also don't have the courtesy to bugger off once you engage the big guy, well, it's a near-perfect recipe for a wipe. Stupid mobs, breaking the laws of physics.
Just as well, really. Two quarters down and not a single agility drop. Obviously this wasn't my gear week.
In other news, I give you a screenshot of the wasp. I am now officially attached, and am keeping him to run heroics and anything else that doesn't involve the complaining melee. Yes, he is that big, and see if you can find the smiley face!
Sadly the wasp was vetoed by the melee, who complained about not being able to target. I've picked up a raptor, but so far am unimpressed. The color change is nice, but um, I only like one of the two schemes. Le sigh.
In other news, the replenishment nerf is making my life more interesting, but isn't too bad. Instead of being at 90% or above all the time, I might actually run out now. But it is nowhere near as bad as it was right after 3.1, when I could spend 40% of my mana in 3 shots.
Naxx is bugged, which derailed our raid this week. When both the live side and the dead side decide to eat your face at the same time no matter what side you're on, and also don't have the courtesy to bugger off once you engage the big guy, well, it's a near-perfect recipe for a wipe. Stupid mobs, breaking the laws of physics.
Just as well, really. Two quarters down and not a single agility drop. Obviously this wasn't my gear week.
In other news, I give you a screenshot of the wasp. I am now officially attached, and am keeping him to run heroics and anything else that doesn't involve the complaining melee. Yes, he is that big, and see if you can find the smiley face!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The Search for a Pet
My search for a pet that makes me happy continues. I've been raiding with a white moth for a bit, but while pretty, she is eh. So instead of hitting the new instance or any instance at all, I went pet hunting.
I've picked up a wasp (the purple one from the Basin) and so far I love the look, like the special attack, and the only flaw is the wings getting in my way of targeting things. I'll be taking it into Naxx to see how it performs and whether my guidlies will tolerate it.
If not, these are my options...
A blue raptor
A color-changing ravager
or
a blue netherray
All three of them have a special ability that at least sounds useful and they're all three attractive-looking. Yes, I want a pretty pet. Granted, two of the three are cunning, and thus not top dps, but they have utility. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
In other news, my pally went up a level and a half farming for a raptor pet. No luck on that front, but loads of ore and chests, so I can't complain.
I've picked up a wasp (the purple one from the Basin) and so far I love the look, like the special attack, and the only flaw is the wings getting in my way of targeting things. I'll be taking it into Naxx to see how it performs and whether my guidlies will tolerate it.
If not, these are my options...
A blue raptor
A color-changing ravager
or
a blue netherray
All three of them have a special ability that at least sounds useful and they're all three attractive-looking. Yes, I want a pretty pet. Granted, two of the three are cunning, and thus not top dps, but they have utility. Or at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
In other news, my pally went up a level and a half farming for a raptor pet. No luck on that front, but loads of ore and chests, so I can't complain.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
3.2 Patch Note Comments
As always, these are not complete Patch notes, but rather bits and pieces that catch my eye. Not many changes to hunters (and none to Marksmen), but there's plenty of nifty stuff. I'm also avoiding the pvp stuff and the new raid stuff, since well, neither will be affecting me for a while yet.
"New Dungeons Loot Feature
Players will now be able to trade soulbound items with other raid or group members that were eligible for the loot. This system will work like the Item Buy Back system and allow 2 hours for players to trade an item after it has been looted. Players who choose to enchant or add gems to the item will get one last confirmation before losing the ability to trade the item."
OMG, awesome! I can hear my friend Fi squealing from here (or would be able to if she was awake, which she probably isn't).
The quest log is now double-paned! As someone who's had Doublewide for ages now, I am thrilled!
Children's Week in Dal! Wolvar and Gorloc orphans! YAYAYAY!
A new ground mount for Nelves, faster mount cast time, cheaper mounts (and yay for being able to mount almost all my alts now)!
Flying over WG is now possible, as is flying over Dal. Just stay high enough off the ground.
Mathiel in Darn has finally stopped frittering away all that gold he makes from repair bills and has purchased an anvil.
8 new pets, not including Tourney ones. Raptor hatchlings can now be found as drops from rare and elite raptors throughout the game world, plus you can buy one from Breanni.
Randomly generated uncommon and rare blue quality items in WotLK had lower stat values then they were supposed to. All WotLK uncommon and rare items with random suffixes (aka of the Bear) have had their stat values increased significantly.
Hunter Stuff...
Traps go away sooner. Plan appropriately.
We now have 3 different trap cooldowns: fire (Immolation, Explosive, and Black Arrow), Frost (freezing and frost), and Nature (snake). You can have one of each placed at a time.
My pets now get 40% of my resilience (I have none) and 100% of my spell pen (again with the have none). Nice change for pvp though.
Other class stuff...
Judgements are all now considered melee attacks.
Beacon of Light has been fiddled with and now multiple pallies can now have this active on the same target.
Rogues can now use axes, and Sword Specialization is now called Hack and Slash and applies to both axes and swords.
Shamans get their totem bar, and chain heal jumps further.
Dks get their talents reset. Again. Plus, loads of changes to their trees.
Druids get flight form at 60. And it goes faster.
If you have a 310% speed mount, you can now go that speed in swift flight form.
Professions...
potions stack to 20.
5 new epic gem transmutes, including one you learn from a quest.
Chef's Hat makes you cook faster.
Engineering has loads of new stuff.
They buffed max ranks of all three gathering professions( Toughness, Master of Anatomy, and Lifeblood)
"New Dungeons Loot Feature
Players will now be able to trade soulbound items with other raid or group members that were eligible for the loot. This system will work like the Item Buy Back system and allow 2 hours for players to trade an item after it has been looted. Players who choose to enchant or add gems to the item will get one last confirmation before losing the ability to trade the item."
OMG, awesome! I can hear my friend Fi squealing from here (or would be able to if she was awake, which she probably isn't).
The quest log is now double-paned! As someone who's had Doublewide for ages now, I am thrilled!
Children's Week in Dal! Wolvar and Gorloc orphans! YAYAYAY!
A new ground mount for Nelves, faster mount cast time, cheaper mounts (and yay for being able to mount almost all my alts now)!
Flying over WG is now possible, as is flying over Dal. Just stay high enough off the ground.
Mathiel in Darn has finally stopped frittering away all that gold he makes from repair bills and has purchased an anvil.
8 new pets, not including Tourney ones. Raptor hatchlings can now be found as drops from rare and elite raptors throughout the game world, plus you can buy one from Breanni.
Randomly generated uncommon and rare blue quality items in WotLK had lower stat values then they were supposed to. All WotLK uncommon and rare items with random suffixes (aka of the Bear) have had their stat values increased significantly.
Hunter Stuff...
Traps go away sooner. Plan appropriately.
We now have 3 different trap cooldowns: fire (Immolation, Explosive, and Black Arrow), Frost (freezing and frost), and Nature (snake). You can have one of each placed at a time.
My pets now get 40% of my resilience (I have none) and 100% of my spell pen (again with the have none). Nice change for pvp though.
Other class stuff...
Judgements are all now considered melee attacks.
Beacon of Light has been fiddled with and now multiple pallies can now have this active on the same target.
Rogues can now use axes, and Sword Specialization is now called Hack and Slash and applies to both axes and swords.
Shamans get their totem bar, and chain heal jumps further.
Dks get their talents reset. Again. Plus, loads of changes to their trees.
Druids get flight form at 60. And it goes faster.
If you have a 310% speed mount, you can now go that speed in swift flight form.
Professions...
potions stack to 20.
5 new epic gem transmutes, including one you learn from a quest.
Chef's Hat makes you cook faster.
Engineering has loads of new stuff.
They buffed max ranks of all three gathering professions( Toughness, Master of Anatomy, and Lifeblood)
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Things I find amusing
So, after D&D tonight I wandered over to the Armory and checked out the other hunter that I've been competing with on dps in Naxx.
Now I can't stop laughing. She is outdpsing me, but um, her raiding pet isn't speced, she's not hit capped, and with her gear, she should be doing far more than 300 over me.
She may beat me on dps, but wow do I beat her on actually knowing my class. Go me.
In other nifty things, gear wishlist is nice to figure out upgrades. Combine that with the the online Hunter DPS spreadsheet and I now have a nice list of easy-to-get upgrades.
Now I can't stop laughing. She is outdpsing me, but um, her raiding pet isn't speced, she's not hit capped, and with her gear, she should be doing far more than 300 over me.
She may beat me on dps, but wow do I beat her on actually knowing my class. Go me.
In other nifty things, gear wishlist is nice to figure out upgrades. Combine that with the the online Hunter DPS spreadsheet and I now have a nice list of easy-to-get upgrades.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Summer Doldrums, grrr
I'm currently trying to fight off the summer doldrums and actually get excited about WoW again. As part of this strategy, I basically play whatever toon I feel like at any given moment. Sadly, this is generally not Garetia. I log on her to raid, and get new eggs. I need to be earning more cash for epic flying and getting the Skyguard rep grind done so I can have a mount once 3.2 hits, but my motivation is nil and it seems stupid to do chores in a game.
On the plus side, my DK finally got her mining to 300 and I can go level in Outlands. Huzzah!
I think part of my problem is 3.2. With the mount changes just around the corner, it seems pointless to be leveling any alts in the twenties. And since most of my alts (and almost all the Alt Project toons) are in the low twenties, well, not much leveling going on. I am pushing the dual-boxing toons, because they're on a deadline and I want to get two more pairs to 60 before RAF runs out. But even there, I play for a bit, get a level or two, and go do something else. I want to get them to 60, I really do, but leveling just seems so painful right now. Sigh.
I did find something new and interesting. The Azeroth Advisor. I like the newsletters, and the information about abilities is great. As someone who tends to ignore new abilities, being told what the new stuff is and what it's good for is great. I'm also having a great deal of fun with Inscription. Now, I just need to catch the druid's herbalism back up to her scribing and I should be golden.
On the plus side, my DK finally got her mining to 300 and I can go level in Outlands. Huzzah!
I think part of my problem is 3.2. With the mount changes just around the corner, it seems pointless to be leveling any alts in the twenties. And since most of my alts (and almost all the Alt Project toons) are in the low twenties, well, not much leveling going on. I am pushing the dual-boxing toons, because they're on a deadline and I want to get two more pairs to 60 before RAF runs out. But even there, I play for a bit, get a level or two, and go do something else. I want to get them to 60, I really do, but leveling just seems so painful right now. Sigh.
I did find something new and interesting. The Azeroth Advisor. I like the newsletters, and the information about abilities is great. As someone who tends to ignore new abilities, being told what the new stuff is and what it's good for is great. I'm also having a great deal of fun with Inscription. Now, I just need to catch the druid's herbalism back up to her scribing and I should be golden.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday Screenshot
And this would be picture-in-picture, wow style. Those two toons went from 6-10 in like an hour, and the Undercity has a pally trainer. Yay. So far the combo of pally/mage is a blast.
I promise huntery things next post. Dunno what, since all I do on her lately is raid Naxx, but I will think of something.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
More on this multiboxing thing...
I have now managed to get my raf dual-boxed toons up to 20 and have even managed to figure out a few neat things. Since someone asked, I shall share them with you.
1. A druid/priest pair is ridiculous fun. The druid bear-tanks and kitty-dpses, and the priest dpses and heals. It's a nice combo. (and yes, I have forsaken the warrior in favor of the druid. What can I say, I had way too much fun with swift flight form on the ptr.)
2. Hotkeynet is a really powerful program that is capable of many awesome things, and thankfully its web page has scripts for most of them. I had to do some tinkering (my keyboard lacks a scroll lock key and I use different movement keys then the default), but it wasn't too hard. I even got picture-in-picture to work (which makes life so much easier). Plus, it's a free program. Yay free.
3. Macros are key. Seriously. They don't have to be anything complicated, and in fact most of mine are things like...
/target Monera
/cast Heal
or /assist Monera
/cast Shadow Word: Pain
Nice and simple, but it means that I can just hit a button for the priest to heal the druid or to target whatever the druid's targeting and cast Shadow Word: Pain at it.
4. Professions. Well, I've already outleveled my herbalism on the druid, and the less said about the priest's mining, the better. It might actually be easier to just go back once you hit 60. But if you're going to do professions, do ones that offer your toons armor upgrades. The priest is also a tailor, and most of her gear is stuff she made herself. Fewer quests and kills means your gear is not going to be as good, so making stuff yourself saves gold.
So far I have thoroughly enjoyed multiboxing, but there are a few caveats....
One, having someone try to talk to you while you're doing it (especially if you're using hotkeynet or another keycloning program) is a bit of a nightmare.
Two, without macros and addons (I suggest Jamba), you will be switching back and forth a lot.
Three, you will generally not learn as much about each class as if you were playing them individually.
Four, it gets expensive. My toons are certainly not self-supported, and if you're doing this on a new realm, roll a DK first for the cash.
Five, it's far easier to have all the gathering professions on one toon. Less switching back and forth.
And Six, you need to have a decent PC to do it. Mine is not a top of the line, but it is a dual core with 2 gigs of RAM, and an okay video card.
1. A druid/priest pair is ridiculous fun. The druid bear-tanks and kitty-dpses, and the priest dpses and heals. It's a nice combo. (and yes, I have forsaken the warrior in favor of the druid. What can I say, I had way too much fun with swift flight form on the ptr.)
2. Hotkeynet is a really powerful program that is capable of many awesome things, and thankfully its web page has scripts for most of them. I had to do some tinkering (my keyboard lacks a scroll lock key and I use different movement keys then the default), but it wasn't too hard. I even got picture-in-picture to work (which makes life so much easier). Plus, it's a free program. Yay free.
3. Macros are key. Seriously. They don't have to be anything complicated, and in fact most of mine are things like...
/target Monera
/cast Heal
or /assist Monera
/cast Shadow Word: Pain
Nice and simple, but it means that I can just hit a button for the priest to heal the druid or to target whatever the druid's targeting and cast Shadow Word: Pain at it.
4. Professions. Well, I've already outleveled my herbalism on the druid, and the less said about the priest's mining, the better. It might actually be easier to just go back once you hit 60. But if you're going to do professions, do ones that offer your toons armor upgrades. The priest is also a tailor, and most of her gear is stuff she made herself. Fewer quests and kills means your gear is not going to be as good, so making stuff yourself saves gold.
So far I have thoroughly enjoyed multiboxing, but there are a few caveats....
One, having someone try to talk to you while you're doing it (especially if you're using hotkeynet or another keycloning program) is a bit of a nightmare.
Two, without macros and addons (I suggest Jamba), you will be switching back and forth a lot.
Three, you will generally not learn as much about each class as if you were playing them individually.
Four, it gets expensive. My toons are certainly not self-supported, and if you're doing this on a new realm, roll a DK first for the cash.
Five, it's far easier to have all the gathering professions on one toon. Less switching back and forth.
And Six, you need to have a decent PC to do it. Mine is not a top of the line, but it is a dual core with 2 gigs of RAM, and an okay video card.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
On the PTR
I am having a ridiculous amount of fun on the PTR. I moved over some premades and have been playing with them (great way to try out a class). I also moved over Garetia, and discovered Northrend Orphans' Week. OMG, so cute! I love love love the baby Oracles and their sayings and just awesome.
I may have taken a ridiculous number of screenshots of it. I will get some of the other side as well on a different character, just to see.
The new quest log is nice, and I may ditch questhelper for it, at least on Garetia.
So without further ado, screencaps...
Bickering orphans. Really cute.
So now, not only is my worgen neutered, he also suffers from Gigantism. Just way too amusing.
The new quest tracker on the world map
The random pally I transfered. I have no idea what I'm doing. All premades come with 450 jewelcrafting, a bunch of gems, a ton of equipment, epic flying, a war bear, and um, no need for training. A level 80 druid is ridiculously fun. No wonder they're so popular. Also, there are some new hairstyles to try, and the forms aren't bad.
I may have taken a ridiculous number of screenshots of it. I will get some of the other side as well on a different character, just to see.
The new quest log is nice, and I may ditch questhelper for it, at least on Garetia.
So without further ado, screencaps...
Bickering orphans. Really cute.
So now, not only is my worgen neutered, he also suffers from Gigantism. Just way too amusing.
The new quest tracker on the world map
The random pally I transfered. I have no idea what I'm doing. All premades come with 450 jewelcrafting, a bunch of gems, a ton of equipment, epic flying, a war bear, and um, no need for training. A level 80 druid is ridiculously fun. No wonder they're so popular. Also, there are some new hairstyles to try, and the forms aren't bad.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
RL pets
I have a new pet in RL. And I feel compelled to share the cute, because, well, I blame my ovaries really. I'm genetically programmed to like cute.
She's a rescue dog, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She enjoys being scratched, watching me raid, and being with me at all times. All times. God help me if I need to bio, cause she will whine till I come back.
Wow-wise, not much going on. We failed at live side last night, and apparently it was all my fault for protecting the healers. Okay, next time I'll let the squishy tree and priest die instead of putting down traps in front of them and pulling mobs off them. Honestly, I don't think my keeping the healers alive was a problem, I think it was the fact that I was the only hunter protecting them. I am squishy, true, but the healers are even more squishy than me.
She's a rescue dog, and a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. She enjoys being scratched, watching me raid, and being with me at all times. All times. God help me if I need to bio, cause she will whine till I come back.
Wow-wise, not much going on. We failed at live side last night, and apparently it was all my fault for protecting the healers. Okay, next time I'll let the squishy tree and priest die instead of putting down traps in front of them and pulling mobs off them. Honestly, I don't think my keeping the healers alive was a problem, I think it was the fact that I was the only hunter protecting them. I am squishy, true, but the healers are even more squishy than me.
Friday, July 10, 2009
A bit of QQ
I've kinda been avoiding posting this week because well, I didn't want to be all "THEY TOOK MY WORGEN, MAN!" Needless to say, though I respect Blizzard's right to create and enforce the rules in their world, castrating my worgen did not sit well with me.
Instead I thought it might be more interesting to look at why I was angry. And what it comes down to is customization. Right now, the highest dps pet is a wolf. I don't particularly like the wolf models in Wow. I've been running around with a pet I don't like much for weeks just for the dps. So, when I found a wolf skin that I actually liked, that was a big happy. And then Blizzard castrated it. For a short while I was running around with a pet that made me happy and one that was a respectable raid pet all rolled into one.
I'm a nelf hunter. I look like all the other nelf hunters, I'm wearing the same drab armor as all the other hunters, and I have the same pets as all the other hunters. Darn it, I was actually noticeable and interesting for a short while and now it's back to blah.
Or rather mostly blah. I've decided that it is ridiculously stupid for me to run around with a pet that does not make me happy. So for the moment I've pulled out the cat, but long term I'm going to find a ferocity or cunning pet that makes me happy. I'm leaning towards leveling the DH, but I'll hit warcraft pets and see what looks shiny.
And as far as customization goes, Blizz, trust me on this one. Armor dyes. Alchemists make them, and only tailors, leatherworkers, or blacksmiths can apply them (depending on the type of armor).
Also, the ability to turn off my shoulders like I can turn off my helm and cloak. I'd love this. So so much. Why, oh why, are my shoulders so stupid-looking? You have this lovely lithe hunter with close-clinging mail armor, and shoulders I could use as punch bowls (if I removed the spikes). Aesthetically, not a good look.
Instead I thought it might be more interesting to look at why I was angry. And what it comes down to is customization. Right now, the highest dps pet is a wolf. I don't particularly like the wolf models in Wow. I've been running around with a pet I don't like much for weeks just for the dps. So, when I found a wolf skin that I actually liked, that was a big happy. And then Blizzard castrated it. For a short while I was running around with a pet that made me happy and one that was a respectable raid pet all rolled into one.
I'm a nelf hunter. I look like all the other nelf hunters, I'm wearing the same drab armor as all the other hunters, and I have the same pets as all the other hunters. Darn it, I was actually noticeable and interesting for a short while and now it's back to blah.
Or rather mostly blah. I've decided that it is ridiculously stupid for me to run around with a pet that does not make me happy. So for the moment I've pulled out the cat, but long term I'm going to find a ferocity or cunning pet that makes me happy. I'm leaning towards leveling the DH, but I'll hit warcraft pets and see what looks shiny.
And as far as customization goes, Blizz, trust me on this one. Armor dyes. Alchemists make them, and only tailors, leatherworkers, or blacksmiths can apply them (depending on the type of armor).
Also, the ability to turn off my shoulders like I can turn off my helm and cloak. I'd love this. So so much. Why, oh why, are my shoulders so stupid-looking? You have this lovely lithe hunter with close-clinging mail armor, and shoulders I could use as punch bowls (if I removed the spikes). Aesthetically, not a good look.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
BEST PET EVER!
I checked my normal wow community today, and saw a wonderful post about taming a worgen. It pointed me to this blog post and from there to wowhead. Luckily, alpha worg was one of the few HF quests I did not complete.
I quickly respeced to Survival for Wyvern Sting, and wandered off to the Fjord.
I found Garwal with two other hunters. We took turns trying and feigning death when it failed, and on my 4th try...
I HAZ A WORGEN! It's tricky, and in my case it was far more luck than skill. I did switch out my staff for a fishing pole to better control my damage, but expect to take some time on this tame. But but but so worth it. He appears to be a regular wolf as far as skills/training go, and reports indicate that he can be safely leveled. Just stay away from Arenas and you will hopefully have your very own werewolf for years to come.
I quickly respeced to Survival for Wyvern Sting, and wandered off to the Fjord.
I found Garwal with two other hunters. We took turns trying and feigning death when it failed, and on my 4th try...
I HAZ A WORGEN! It's tricky, and in my case it was far more luck than skill. I did switch out my staff for a fishing pole to better control my damage, but expect to take some time on this tame. But but but so worth it. He appears to be a regular wolf as far as skills/training go, and reports indicate that he can be safely leveled. Just stay away from Arenas and you will hopefully have your very own werewolf for years to come.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Ooh, lookie what I can do! Yup, that is two instances of wow running, and two characters being controlled at the same time. Or rather one character being controlled and one on follow. It's a warrior and priest pair, and so far it's going pretty well. The warrior's a skinner/herbalist, and the main one I'm controlling. The priest just follows along, and occasionally I switch over to her to heal the warrior. She has no professions as of yet, but I'm thinking Inscription/Tailoring. I'm not using any fancy software or macros or anything atm, but I need to find some. I know there's an addon for multiboxing that I need to go looking for, and I have the key cloning software, just haven't figured out how to use it yet. So for the moment, it's the primitive, but effective, window switch.
Quite a change from yesterday when I couldn't log on at all. Of course, I ran the repair tool which removed all my addons, but I've decided to use that opportunity to pare down my addon collection. I think instead of the crapton I have now, I'll stick with the following.
XPerl for unit frames and general pretty
Bartender because if it isn't on a bar I'm going to forget I have the ability
Questhelper cause I like being told where to go
Sexy Map for the pretty
Power Auras Classic to tell me important stuff like Demon armor has fallen off the warlock. I suspect it'll be even more useful with the dualboxing to remind me to keep both characters buffed.
Auctioneer because cash is good
Recount because I need to know my dps. NEED.
Omen, because otherwise how will I know if I'm winning the minigame or not? And yes, I routinely do win despite not being top dps. Stupid bursty mm spec, why can't I quit you?
Deadly Boss Mods because otherwise I will stand in the fire. (okay, so I generally don't, but still good to have)
Altaholic because I am firmly convinced this is the greatest addon EVER. I love being able to see what my alts have and don't have, where their profession skills are and what they can learn, as well as being able to select a recipe and know instantly what alts don't know it yet. Great addon for anyone with alts.
I'll let you guys know more about this multiboxing thing as I figure out more, and
HAPPY 4th of July!
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