New Old Adventures
It’s been almost 2 weeks since I started playing again. Loronar is now a level 80 hunter (because I have not bought Cataclysm yet). I am planning to delay buying the new expansion until I can finish exploring Northrend content up to at least Sholazar Basin. While finishing Grizzly Hills and starting Zul’Drak, it made me realize how nice it feels to quest without everyone else running around like when Wrath first came out. Unfortunately it’s hard to find anyone to do group quests anymore. I’m guessing it will be nicer when I finally move on to level 85 without everyone competing for the same quests as well.
In any case, I’ve managed to get all my secondary professions (including fishing) up to 450. It’s also nice to finally see some changes in the game, including the Cenarion War Hippogryph mount getting a walking animation.
Late night fishing in Dalaran with some great company
Mount of choice: Cenarion War Hippogryph
My new project, however, has been an experiment in healing. I rolled a Tauren shaman on a new server and am only leveling him through dungeons. This way, I get to have a jump start on learning how to heal in groups. It’s been a very positive experience, and tanks seem to be happy with my performance since I got some praises after some tight situations. I’m also well on my way to getting the Classic Dungeonmaster achievement.
Hello, Shadowforge City. I've only seen you in screenshots.
Can I say I am an awesome Alterac Valley healer?
Finally, it appears Horde trade chat has its own fun as well.
Happy Winter Veil
Good morning and Happy Winter Veil to all!
I hope you’ve been good boys and girls while I’m gone. May Blizzard give you the presents you wished for and may you find a chance to spend time with your families (inside and outside Azeroth).
The snow effect will be sticking around here until New Year, so enjoy a white Winter Veil with us if there is no snow where you are!
Fighting For A Cause
Tuesday was Veterans’ Day in the United States. It’s a bit late, but I dedicate this entry to the veterans, not just in the military, but to those who have fought in the battlefields of Azeroth.
Tabards.
They are more than just ornaments for your armor.
At the end of Burning Crusade, the Shattered Sun Offensive tabard became widely popular. Some people like wearing it for the design. But for me, wearing that tabard meant something more. It was a sign that the races of Azeroth banded into one front against Kael’thas and Kil’jaeden to prevent the Burning Legion from returning to the world.
Suddenly, the importance of the guild tabard paled in comparison to the new cause we were fighting for. It was a sign that that I participated and lived to tell the tale of how Alliance and Horde worked together to build the Shattered Sun Offensive into a formidable fighting force.
The Shattered Sun tabards became somewhat of a symbol for those who were able to progress far enough to have contributed to the Offensive’s efforts. Remember when Patch 2.4 rolled around and transformed Shattrath into a staging ground for a full-scale assault? It is no more different that Patch 3.0.2 transforming the capital cities into staging grounds for Northrend.
Together, we ended the Burning Crusade.
Now, as I wait patiently for the next boat to carry me to the icy continent, I proudly wear the Argent Dawn tabard. It is in remembrance of the Scourge attacks on our cities and our people. It was a reward for helping the Argent Dawn rebuild its forces in preparation for an expedition to Northrend.
It is a promise and a commitment to fight for the good of all Azeroth and confront the Lich King and his forces in Northrend. We will take the Argent Crusade to the heart of Icecrown.
Arthas, we are coming for you.
Proof I Am A Pack Rat
I wrote up this post about a month ago, before Patch 3.0.2, so the some of the items in the bank and action bars don’t exist anymore. The main message of the post remains: I collect things.
Pike wanted to see our bank after showing hers. I guess there’s no harm in doing that. I think she had it easy though. So here it is with full bags open. If only you could see my bank alt. I keep a lot of junk on my main.
Bank Row 1
- [Recoilless Rocket Ripper X-54]; One thing you will notice is that I keep almost every type of weapon that hunters can use, just so I can level the skill eventually.
- [Wrathtide Longbow]
- [Sethekk Feather-Darts]
- [Holy Dust]
- [Khorium Lockbox]
- [Everlasting Underspore Frond]
- [Bloodboil Poison]
Bank Row 2
- [Illidari-Bane Claymore]
- [Honed Voidaxe]
- [The Burning Crusader]; You are not prepared!
- [Dreamer's Dragonstaff]
- [Charmed Amani Jewel]
- [Medicinal Drake Essence]
- [Distilled Stalker Sight]
Bank Row 3
- [Terokkar Axe]
- [Edge of Oppression]
- [Design: Tenacious Earthstorm Diamond]; World drop item that I have to sell.
- [Soul Essence]
- [Brewfest Prize Ticket]
- [Darkmoon Faire Prize Ticket]
Bank Row 4
- [Pauldrons of the Fallen Hero]
- [Pauldrons of the Fallen Hero]; Don’t ask me why I had a grand total of three T4 shoulder tokens. Two of them came from the same run because the raid leader mistakenly gave both to me, and the mage said he didn’t really need it since it was a sidegrade.
- [Demon Stalker Shoulderguards]; My only piece of T4 gear. The is is the result of my (un)luck with rolls.
- [Reins of the Striped Frostsaber]
- [Golden Gryphon]
- [Swift Red Gryphon]
- [Letter from Shattrath]; This summons to see A’dal begins the Trials of the Naaru that must be completed in order to become a Champion.
Bag Slot 1
This bag contains mostly gear. The most notable items in this bag are the 4 out of 5 pieces of Beast Lord Armor that I possess. I’m only missing the [Beast Lord Mantle].
Bag Slot 2
Tokens and tabards go into this bag. Battleground tokens, Halaa tokens, Honor Hold tokens, and turn-ins for Consortium, Kurenai, Ogri’la, and Netherwing reputation. The [Competitor's Tabard], [Green Trophy Tabard of the Illidari], [Tabard of the Summer Flames], and [Guild Tabard] are also in this bag.
Bag Slot 3
A bunch of things I find from fishing, bottled nethergon from Tempest Keep, Shattered Sun Offensive consumables, and a [Sundered Chrysoprase].
Bag Slot 4
Items I have used at one point or another to complete or as part of a quest. One example is the [Faded Photograph] that references the Legend of Zelda.
Bag Slot 5
Cooking materials. Some cooked, some uncooked.
Bag Slot 6
A bunch of random stuff from festivals and other toys. There are the only two pieces of resilience gear I have for PvP and fire resistance items. You can also see [Fists of Mukoa] and [Band of Devastation] from Black Temple, but I don’t find them as fitting for my current gear, hence they go in the bank.
Bag Slot 7
This bag contains most of the trinkets and interesting quest rewards I keep as trophies.
Hello, 3.0.2
Well, after getting the files from my apartmentmate, I am now running the latest version of World of Warcraft. The first time I copied the files over, the game just crashed upon loading, so I had to delete the folder contents and copy the whole thing.
New talent spec: 7/52/2 (Marksmanship)
I suppose it’s time to start looking for a Tenacity pet. Any suggestions?
Achievements
- 103/750 achievements earned instantly.
- 1,045 achievement points.
- 1,317 quests completed.
- 70 Cooking recipes learned.
- 11 Blade’s Edge Mountains quests short of achieving Loremaster of Outland achievement.
I’m still trying to figure out the quirks of the new features. One thing I did notice though was that they finally added modified the ground animation for the [Cenarion War Hippogryph]. It bounces more instead of looking like it’s flying 2 feet off the ground.
I Can Haz Durid!
I can haz resto durid!
I haven’t logged on my hunter for about 2 weeks now. The account is still active, but I just can’t keep up with posting if I haven’t really been doing anything in game. Senior year of college is keeping me very busy with all the activities I’m a part of.
However, last week, my apartmentmates and I decided we should all play WoW. The result is that one of the guys and I invited two of our apartmentmates to start playing. One of them started, so we’re still waiting on the other.
In choosing classes that would best make up a full group, I expressed interest in playing a druid. After deciding what the others wanted, it appears I will be a restoration druid. It’s the only aspect of the game I haven’t tried before: healing. He’s at level 9 right now, but still progressing. There’s a certain difference in game pacing when you’re leveling that makes it fitting to a busy college life. Instead of the daily routine, questing while leveling gives that feeling you’re still seeing new content.
So if you’re looking for me in-game and haven’t found me on my hunter, come over to US-Gorgonnash and look for Bentuk on Horde side. (Yes, you read that right. I’m a Tauren druid.)
To Infinity And Beyond
Well, I never thought this day would come, but here it is. 366 days of playing World of Warcraft.
August 16, 2007: After trying out the game on a friend’s account for several days, I bought World of Warcraft and activated the account on the same day. Loronar the hunter was created and leveled to 8 on the same day.
Princess Theradras in Maraudon
October 9, 2007: My first blog Ranger’s Bow was created. It was inspired by reading some of the older blogs around, especially BigRedKitty, Kestrel’s Aerie, and Mystic Chicanery.
November 23, 2007: Bought Burning Crusade during Black Friday. It was about $10 cheaper than the suggested retail price at the time.
December 8, 2007: Entered Outland upon reaching level 58. I had such a hard time killing mobs for quests at this time because I was wearing a lot of greens and some gear that was very outdated from the early 50s.
January 17, 2008: Level 70 on Loronar achieved after some heavy-duty questing for a week. I meticulously completed every quest I had in each zone before moving on. We hit level 70 questing around Sylvanaar in Blade’s Edge Mountains.
January 22, 2008: Stopped playing to get ready for the start of spring semester at school.
The Dark Portal
March 12, 2008: Reactivated account prior to spring break, in anticipation of Patch 2.4.
March 22, 2008: First Karazhan run with the guild, completed over 2 days. [Beastmaw Pauldrons], [Cowl of Defiance], and [Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix] become my first epic-quality items.
March 28, 2008: Current blog 35 Yards Out created.
April 21, 2008: Obtained [Sonic Spear] from Shadow Labyrinth while helping several guild mates with the trash leading up to and including Murmur himself.
May 25, 2008: Accumulated 5200 gold for epic flying mount.
May 27, 2008: First time into Gruul’s Lair with a PuG group. After a slow start, we were able to finish the place.
June 5, 2008: First time into Magtheridon’s Lair with a PuG group. After three attempts, we defeated him with most of the raid still standing.
A friend obtains swift flying form.
June 12, 2008: Accumulated 1600 gold for the [Cenarion War Hippogryph].
June 25, 2008: 35 Yards Out is featured on WoW Insider.
July 10, 2008: First time into Black Temple. The Hand of Fate makes its first attempt at High Warlord Naj’entus to 26%. They returned the next week without us and progressed all the way to Shade of Akama.
July 11, 2008: First time into Serpentshrine Cavern with Knights of Redemption. Best attempt at 30%, including surviving an enrage timer. Hydross the Unstable fell the next week.
July 13, 2008: Achieved the title Champion of the Naaru after going with a PuG group for Magtheridon’s Lair.
July 17, 2008: First time into Hyjal Summit. Made ten attempts at Archimonde, and I had bought my [Medallion of the Alliance] the day before.
August 5, 2008: First participation in a guild progression kill in Black Temple by defeating Teron Gorefiend. That night saw my first upgrades from tier 6 content.
August 16, 2008: Where we are today. Will we stay for another year? Only time will tell.
At the moment, I’m going to be playing less than usual because school is starting up again, and raiding will take too much time away from studying. I will most likely continue to post and comment on people’s blogs, so don’t think that I will be going away. It has been a very productive year, and I’m grateful to have friends and fellow bloggers to share those experiences with.
I leave with you some current data. Be Imba! has our PvE gear scored at 225.22, and a 776 score on WoW Heroes. The following charts from my profile at WoWProgress show progression in Agility and Ranged Attack Power, respectively, since I first started raiding in March.
The Neverending Story?
I enjoy Wednesday nights because it’s the night our guild takes off from raiding. It’s nice to get a break from all the chaos and preparations for 25-man raids. So on nights like these, I generally start farming or questing. And as I looked through my quest log, something hit me. At this point, I have no outstanding quests other than some quest chains that require dungeon content or a group of several people. This does not include quests for raids or daily quests.
When I started raiding 25-man, I hit a slump where I wouldn’t quest at all. I had completed half of Netherstorm and none of Shadowmoon Valley. then slowly but surely, Netherstorm was finally completed. Motivation for pushing through Shadowmoon Valley quests came from attunements for 25-man content, particularly to get the Champion of the Naaru title and the Black Temple attunement. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it. Burning Crusade was announced with “hundreds of new quests”. Has anyone ever really counted? Did I really complete the majority of those hundreds of quests?
The thing is, I enjoy plain old questing more than daily quests. What happens when the single driving reason that kept me playing early on is suddenly being taken away, catching me unprepared? I don’t want to lose interest in my hunter, but what would I do when I’ve run out of quests? Sit around in Shattrath on the LFG channel? That doesn’t sound too promising. I can’t bring myself to do dailies for another set of factions after getting exalted with the Shattered Sun Offensive. All that daily questing burnt me out I think.
I feel like not many people can say they’ve gotten to this point, at least on my server. I wish Blizzard implemented more new quests with each patch because the story should not end where the quests end.
Progression Thrills, Gorefiend Dead
We paid our respects all right. And Teron Gorefiend is dead on the floors of Black Temple. (You’ll see me on the right.)
The Hand of Fate kills Teron Gorefiend.
It was my first time taking part in a progression kill with my guild. It wasn’t too shabby either. We got him down on the third try, and I didn’t blow up the raid with constructs. The last time we were in here last week, I think I screwed up partially by just being a bit slow. This time, the raid just DPS’d away as I got the debuff. I didn’t even realize Gorefiend was down until everyone was yelling in chat and on Ventrilo because I was too focused on the constructs.
We walked away with [Shoulders of the Hidden Predator] from Shade of Akama and [Softstep Boots of Tracking] from Gorefiend himself.
I must say, there’s nothing like the feeling that you’ve taken part in a progression kill.
One of These Is Not Like the Other
It’s been a while since we’ve played on Anejon. We decided to forgo the Friday raid because we’re planning on going with the guild on Monday to get our Black Temple attunements in Serpentshrine Cavern.
So instead, I decided to go play on Anejon and see if I can still play a warrior. I logged on as level 17 and decided to solo the Defias escort quest. Well, I managed to get halfway into Moonbrook but pretty much aggroed anything near me. Fortunately, a priest was kind enough to heal me, which helped me finish the quest.
Then I proceeded to ask if anyone in my guild would be willing to take me through Deadmines. (I would’ve looked for a group and tank, but it was Friday afternoon, and I didn’t think many people would be up for it.) A warrior guildmate was kind enough to offer, and off we went.
It was a night for weapon drops. Anejon picked up [Cruel Barb], [Smite's Reaver], [Rhahk'Zor's Hammer], and [Cookie's Tenderizer]. All usable for warriors. So that now we’re better geared instead of outleveling our gear by at least 5, we went back to questing, and it was so much easier.
By the end of it, Anejon was level 19, and I decided to try out PvP at the low levels. Warsong Gulch. Home of level 19 twinks. It was an interesting experience. My HP was probably less than half that of warrior twinks. I kind of felt bad for being a non-twink because it would hold the others back. We went with one win and one loss with almost 40 honorable kills. It was fun since WSG was the daily battleground also.
I think it’s more fun doing PvP at this level. You don’t have people wearing resilience gear. It’s just pure enchants and drop gear. All PvE gear. Despite the difference between twinks and non-twinks, I think it’s somehow more fair. Given the limited number of abilities, it’s not really about spec either. It’s about skill and using what you have to play well. No Brutal Gladiators; no Mortal Strike warriors; etc. Heck, I nearly solo’d a hunter that was in twink gear, with his boar breathing on my back. I had more fun doing it than when I PvP on my hunter.
I think I’ll come back to level her again more often.
Tweaking for Raiding: 7/45/9
A bit over a week ago, I respecced from my solo/grouping spec into a full raiding spec because I’ve been doing a lot more raids lately. However, it wasn’t to the spec I previously recommended.
I’ve made several adjustments to the original build based on several considerations and made the following changes:
- Stamina and Health. Looking at all the hunters I raid Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep with, they have at least 9000 health. I had just over 8100. The problem is, I don’t PvP, so it’s unlikely I would reach that mark without some help. After reviewing Improved Aspect of the Hawk and Haste for marksmen, I decided to drop it for Endurance Training.
- Utility. I’ve noticed not many Beast Mastery hunters pick up Improved Hunter’s Mark, so we’ve taken things into our own hands and picked it up. (You win, Lienna.)
- Mana Efficiency. I’ve come to realize that without Efficiency, Improved Arcane Shot would consume too much mana too fast. Therefore, we’ve dropped the talent in favor of better talents.
- Downtime Management. Rapid Killing helps me manage my DPS downtime better. I’m more aware now how much time I spent repositioning and will try to start shooting before the buff ends after killing a mob.
Some preliminary results, based on several raid encounters over the past week and a half.
- Extended survivability, given full awareness of the surrounding environment, observed at Archimonde in Hyjal Summit. Most attempts, I was one the last standing after Soul Charges because I am now also over 10,000 health when fully raid buffed.
- In a melee heavy group, Improved Hunter’s Mark adds to expediency of a boss fight, observed at Maiden of Virtue in Karazhan. 3 melee players and 3 hunter pets. A fight that lasted 1 minute and 50 seconds.
- Multi-Shot does considerably more damage then Arcane Shot due to Barrage and Improved Barrage, recorded at Hydross the Unstable in Serpentshrine Cavern. 15% of damage recorded is from Multi-Shot, while 11% is from Arcane Shot, with Multi-Shot producing a critical strike 38% of the time I used the ability.
- Pet damage contribution increased by 50% after taking up Go for the Throat. Comparison between fighting Gruul the Dragonkiller and Hydross the Unstable.
- After taking up Rapid Killing, I recorded 100% activity time against trash mobs in Tempest Keep. There is no point in time during the raid when I did not contribute something.
I’m satisfied for now with my current build. Perhaps if the circumstances change, I will respec again. The Marksmanship tree is fluid and always changing according to circumstances.
Random Question to Readers
How many of you have seen [Talon of Al'ar] drop in Tempest Keep? I’ve been looking at it all day and thinking how awesome it would be for a Marksmanship rotation. My guild has never seen it drop, but we are going back in again next month for Black Temple attunements. So now I’m hoping it will drop.
Forward to the Past
Well, it seems Thursdays are my lucky days. I got to raid with my guild’s main raiding group again because they needed DPS. This time, we went to Hyjal Summit to see if we can get Archimonde down. The raid team had gone into Black Temple again on Tuesday to finish off High Warlord Naj’entus, Supremus, and Shade of Akama. The count is now 4/5 SSC, 3/4 TK, 4/5 Hyjal, and 3/9 BT.
This run, we got all of the first four bosses one-shotted, minus a few wipes and partial wipes on trash mobs. The furthest we got Archimonde down to was 79%, and it was the best attempt the guild has had in several weeks. I believe their best ever was 52% from what I was told. After 10 wipes, we called off the raid because people needed to go to sleep. Hey, at least I used my [Medallion of the Alliance], the only reason I did battlegrounds.
But the best part is when your screen flashes with:
That made my day. :-D It’s not every day you get to see something like that.
More pictures below. (more…)
Introduction!
Hey everyone!
Loronar introduced me a bit already, but I’m your friendly neighborhood boomstik! Aptly named Ihasboomstik.
Loronar and I are good friends (cept when we’re rolling for lewtz, jk jk) and he’s right that I’m a BM spec hunter. I used to roll MM until I hit Outland and didn’t like how my awesome bear (Bigwhitebar) was having trouble with same level mobs or how I would easily pull aggro off him or how I had to drink pretty much after every kill. So I specced BM and got me a ravager (Imaspikyroar).
Loronar is more hardcore about this game than I am. I took the longest out of all of our group of friends to hit 70 and get purples. I just started running Kara only a few weeks ago, too.
In any case, feel free to direct any questions or messages to me or anything. I can be found at Ihasboomstik, on my pally tank alt Ihasaggro, or on my own blog at my Citadel of Zoning.
In the meantime, I should probably get back to work instead of posting.
We Are the Champions
You may call me Loronar, Champion of the Naaru.
We logged in today to get an invite from Knights of Redemption for a 25-man raid. Since we didn’t have enough for either Hydross or Void Reaver, we went ahead and PUG’d a few people for Magtheridon and Gruul’s Lair. The token for [Demon Stalker Shoulderguards] dropped, but we lost the roll. But we were happy with the title!
Be Imba! also says we’re in top shape for raids.
Wrath of the Lich King can come any day now.
From Auchindoun to Hydross
As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve found a place where I can raid Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep.
I’m currently on the raid bench of Knights of Redemption, a two-month-old guild that’s just venturing into Tier 5 content. I first came across this guild while levelling my melee weapons, particularly swords, so I could dual wield [Quickening Blade of the Prince] and [Akil'zon's Talonblade] with +20 agility enchants when I don’t need a hit cap. Hitting Cabal Agents outside of Shadow Labyrinth, a paladin came to level his two-handed axe skills. As we continued to hit NPCs for the next 30 minutes or so, we had some fun chatting (including what would happen is someone came to level their Warglaives and fending off a Horde rogue who kept coming out from farming mines in Shadow Labyrinth. At first I didn’t ask him about his guild, but I got curious and looked them out. Lo and behold, they were looking for friends to raid with them if they don’t have enough people for 25-mans.
We brought death to many Cabal Agents.
Two weeks later, it was their time to venture into SSC, and I got to tag along.
Screenshot or it didn’t happen: Marksmanship hunters can out-dps Beast Masters (Tanisra), warlocks (Lottadots), and mages (Solarious). And this is with my bad latency.
We made 7 or 8 attempts on Hydross. The furthest we got him down to was 30%. Every attempt was better than the previous one. At one point, we lasted through the entire Enrage timer, so we know that we definitely can survive for 10 minutes. The next item on the list was to tweak our strategy so that we have enough DPS to down Hydross while still dealing with adds. Attempt after attempt, something always happens that caused one of our two tanks to die. It got a little too much for some people, so we had to replace a few. Before we started to lose more, the raid leader called it for the night. We’ll try again next week to see if we’ve improved after the break. I’ve never been a progression raid for a guild other than my try at Naj’entus, but I’d say that’s a pretty normal pattern of wipe and learn. (I think?)
Face-to-face with Hydross the Unstable.
To be honest, I was so anxious in going into SSC that I practically stocked up on consummables, making sure I didn’t make the same mistake when I went to Black Temple. Three stacks of healing and mana potions, 10 mana oil charges, a stack of agility elixir, and more food for the pet. Since this is a guild progression fight, every single buff counts. I read up on both Hydross and Lurker (in case we got that far) fights and got the basic gist on how each one was supposed to go.
Let’s hope this is the beginning of my experience with 25-mans and DKP (we have DKP!!). I think they may be attempting Void Reaver on Sunday afternoon. Funny how one little encounter can change the course of your raiding career (if you can call it one).
Naj’entus Down. Almost.
Ever get the feeling you’re going somewhere you shouldn’t? Last night I did.
Our guild made its first foray into Black Temple after delaying another try at Archimonde. About an hour before the raid, everyone was told to look at the boss videos to make sure we know what we were doing. Of course, since I was never on the A team for 25-mans, I ignored this and PUG’d for Heroic Sethekk (which was the daily for the third time). Surely enough, they were lacking people, so they pulled me and my friend in while we were midway through the instance. I normally don’t abandon my groups, but this was too good to pass along.
It was a good thing that I had just finished regemming the day before for my newly acquired [Fiend Slayer Boots] and getting hit-capped again. Of course, since I didn’t bother about anything about Black Temple earlier, I was thoroughly unprepared with very little consummables. I only had a handful of mana potions and 2 stacks of health potions, no buff food, and no pet food. I also had half a stack of agility elixirs. Oh well, into the raid we go.
When I stepped into Black Temple, the Illidan loading screen gave me shivers.
The Hand of Fate comes face to face with High Warlord Naj'entus.
When I said they were lacking in DPS, I really meant that we had 2 slots empty, and this is after we brought in everyone, including those who had mostly Karazhan gear. We had two or three partial wipes on trash mobs, but we kept chugging along slowly. The annoying part was that the Aqueous Spawns come back pretty fast after they’ve been killed, so every time we wipe, we end up having to kill one or two that have reappeared. It took us about 45 minutes before we reached High Warlord Naj’entus because we kept having to resurrect and rebuff.
The first Black Temple raid wipe.
I stand by my words that 25-man raids are organized chaos. Everyone was pretty finger-trippy for the first couple of tries on the boss. We had positioning and response time issues for the first three tries or so on Naj’entus. The fight basically is a tank and spank with the exception of a few things. Naj’entus does Frost damage AoE, so the paladins have to put up Frost Resistance Aura. He does a Tidal Shield every minute or so and throws out 2 Naj’entus Spines at people. These spines have to be picked up by someone else near them quick before it does too much damage. They will then be used simultaneously (like cube-clicking for Magtheridon) to bring down the Tidal Shield. When it comes down, everyone gets 8500 Frost damage. The trick is to not have less than 8500 health when the shield comes down or you will die. It’s kind of hard trying to keep yourself up with cooldowns on bandages, potions, and healthstones. Your mana isn’t unlimited either.
Wiping and learning how to fight Naj'entus.
In our final two tries, we managed to fill all 25 slots as people came online. We ended up in a group that had 4 hunters (3 beast mastery and myself as marksman). It was pretty ridiculous. We brought in every single DPS we could find. Fortunately, another one of my friends who has a shaman healer also logged on, so they pulled him in. He basically kept spamming Chain Heal for everyone.
The furthest we got Naj’entus down was to 26%. It was pretty exciting, though hunters always seemed to be one of the first to die. The last attempt, although only to about 45%, was a better experience for the healers because they were able to coordinate better. I did stay alive longer. We called the raid when most of the trash mobs on the way to Naj’entus respawned about 3 hours later. The only thing that dropped was an [Empyrean Sapphire].
So this means I just totally skipped Tier 5 content right?
Some analysis: Because my lag is horrible in 25-mans, I’ve decided to use macros for my rotations, as provided by QQPewPew. I figured it wouldn’t do me any good if I have to weave shots manually with the bad latency that I have. I was pretty satisfied with the results. From what I could tell, I only missed one or two Kill Commands compared to a few more if I do a manual click/button hybrid. While a mishap resulted in no parse of the fight from last night, I felt that the shots were weaved and timed much more nicely than if I had tried to do it by hand. I was actually keeping up with our beast mastery hunters in dealing out damage. I went ahead and tried it again later on in a PUG Zul’Aman, and the results were phenomenal. I was a close second in damage output (I blame the lag), though there was no actual DPS meter, so I couldn’t tell how much the improvement was.
The only problem I had with those macros is that Multi Shot did not seem to kick in at all when using the second macro. I’m not sure why. I probably could have come out with more damage in Black Temple, but that surely would have caused aggro problems in Zul’Aman.
Frenzy No More
Remember what Tranquilizing Shot does?
Well, now I do. This seemingly useless special shot “attempts to remove 1 Frenzy effect from target”. What’s Frenzy you ask? Frenzy is different from Enrage in that it increases attack speed, not the attack power or damage.
This past weekend, I had to use it more times than I ever used it in an entire year. Tranquilizing Shot was mostly used in endgame instances in pre-BC, so you really wouldn’t get to see the use of it until you start doing upper level Outland instances.
Zul’Aman was where I used it first. One of our guild tanks was nice enough to put together a run for those who wanted to see the instance but can never get into the weekly speed runs. Unfortunately, we missed the timer on Nalorakk because one person disconnected from a power surge, and another got lost on the way back from resurrection. I also had to learn how to pull the Amani Tempest using me pet so that the Akil’zon gauntlet would stop coming. We 2-shot both bosses and made progress by learning slowly, especially since it was my first time there.
Halazzi was where Tranquilizing Shot was needed. In one of the shapes he shifts into, he goes into Frenzy every so often, and you would have to tranquilize him. We would have had him on the third try, but it was getting late on Sunday night, so we called it.
I picked up [Akil'zon's Talonblade] out of the run.
Yesterday, I went to Heroic Black Morass for the first time. I had been responsible for adds on normal mode before, but I’ve never done it on heroic. Fortunately, there was no big difference except that the waves of dragonkin had more health. We barely made each rift keeper after finishing adds. In this instance, Tranquilizing Shot is used on the last boss Aeonus. I actually had completely forgotten about him even though I’ve read about it before. Fortunately, the raid warning called out a frenzy alert.
I’ve never tried the shot on a Beast Master’s pet that has Frenzy active, but it should work.
So the bottom line is, Tranquilizing Shot is highly situational. More often than not, you won’t use it, but try to keep in the back of your head when you can use it.
Request Fulfilled
I went with my druid buddy, who is still learning tanking, to Heroic Sethekk Halls and Heroic Shattered Halls yesterday to complete the second-to-last stage of the final quest chain in Karazhan.
Heroic Sethekk Halls was not that bad. We were pretty smooth until towards the end, when our shaman off-healer friend had to go raid, so we picked up another feral druid. The priest healer was a bit slow and sloppy, so we wiped once on Anzu and twice on Ikiss. But I got what I needed out of it, and the daily heroic was also there.
After taking a break, we decided to look for a group for Heroic Shattered Halls. At first, we picked up an Enhancement shaman. We weren’t sure if my friend should tank because he might not be geared enough, and I’ve usually gone to Shattered Halls with a protection paladin. But alas, there was a shortage of tanks as usual. So after picking up a guildmate as a healer, we took a mage and an Arms warrior as off-tank (because the shaman went offline).
It was also my first time marking mobs in a heroic because my friend had never been in Shattered Halls before. I’m so slow at it! Apparently there’s a macro that you can use to mark mobs, but I have no idea what it was, and I didn’t have it. So we just took it slow at first so that my friend could get used to the mobs (and how hard they hit). We wiped once on a sloppy trash pull and once during the first boss fight. The gauntlet took us a while to get through after about 3 or 4 wipes. The pace of the movement varied depending on each try. My friend kept dying when we got to Blood Guard Porung. Fortunately, everyone was patient and understanding enough to keep trying.
When we finally got past the gauntlet, everything got a bit easier. Even pulling 6 elite mobs with a druid tank was a lesson in group synergy. As long as all the crowd control held, and our warrior could off-tank one of the mobs, we held our ground. Trap one, sheep one, off-tank one, then burn them down one by one. The wipes stopped happening. Everything went smoothly all the way to Bladefist.
Then my friend’s UI started messing up, so he had to restart WoW twice. At this point, there was about 4 minutes left on the timer for the prisoners. We started up the Bladefist fight at about 3 minutes and went all out. The adds came, and warrior picked them up once again. After 2 mobs or so, too many were coming too soon, and we had about 2 extra mobs running around. The mage died, and we just kept hitting at Bladefist. I popped Rapid Fire and all my trinkets at about 15%.
And then he was down! We breathed a sigh of relief. A quick Redemption to the mage, and we saved the prisoners. Everyone was happy with badges and an extra 24 gold for the quest reward. The warrior picked up [The Bladefist].
It was probably the most fun and nervewracking Heroic run I’ve ever been in, thanks to a patient group and an awesome learning tank.
So once I go into Karazhan this weekend, I’ll be Exalted with the Violet Eye.
In the meantime, I’m still hoping I can hop onto a Magtheridon raid so I can get my Champion of the Naaru title. I managed to get into Heroic Arcatraz earlier this week when a group asked if I could join them for the last boss. It was perfect since it was the daily heroic also. The long wait is finally almost over.
Learning the Art of War
I logged on yesterday to one of my friends telling me that he needs more honor points to buy [Medallion of the Alliance] for our guild’s fight with Archimonde when we get there. (Azgalor was downed last week.) So along with another buddy, we hopped onto the queue for battlegrounds while waiting for a raid in Gruul’s Lair. It was my first time in any battleground. I’ve been avoiding PvP for most of my time playing.
Warsong Gulch was our first stop. I was on the offensive team holding off the Horde while we attempt to capture their flags and ambush them on their way back from ours. It’s been a while since I’ve done closed quarters combat. The last time I did PvP was back in January when a couple of us did 5v5 arenas one night. Here, I dusted off and rediscovered my Scatter Shot button, and took no less than 11 Honorable Kills. We were behind one flag when our queue for Alterac Valley (the daily) was ready.
So I finally went to the infamous Alterac Valley, prone to numerous changes courtesy of Blizzard and people’s complaints. It was utter chaos. With a possibility of having 40 people on each side, it was 4 times larger than Warsong Gulch! Unfortunately, Alliance was down between 10 and 15 players, so we got completely smashed on the offensive. Here are the results with my name on it. I forgot to sort the data, but looks like I’m up there somewhere. Honestly, this map is huge! I was totally lost on how to navigate it and just followed people. I still need to find my place in a 40-man group.
We then forayed into Eye of the Storm, where I felt much more comfortable. 15-man on both sides is more manageable. Open-air PvP with lots of space to move around and no line-of-sight issues. I was able to see the battle as a whole and participate in capturing and defending towers. Silencing Shot was definitely my friend here. As a result, my damage was second place for Alliance and fourth overall. Not bad for doing battlegrounds for the first time.
Our final trip was to the Arathi Basin battleground. I had a blast here because I learned the utility of Shadowmeld. My two friends and I decided to go to the lumber mill. One was a druid, so he stealthed on the lookout for Horde. I parked the Prowl-less Vornskr near the NPCs and Shadowmelded near the flag. That meant the Horde would only see a lonely resto shaman whenever they came to our area. Needless to say we defended that portion of the map with determination and destroyed everyone who tried to capture it. We won this battleground with a gap of about 400 resources.
Despite all the chaos, I’d say I enjoyed it very much. I played my game with some adjustments and still came out pretty strong, and having no resilience didn’t mean I would be very bad at PvP. I finally was able to use a lot of the abilities I haven’t used in a while. We had 40-odd kills and several hunder honor points. I think I’m gonna have to come back again sometime.
Afterwards, Gruul’s Lair did not happen because we had 15 people out of 25, so the crew of Cornell Eats Your Face went for an expedition into Heroic Slave Pens in search of more Cenarion Expedition reputation.
Kael’thas Smacking
Over the weekend, I decided to splurge a bit and spend my newly acquired 100 badges on [Leggings of the Pursuit]. As far as I know, that thing is about T6 equivalent. It was the biggest upgrade for me, so I couldn’t resist. I’ll work my way back up to the 150 badges for [Crossbow of Relentless Strikes].
The gear-tastic weekend didn’t end there. I went into Heroic Hellfire Ramparts and Heroic Sethekk Halls. From Ramparts, [Valanos' Longbow] dropped, and [Leggings of Beast Mastery] dropped in Sethekk. Since I no longer had use of them, they went to a good hunter friend of mine. Two world drops in one day! I also picked up [Garona's Signet Ring] from Curator in our weekly Karazhan. We one-shotted everyone and finished in just over 2 hours.
Yesterday was Heroic Magisters’ Terrace daily, so I decided to hit up the LFG channel and see if anyone was interested. Several hours later, a rogue whispered me to see if I was geared for the heroic, and I said I only had 2 blues or so. A minute later, I got an invite and hopped onto a group that consisted of a paladin tank, the rogue, myself, a warlock, and a holy priest. We tore up the place…literally. It was my first complete Heroic Magisters’ Terrace run ever, and we had finished it in under 50 minutes. Every single boss was one-shotted, including the 5v5 matchup. I never had to trap anyone except for the blizzard-spamming mage during the third fight.
At Kael’thas, we burned him down faster than anything I’ve seen in regular or heroic. It was nuts. The phoenix was tanked by one of the Sisters of Torment that the warlock had enslaved. Everything was flawless. With only one death (the priest) on trash mobs, I’d say it was the most successful PuG I’ve ever been in hands down.:-D
When the dust had settled, I walked away with [Tunic of the Ranger Lord], aka the only reason I would ever run Magisters’ Terrace. With that piece, I officially retired my Beast Lord armor set. T5-quality item is amazing.
Two hours later, some guildmates asked if someone could help them with Kael’thas on normal mode, so I hopped on. It was pretty straightforward also, but all of us died except the paladin tank at 15%. All he had to do was kept healing himself and just smack Kael’thas when the gravity lapse was down. At 2%, the gravity lapse went down, and our tank had a 2000 critical hit and ended the fight. That was pretty incredible to watch too. It reminded me of the time when a restoration shaman solo’d Kael’thas from 10% on during another fight.:-)
I think Kael’thas should have learned his lesson by now.
Rediscovering My Roots
Ever since my first flight out of Darnassus to Auberdine, I’ve enjoyed riding the hippogryph as a means of flying. Yesterday, my dream finally came true.
1,600 gold of pure awesome. I’m broke for a second time, but it was worth the money. I love my [Cenarion War Hippogryph].
Trophies of a Hunter, Part 1
If you’re like me, when you watch a movie that has some kind of adventurer like Indiana Jones, you wish you had a trophy case or wall on which you could display your great collection of items proudly. I’m a pack rat. I have a hard time throwing out stuff because many things have sentimental value to me.
Over the past year, I’ve gotten to see more content in WoW than I originally thought I ever would. In the process, I’ve gotten my hands on a lot of really random things that I find too good to throw away.
My collection is taking up a decent amount of space in my bank, but I don’t want to throw it away. I’m sure a lot of people feel the same way about their pre-BC gear. If I had my hands on [Rhok'delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers] or [Lok'delar, Stave of the Ancient Keepers], I wouldn’t throw it out for anything.
So what kinds of stuff do I keep as trophies?
Armor/Weapons
- The [Wrathtide Longbow] drops from Warlord Kalithresh in Heroic Steamvaults. Yesterday’s run was the first time I’ve seen this bow drop, and I’ve done the instance many times (and have reached exalted with Cenarion Expedition last week). This bow has one of the slowest speeds and is quite good for a Marksman or Survival hunter before you head into Karazhan. It’s
notgood for Beast Mastersbecause it’s way to slow for MQoSRDPSif you are using a 3:2 shot rotation. The catch? The drop is quite low since, as I mentioned, even I’ve only seen it once. - The [Recoilless Rocket Ripper X-54] is probably the closest thing there is to a rocket launcher in WoW. I keep it mainly because it looks just plain awesome. I’ve seen a lot of pre-Kara tanks use this gun because of the stamina buff. I only wish the ammo is rockets, not bullets.:-P
- [The Hands of Fate] is a plate gear for paladins that’s a reward from one of the quests in a chain originally needed for attunement for Tempest Keep. The reason I keep this piece is because my guild name is “The Hand of Fate”, so it’s nice to keep around.
- I actually don’t have the [Malefactor's Eyepatch] yet, but I have the quest that provides it as a reward. It’s definitely going to be a keeper in my collection. Come on, how can you pass on something that makes you look like a pirate? It’s even made of mail instead of leather for the other eyepatches in the game!
Trinkets
- An [Argent Dawn Commission] is needed to collect Scourgestones from the Plaguelands. I visited the Plaguelands area not long before I headed into Outland. Keeping this trinket still opens the possibility of my increasing my Argent Dawn reputation. I also have an inkling that the Plaguelands may come into play again during world events prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King.
- The [Chained Essence of Eranikus] is needed to complete a dead-end quest in the Swamp of Sorrows. The quest chain takes you to the Temple of Atal’Hakkar. Eranikus is a green dragon who tried to fight the Nightmare in the Emerald Dream. I’m keeping this because the poison effect is pretty nifty. I didn’t want to lose it to a dead end quest that Blizzard may extend in the future.
- [Power Infused Mushroom] is a reference to Super Mario World, where you get 200 points from stomping on mushrooms. Initially, I found this trinket to be somewhat useful when I had mana issues in the early 60s before the +Intellect gear started coming in.
- The essential [Carrot on a Stick] is a quest reward of killing Gahz’rilla in Zul’Farrak. It’s one of the first trinkets you will be able to receive once you hit the 40s. Mount speed increase is nice when you’re still on the slow mounts.
- Now I never was able to test how well a [Hypnotist's Watch] works in reducing threat because I had better trinkets, but it’s an interesting use effect, so I’ll keep it around anyway.
- [Mark of the Chosen] was useful back in the 40s when I was still learning how to keep aggro on my pet. At least when I went into occasional melee, I had a chance of receiving the nice buff.
- At first, I had a hard time in choosing [Devilsaur Tooth] over [Devilsaur Eye], but the effect was unlike any other trinket I’ve seen, so I decided to keep the Tooth. The Eye is easily replaceable with any of the AP trinkets from Outland (although the Hit rating is nice). I feel like the Tooth would benefit Beast Masters more during those pre-BC levels.
Now if only I could keep the heads of each of the elite beasts I had to hand in to Nesingwary and his son. Those would be 8 items I will proudly keep in my bank.
Next time, I’ll talk about some more random items I’ve collected as trophies or just because they were cool.
5 Yards Out, Furiously
Meet Anejon.
Anejon is a level 14 Gnome warrior currently 0/5/0 Fury (not that it really matters at this low). She was born out of my friend’s desire to have herself embodied in a WoW character. She chose the race and the class. Without any idea of a suitable name, she used an anagram of her own name. You may be able to figure out what it was originally…
Leveling her has been an interesting experience. I pretty much solo’d her up to this point without the help of others other than random acts of kindness from other players. Playing a melee character is kinda nervewracking sometimes since I can’t react fast enough when in close range. I’m used to being able to see things from far away and being able to track things.
Things I miss not playing a hunter:
- Mob tracking. You really take this for granted until you realize you don’t know where the mobs you want to kill are because you can’t track things.
- Pets. Things are more personal now that I don’t have a pet. It used to be that mobs would have to take me and my pet down, but now I have to learn how to manage mobs by myself while not drawing aggro from nearby ones.
My plans for Anejon? If all goes well, I’d like to learn how to tank instances when needed. Right now, leveling is a pain because I’m not dealing out enough damage. I’d prefer not to powerlevel because then I won’t learn how to tank at all, so any suggestions on leveling a warrior are welcome.
Five Hundred!
With the help of Pathaleon the Calculator in Heroic Mechanar, I’ve finally reached 500 Agility! [Handguards of the Steady] dropped during a random run when I was replacing a dps slot. It replaced my [Beast Lord Handguards]. Fortunately, I still have two pieces of the Beast Lord Armor to keep the trap cooldown bonus.
Looking forward to 100 more badges for [Crossbow of Relentless Strikes].
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