Happy?

I canceled my account. I will likely not be coming back until Wrath, at the best, and only if Blizzard has actually repaired the damage to the class that it did in TBC.

You guys win. I'm going to go play an MMO where PVE is the actual focus and the development team knows what it's doing.

So just why is SS so "broken", Rilgon?

(Disclaimer: This is written purely from a raid perspective. It does not take into account 5-man dungeon crawling, and it sure as hell doesn't take into account the bullshit called PVP, which should be banished from WoW altogether.)

This post is primarily being written for Elysianna on the Hunter forums, but anyone is welcome to read it and see the mentality that I hold for this class.

I have been derided time and time again about my usage of the term Serpent's Brokenness. I have been reminded several times that it's "the only reason we're taken to a raid at all" and the "only thing that lets us compete with Warlocks, Mages, and Rogues". This, in and of itself, is an inherent flaw of the class. Our mechanics and functionality are so flawed that we rely upon one specific talent in the entire breadth of our talent trees to earn our keep, and without it, our worth is insignificant at best. If Serpent's Brokenness were stripped from our class as it stands today, raiding guilds would have one and only one Hunter - a Survival Hunter to provide Expose Weakness.

This is a flaw. The problem, however, is that Blizzard has not yet figured out how to fix the flaw. Therefore, to compensate with the greatly escalating level of DPS that every other pure DPS class can put out, we were given a crutch, a band-aid to fix us until Blizzard really knew how to fix us - Serpent's Brokenness. Now, it has become such an ingrained part of the Hunter philosophy that anyone who actually realizes how much of a detriment to us it is becomes persecuted and attacked endlessly. That's why I laugh when I'm insulted and called someone with a case of "snowflake syndrome". I am hardly a snowflake - a snowflake melts under fire and heat. I, however, have only lapsed once, and was so painfully bored that I will never do so again. If it costs me my raiding career, well, so be it; I'll probably quit WoW if that's the case and wait to see if Blizzard actually gets it right in Wrath. If not, well...

The thing is this. There are a large number of things wrong with our class, and Blizzard does not actually fix the root problem, but provides bandaid fixes for them. A core aspect of this is Aspect of the Viper being provided as a fix for our terrible mana efficiency in a raiding setting. The problem with Aspect of the Viper is how much DPS it causes us to hemmhorage for a scant amount of MP5 - barely enough for a Steady Shot per minute.

My philosophy on this is that in one of the three trees (or perhaps in EVERY tree, at differing levels and in differing styles) should exist a talent that gives us active mana regeneration, based off of a formula of Intellect and Agility. Agility should also increase our base mana pool so that we are not forced to agonize over increasing our DPS-generating stats or increasing our longevity. Another wonderful theory I've heard petitioned is for a talent in Survival that rids the Hunter of Intellect-based mana altogether and forces every bit of Mana-related mechanic for the Survivalist to drive from their Agility. I like this idea for the Survival tree.

Another problem of Serpent's Brokenness comes from the fact that it limits the design space of the class and of all physical damage dealers. Why, for example, would Blizzard make physical Haste affect the GCD if one class (and truly one spec of one class) would automatically enjoy a 20% faster GCD from the moment they said 'go'? Can you imagine the sheer level of complaint from every Warrior, Rogue, and Enhancement Shaman in the world? I'm a server administrator, and I can already see the CPU load of the forum cluster skyrocketing if that ever happened. Therefore, it's more than just the Marksmanship Hunters that suffer at the hands of Serpent's Brokenness, but every physical damage dealer.

Now, the people on the forums, blessed with infinite trolling power as they are, have constantly informed me that "you cant balance three specs to do the same damage". Furthermore, "one spec will always be better, why does it matter which one it is?" For me, at the very least, it matters because this game has shifted so far from what it was and has become Tom Chilton's personal playground to rape and pillage as he sees fit. I want a return of this game to the day when a Hunter was naught but a DPS machine. I want a return to the days where there was a vast difference between a Hunter who knew what he was doing and a Hunter who had no clue - the days where skill could make a 13/38/0 Hunter out-DPS a 0/21/30 flavor of the month Survival Hunter wanging on about his huge Agility score. I want a class where no one can brag about "watching tv while doing 1500 DPS". Let other classes be the skilless ones that can post huge numbers with no effort (I nominate Warlocks because they already do). Hunters should require a level of skill on par with good healers and good tanks to be successful, because real-life hunting requires the same skill.

I personally have no problem with Beast Mastery Hunters who spec that way because they enjoy it - I refer to people like Pike, BigRedKitty, and their kind. They love the spec, specced it pre-TBC when it was not the heralded second coming of Christ, and spec it today only because they enjoy it, not because it's "good". I do not respect Hunters who are Beast Mastery only because it's "good". I do not respect someone who waffles between specializations to be what is the "best" because I feel anyone should be able to be "best" regardless of their spec if they actually put some effort to it.

I have no problem with Beast Mastery remaining a "hit extremely fast with a powerful pet" DPS spec. My problem is that both Beast Mastery and Survival have one talent to justify their raid spots off of - Expose Weakness for Survival and Serpent's Brokenness for Beast Mastery. Marksmanship has no such talent to herald. Every one of our talents lumped together are weaker than Serpent's Brokenness. Five talent points should not be more powerful than twenty or more.

And no, I am not content with Marksmanship being the "pvp spec". There should be no such thing. PVP should be a tertiary balancing concern, second to raid balance (as a primary concern) and functionalty in five-man content (as a secondary concern). PVP should be stripped from this game and it should be returned to the pure PVE game that it was in patch 1.0.

But that won't happen until someone runs Tom Chilton over with a truck.

My kingdom to the man or woman who does so.

So Hortus isn't a giant douche after all.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6214091689&sid=1

Quoth the person I hate almost as much as Ippon:

"We would like to request some focused testing on a bug that we believe to be fixed in 2.4.2

Using a macro with several instant cast spells can break targeting and the Escape key.

This is most often reported as happening with hunter kill command macros.

Please test your macros and report here if you encounter any of these UI lock-ups."

Guess he's done cutting himself about being called a liar (which he is) over the Growl scaling fiasco.

Maybe he'll fix it.

...ahahahahaha, yeah, right.

I IS HAS AXES NOW :D

Remember how I said I had two Breeching Comets in the bank?


/flex

Got em enchanted and gemmed and I'm just at the hit cap for a Draenei Hunter without my Sonic Spear. Less Dragoon antics, sure, but more sexy glowing axes.

I'm like Prince Melchazaar! :o

Random Post of the Ages

Yeah, so I'm bored. I don't have anything good to talk about, so have a bunch of funny pictures. (The funny is most often in the chat log)


Also, this is what my inventory looks like after just an hour at the Elemental Plateau when I have no one around to compete with.


God I love farming motes.

I was right! I told you!

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6136615005&pageNo=1&sid=1#19

Quoth the fag with the stupid hat (Hortus):

"There was not a change to the way Growl scales with hunter AP, the bug fix eliminated growl scaling with the pet's attack power.

Growl has always scaled with hunter attack power in exactly the same way as it does in 2.4.2, there were no changes. I have verified multiple times that growl threat does scale with hunter AP AND that it is doing so in the same way in 2.4.1 and 2.4.2.

I'm sorry if you were given the impression that this was a new feature."

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=6136615005&sid=1&pageNo=2#34

"This is the last post I will be making about pet threat, no matter what I say I'm accused of lying or being wrong. Right now as of 2.4.2 growl is creating the intended amount of threat and is scaling with hunter attack power at an intended rate. If you do not agree with this then please post your opinions in the appropriate forums (suggestions or class forums).

As this is not considered a bug no amount of posting here or in the bug report forums will get it changed. "

I FUCKING TOLD YOU! I TOLD ALL OF YOU!

Also, Hortus is still a giant faggot.

Readers! For noble causes, you have now been charged!

whois -h whois.arin.net 122.224.9.188
[Querying whois.arin.net]
[Redirected to whois.apnic.net]
[Querying whois.apnic.net]
[whois.apnic.net]
% [whois.apnic.net node-1]
% Whois data copyright terms http://www.apnic.net/db/dbcopyright.html

inetnum: 122.224.8.0 - 122.224.11.255
netname: SHAOXING-TELECOM-BUREAU
country: CN
descr: Shaoxing Telecom Bureau
descr:
admin-c: XH772-AP
tech-c: CS64-AP
status: ASSIGNED NON-PORTABLE
changed: auto-dbm@dcb.hz.zj.cn 20070906
mnt-by: MAINT-CN-CHINANET-ZJ-SX
source: APNIC

e-mail: anti-spam@mail.sxptt.zj.cn
trouble: send spam reports to anti-spam@mail.sxptt.zj.cn
trouble: and abuse reports to anti-spam@mail.sxptt.zj.cn
trouble: Please include detailed information and times in UTC\

There is a new keylogger on the forums that is masquerading as the real World of Warcraft domain (but substitutes a b for the d). This is one of the most intelligent and easily tripped keyloggers I've seen yet. But now, since I've caught the domain and done some digging, we can take action.

Email their webhost. Explain what they are doing. Reference the domain, explain that it is distributing malware (keylogging trojans), and tell them that this is illegal and they need to be shut down for abuse purposes. I've already done so from my work email, but more complaints will get their host to pay attention!

I'd make more references here (divine abuse report! nibelung emailesti!), but they'd be terrible.

oh wait <_<;;

So I might have overreacted.

From the Test Realm forums:

"Growl was scaling incorrectly before so it's been changed to scale with the hunter's AP starting at around 1200 AP. Other pet abilities such as bite, claw, etc will still scale with pet AP. "

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5973994474&sid=1&pageNo=1#9

Ehehe, sorry about that.

I'm still holding out judging the changes until some of the theorycrafters get on the PTR and get us some numbers. I might transfer over and do some number-digging myself, see what my pet's Growl seems to generate at different levels of RATP (by turning TSA and Hawk off, removing gear, etc.) and gauge (really roughly) how much threat it holds off (by using Distracting Shot as a good baseline).

We'll see. I do not have enough faith in Blizzard to say that this isn't a nerf.

Hooray! 2.4.2 sucks ass!

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

Hunter

* Dire Ravens in Blade’s Edge Mountains now tameable.
* Tamed Drywallow Snappers now will know Bite 5 (instead of Claw 5.)

Bug Fixes

*The hunter pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power.


So even though we have been telling Blizzard for months (years?) that our pet threat generation does not scale nearly as well as our own threat generation scales, our pet threat generation is being NERFED?!

DOES BLIZZARD EVEN UNDERSTAND THIS CLASS?

Why the FUCK did I add another three months of playtime to my account? *slams head into wall repeatedly*

So I was thinking today.

I've heard a lot of complaints from all physical classes - not just Hunters - about why melee Haste doesn't affect our GCD like it does for casters. I was pondering this today while I was showering for the day; I find I do a lot of my best thinking in the shower. My opinion on the matter came to me just like a nice burst of hot water hitting my face.

Blizzard doesn't want physical haste to affect the physical GCD because one class already starts with 20% physical haste before any gear is applied.

Now, obviously, that's not entirely true - it's not the entire class but one spec, but in a raiding environment, it's almost always going to be true. I mentioned on the forums a while back that I saw Serpent's Brokenness as an inhibitor to our class getting meaningful fixes for PVE. After all, what is there to fix for us? We have the most powerful DPS-generating talent in the entire game. Spec into it, roll your mouse wheel like a five year old, and enjoy chart-topping DPS. Who cares if we have problems? We don't need fixes, we already got the One Fix to Rule Them All.

Of course, that hurts everyone that doesn't use Serpent's Brokenness. And now, I think I'm realizing that it's hurting every physical DPSer, too. Not only are we the only class that can be negatively affected by Haste (since Auto Shot's casting time/breathing room doens't decrease with haste), we're actually actively punishing every physical class because Blizzard can't in good conscience give physical GCD the same boon as the magical GCD because one class would already enjoy a 20% reduced GCD from the moment they activated it.

Maybe I'm just mad, but it sure seems logical. Maybe Blizzard hates melee, but I somehow doubt that, thanks to their performance in Dungeon Doom.

Who knows. *shrug*

Angry butterflies? I think I killed those near the Exodar...

I wouldn't be a courteous blogger if I didn't back-link those that link to me. In that vein, I am proud to add The Angry Butterfly to my list of linked blogs. Hers isn't a strictly WoW-based blog like Stabilized Effort Scope is, so it's good for reading if you want another MM-minded voice OR if you want some glimpse into another's vision of the world.

Also, if you have a blog and would like to be linked on Stabilized Effort Scope (not like I have any real traffic), simply comment on this post. :3

Lookit me, ma! I'm in Karazhan!

/dance

Third time into Karazhan and I manage to blast through the whole place! Damage meters are a bit skewed - they're only from Opera onwards - but I'm very proud with my performance, and my brand new ring is a great upgrade. It was an exciting night, and the raid leader afterwards told me that he'd keep me on his friends list for random DPS for Kara because he was so impressed with how well I did. ^_^;;;

In other news: Paladins don't know the difference between a mage and a rogue.

Also on the news tonight at 11: random insults ftw

I'm not dead, I swear.

I'm just not playing much. I've not been feeling amazing lately. My playtime's been sporadic, at best, but it's been good enough for this:

Dual Breeching Comets, baby! Once I get enough money to enchant them and can afford the loss of Hit Rating from Sonic Spear, I'm switching.

Of course, I can't get a new chestpiece to save my life, but...

Introducing your final Tier 7 raid boss: Tom Chilton.

Tier one's endboss was Ragnaros.
Tier two was finalized by Lord Victor Nefarius.
Tier three was finished by Kel'thuzad, with C'thun playing a supporting role.
Tier four is a pair - Prince Malchezaar and Magtheridon.
Tier five, again a pair - Kael'thas and Lady Vashj.
Tier six? A pair, yet again - Archimonde and Illidan Stormrage.

I have seen into WoW's endgame - an endgame that is being spun around us as we speak.

I have seen tier seven. It is finalized by Tom Chilton.

Yes, the man they know as Kalgan is already making his steps towards the destruction of this game. Mirshalak has touched on this far more eloquently than I can in my state of mind. Blizzard has deleted the last relic of my most beloved Hunter idol, Howitzer. The one person who brought hope to Marksmanship Hunters everywhere, he did what we could not - raided the top-end dungeons of this game as MM. He, as I, never professed MM to be better, and decried its weakness in the raid environment.

However, that environment is not the one that will be a focus in this game.

I have played this game from beta. I have been a Hunter that entire time (I was a Priest before Hunters were added in Closed Beta), and love the class with every fiber of me that plays this game. I was part of some great firsts on my previous server - I had a pretty bad reputation from its community, so I won't name the server or the character, but I had one of our first Core Marksman Rifles, our first Blessed Qiraji Musket, had the Scepter of the Sands in my hands (but the Gong was rung while I was at work! Horde BASTARDS!), and played with my wonderful guild until 1.12 and the last three bosses of Naxxrammus Necropolis. At that time, I was still in college, and my devotion to raiding and my guild was interfering with college - at that time, it became "quit WoW" or "drop out of college". I chose the former, and much to my benefit today.

Now I have a fantastic career with a company that I love, and I have free time and free money to use towards a pursuit like WoW. I hoped to come back to the class and game that I loved and pick up where I left off - to go from 1-70 on a new Hunter, find a friendly, wonderful guild, and go about scoring triumphs in new raid content. This, however, is not panning out to be.

World of Warcraft was changed dramatically between 1.12 and 2.3 when I returned. The game has been gutted and the mantra and world have changed. Yes, Outland is a wonderful, mystical place, but for all the ill that has befallen all of WoW for its coming, I'd rather not have it at all.

I speak of the Arena. Mirshalak was the first one to compare it to Ultima Online's Dungeon Doom, and the more I see what Arena is doing to WoW and the more I look at UO's history, the more the signs make sense. This game is dying, I think.

Now, I bet you're asking "where's your proof?" My proof is in the pudding, and again, Mirshalak lined it out better than I can in my irate state right now.

Today, Spirestone went "down" for over three minutes. The server did not disconnect, but no actions were recognized for that time. It was interesting seeing three minutes of /2 spam condensed into a single moment - it was like looking into the heart of a neutron star. It's happening more and more, too, but I bet if I complained on the forums, my topic would be deleted.

I've been in this game since closed beta. I was around for launch day. I see more problems in the here and now than I did on launch day, and that, IMO, says something.

Gather your T6 loots, my friends. If we wish to preserve this game as a PVE game, then we must take the raid to the one destroying the raid scene - we must take it to Tom Chilton. Kalgan must perish, or the game will perish around him.

(Disclaimer: I am not advocating physical violence towards Tom Chilton. Please do not make death threats towards his person. Please do not inflict physical violence upon him. And for the love of god, don't quote Stabilized Effort Scope as your incitor if you do.)

Stupid Hunters make me angry.

See if you can find the ULTRA CONCENTRATED STUPID in this chat log.


/headdesk

By the way, I hate Black Morass so much. The same stupid healing staff ALWAYS FUCKING DROPS FROM TEMPORUS. ALWAYS.

36 Black Morass runs. 34 FUCKING EPOCH-MENDERS.

LOOT IS RANDOM

ALSO, ONYXIA DEEP BREATHS MORE

ALSO CHROMAGGUS IS RED/GREEN AGAIN THIS WEEK WTF

/wrists

Someone explain the allure of twinking to me.

Because to me, it seems mouth-breathingly retarded.

"lol i can spend 1000 gold on a level 19 toon so i can pwn other level 19s AWESOME :v"

Seriously, Blizzard needs to do something to curb that shit. It's even worse than normal PVP because the playing field is so fucking skewed.

I mean come on. If the only way you can enjoy a game is to spend inordinate amounts of in-game money just to terrorize lower-level players, something is wrong with you mentally.

You know what? I had an epiphany.

Step 1: Switch the positions of Ranged Weapon Specialization and Master Marksman.
Step 2: Increase RWS to 4/8/12/16/20% more damage.

Voila, BM and MM are balanced against each other. It then becomes "do I want to hit harder (MM) or faster (BM)?" and "do I want to buff my own damage (MM) or my pet's (BM)?"

It's so simple.

Too simple for Blizzard to ever do it, at least.

If this lodge has no beer, I quit.

Yet another blog to add to my link list. However, this one is a bit different. The Hunting Lodge - a new WordPress-based blog maintained by Brigwyn from the Hunter Forums - has asked me to be a regular contributor.

Now, normally, I'd wrinkle my nose at this idea - I don't consider myself anywhere near "good" enough to be a contributor on a communal Hunter blog, but with the leaving of the last great MM Hunter... I guess it's kinda my destiny.

Obviously, Stabilized Effort Scope will be my main publishing focus. But if you want a bit less personal opinion and a bit more... educational focus, take a look at The Hunting Lodge. And if the people who have been asked to contribute will be contributing, there'll be far more intelligent people than me to listen to, as well.

Abandon hope, all ye who read here.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5687439613&postId=57837281838&sid=1

"We currently don't have any plans to make big changes to any class before Wrath of the Lich King."

I... I...

*slams head into desk in despair*

There is no more hope for us. There is no more hope to save this class until the expansion comes, and when it does come, who will play it? Certainly not I, and certainly not many other of the old guard of this game. More and more, I can see the four bells toll and the four torches lit. More and more, I can see the spark that kept me in this game for so long before I quit being forcibly snuffed out by Blizzard. More and more, I can see the game and the class I love being ripped asunder.

There is no more hope amongst us. There is no more happiness, there is no more joy. Between malignant, evil, unnecessary forces like Ippon and Xuin, constant degradation of the class and insults to its players by Blizzard's QA, and constant nerfing of things we rely upon in our day-to-day existence... We cannot possibly hold hope. To hold hope in these dark times would be likened to insanity.

The long, long struggle of Kalgan has finally ended... The victor sacrificed the Hunter class to the heavens. Four bells tolled. Four torches were lit.

Kalgan, the Profound Darkness, has won.

Now that's more like it!

So I went to Karazhan again.

And boy howdy what a difference a good raid makes.

Attumen went down (no schematic/necklace, qq), Moroes went down (who has no Hunter loot, qq), Maiden of Virtue burned in a fire (No Gloves of Quickening, qq again), The Crone and the rest of the Wizard of Oz team didn't follow the yellow brick road (no Beast Maw Pauldrons, qq levels reaching critical), and Nightbane got shot down (and the Hunter loot he has is a marginal side grade - no qq, but a half-hearted bah).

Plus, I'm Friendly now, which means I get my currently-a-downgrade Violet Signet. I'm about 4000 rep from Honored, so if I get my key quest line finished, I should hit Honored and get my next level of ring.

I mean sure, I paid like 20g in repairs, 10g in ammo, 10g in pots and food. But damn, it was fun. Plus, 9 badges, right?

Right?

Four bells tolled. Four torches were lit.

Today, another member of the old guard of this game has left us. Howitzer has announced his leaving of WoW - he gave no reasons, but if he feels the same way as I do, it is owing to the fact that our class has been constantly weakened since practically the inception of The Burning Crusade and the spec that we both love (Marksmanship) has been constantly shit on and is no more than a worthless PVP spec in the eyes of most.

I, for one, do not blame him. There are only a very few things keeping me in this game, and I have only been back for a couple of months.

Mirshalak has it right, sadly. Kalgan is performing the same rites on WoW as he performed on UO. Arena is this MMO generation's Dungeon Doom. It is sucking everything about this game into its vortex and crushing the light and soul out of it. So many changes, nerfs, and shifts of paradgym are being made to support the Arena, and Hunters are becoming a very unfortunate victim of it.

Gone are the days that any spec could be forced to be raid-viable - one overarching talent, Serpent's Brokenness, is so powerful that it eclipses a full 21 or more points in another tree. Five points should not be more powerful than twenty, and yet the new blood in Blizzard seems to think that Beast Mastery should be the One True Path (tm) for raiding Hunters.

I will not bow to that mentality again. I will, however, take a fair deal of convincing to renew my WoW subscription once the three months I paid for initially are over.

So for the old guard that has already left us (Risen guild, Howitzer, and every other beta player who I don't know of), I feel your pain, and will join you soon, I think.

And may four bells toll for me, and four torches be lit when it happens. I will go to meet my friends in the beyond, and no aero-prism will find me where I am.

Welp. Later, Arcturus.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=5591269594&pageNo=7&sid=1#134

"I have confirmed with the developers that Boar's growl ability getting such a large bonus to attack power based on charge is a bug. Growl should only benefit from the hunter's attack power and get no benefit from buffs to the pet's attack power.

Expect this to be changed in a future patch. If you disagree with this change please post about it in the suggestions or class forums. " ~Hortus, Blizzard QA

So basically now, the number of useful pet families has dwindled from four (Ravager/Owl/Boar/Scorpid) to three. Hooray!

This on top of the whole "oh you take 50% more XP to hit 71 meaning pet loyalty is 50% harder to get at 70 lolol" changes make me want to give Blizzard one thing: a middle finger ASCII.

Ugh.

zomfg epix

:toot:

Assuming I sell this for its market value (400g) and I call in my current debts, I'll have... *calculates* 1500 gold. Hrm.

*looks at phone*

Anyone know the price of international calls to china? >_>

JK LOL <_<;

Firefox 3 beta 5 is fucking fast.

Holy crap.

Plus, with Nightly Tester Tools, it functions just like Firefox 2.x but fast as fuck.

I can get used to this.

You are now saved to this instance.

And damn if I'm not saved in the most terrible of raids.

Oh right, I forgot to mention where I got saved to.

Well, some PuG finally decided I was geared enough for Karazhan! Yay! (It must be my new bracers that I just got.) Well, the raid went badly - the group fell apart at Moroes - but it did remind me of the old days as a raid leader for my old guild. It was apparent that the Hunter leading our raid, while he had a couple of Kara epics himself (Worgen Claw Necklace, primarily, which of course didn't drop), he had no idea how to lead. I grabbed the raid by the horns and took command, eventually wresting raid leadership from him because the other 8 raid members were demanding he do so.

I won't lie. Our group makeup was abysmal. Three Hunters, two Warriors, a Paladin, a Druid (Resto), a Warlock, a Mage, and a Rogue. I didn't design the raid, but you'll bet your behind I tried to tailor it to fit my needs. Except there was nothing I could do to make that group composition good.

About those other Hunters. Like I said, we fell apart on Moroes. We had the Holy Priest, Shadow Priest, Ret Paladin, and Prot Warrior. I did a quick assessment, and gave kill order: Shadow, Holy, Moroes, Ret, Prot. I assigned myself the Prot Warrior to chain-trap and gave the Retadin to another Hunter. Pull was to go:

1. DPS Shadow Priest (Baroness something or other), trap Holy Priest (Lady somesuch), being chain-trap of Retadin (Lord something stupid) and Prot Warrior (Crispin).
2. Once the SPriest dies, DPS the Holy Priest
3. DPS Moroes
4. DPS Retadin
5. DPS Prot Warrior
6. Collect lewt (which of course is not Hunter loot)

Yeah, that didn't go so well. Why, you ask?

The Hunter assigned to chain-trap the Retadin had no idea how to chain-trap. At all.

When I asked him to chain-trap, he had the nerve to ask me "wat trap? frost?"

I would tell him to go learn from Pike about how to do it, but I doubt even Pike could drill sense through this kid's skull. Problem one? He was 60 points in BM. He had every beast mastery talent in the tree maxed out. Problem two?

HE WAS CONSTANTLY BREAKING TRAP ON THE HOLY PRIEST.

That's right, folks! In addition to getting stunned and blitzed by his chain-trap target, HE WAS BREAKING OUR HOLY PRIEST TRAP. Not even with Multi-Shot! The Hunter trapping her said he was intentionally AUTO-SHOOTING HER.

Since he claimed he was having problems with the Paladin, we switched. He got Crispin (who hits like a girl), I got the Retadin. Never got stunned, because I know how to chain-trap, of course. The raid fell apart after about 5 wipes on Moroes once the third Hunter called the one breaking the traps a fucking idiot and that he was wasting the raid's time. I agreed, and booted him.

Apparently he bragged about this in his guild's chat, because his guild leader had a nice long discussion with me about the incident. Apparently the kid goes to special ed classes at his school, which would explain some of his problems, but his intentional disruption of our group and his insults to the Hunter who called him out aren't explained away so easily.

...why do I get all the bad groups? T_T

Oh. In better news in that front, though... I did out-DPS that group aside from our Mage. And he cheated, anyways, he got to AoE the packs of guests in the dining hall.

/flex

Also, this just in: Watergate happened in the Mechanar!

/angry

Aspect of the Hare? Is that a WotLK ability?

No, silly Rilgon, it's another Hunter's blog!

>_>

Anyways, I'm adding Pike's Aspect of the Hare to my list of linked blogs. Pike's always had comforting words for me every time I need them, so I figure a little support back is deserved.

Plus, c'mon! She uses Linux! How can you go wrong?

(I mean yeah, she's BM, but still, she makes up for it, okay?)

She said don't dot the square, you stupid Priest.

I am proud to announce that I am adding Maevet's Don't Dot the Square to my list of linked blogs.

And if quotes like "Jesus fucking Christ on a god damn V8 powered pogostick." are any indication, you'll probably laugh as much at it as I did.

So do yourself, Maevet, and Hunters everywhere a favor and Misdirect to a priest today. You'll be glad you did. :)

PVP will be the death of Warcraft.

You can quote me on this. Get your pens out, and I'll even put it in nice big letters to make it easy.

Arena, and by proxy all of PVP, will be the death of World of Warcraft due to the people it attracts.

Call me prophetic, call me insane, call me a carebear for all you want. The schadenfreude, self-bolstering, the scathing disregard for your fellow man... PVP in this game (and I would dare say in any MMO) brings to light the ills of humanity as a whole. Many people seem to forget that the character they are "pwning" has a real, living human behind it with a variety of emotions, thoughts, and feelings.

In short: Think before you gank.

Now yes, I play on a PVP server. As you read last update, I have a old friend who plays on my server - this is why I've turned down extended guild invitations from my most wonderful readers and why I exist on a PVP server to begin with. But I'll tell you this - I would pay double my monthly fee for a World of Warcraft with no PVP at all.

I recently made another pro-Marksmanship topic on the Suggestions Forum. It was, again, summarily dismissed by immature, PVP-minded children who are afraid of... what, exactly? I don't even understand the resistance. A few choice quotes that stuck out at me are:

• "If you're serious about PvE DPS, respec for PvE. If you're upset that you can't excel in both arenas and raids with the same spec, join the f-ing club of the rest of us. "
• "Not every build needs to be raid viable."
• "If you only care about PVE that's fine, but that's not the only aspect of the game, and Blizzard absolutely has to consider PVP whenever they make talent changes."
• "but not every class needs to be abel to do everything with every spec. hmph." (coming from a Druid, no less.)
• "Because you're a pure DPS class. Live with it, or reroll a hybrid. "

Now maybe I'm just fucking stupid, but doesn't it make perfect fucking sense for all the trees of a "pure DPS class" to, y'know... BE GOOD AT DOING DPS?!

Nerfs for PVP's sake are the reason that Marksmanship's damage is horrible. Arcane Shot and Multi-Shot, the bread and meat of our rotation (whereas Steady Shot is the nummy brown mustard), were nerfed sharply shortly after the release of The Burning Crusade, as they were buffed in an environment that was not yet 70 and did not know the "joy" (and I use that exceedingly loosely) of Resilience. Due to complaints about Hunters (and specifically Marksman) being "overpowered", our core abilities were smashed into uselessness and our core talent line (Barrage/Improved Barrage) was weakened as well. Marksmen were martyred to stem the tears of people who did not know that at 70, balance would be achieved.

Except every effing beta tester said we were fine at 70.

So here I sit, penning up a blog entry before I go to bed, and I wonder why I'm still playing World of Warcraft, aside from the socializing with my friends that I've met in my brief return to the game. I'd love desperately to challenge Serpentshrine Cavern, The Eye, Mount Hyjal, Black Temple, and Sunwell. But if I have to sacrifice my enjoyment of my character for the enjoyment of the game, it's a zero-gain experience, and I'd rather just quit.

I remember the days when we were "overpowered" because we could Aimed Shot/Multi-Shot/Auto Shot kill someone. But no one cared, because dying to another player meant nothing. Balance was not made for the children who sit in their vaulted Arena halls with their Vengeful Asshole's Mouth-Breathing Shoulders.

Whiny children should not be the arbiters of game balance. Schadenfreude-generating "gladiatorial combat" should not be the end-all be-all of an MMORPG.

And if it is going to be, start roleplaying a gladiator (that's what the RP in MMORPG stands for, by the way) and stop roleplaying a fucking stripper. You are not in an Arena to practice how to pole-dance.

A lapse into madness.

I was mad. Blinded by rage. Blinded by confusion. Blinded by the majority's chanting.

I will not be a cog in the wheel.

I broke a promise to a good friend today. A friend of mine from several years ago apparently is on my server. I will not mention her name on here, but she plays a Hunter as an alt to her Prot Warrior. She is also a Marksman, as am I.

I vowed to her that I would not crumble under the pressure to become BM, just as she would not from the pressure from her guild's Hunters.

She hasn't been on for about two weeks. I think it was her lack of reinforcement and encouragement that made the lapse in audacity possible.

I will not be the Judas of the Hunter forums. I will not betray that which I believe for my own gain and some false vision of happiness and acceptance.

There are Hunters all over Azeroth and Outland shackled to the chains of Beast Mastery who long for the freedom of Marksmanship. I cannot betray them. Alumatine says the world is not black and white - he's right, but who will listen to a champion for a cause who's turning his back on the cause? It's hypocrisy, what I had planned on doing. I will engage in no such thing.

Another thing that got me thinking was this MSN conversation with Mirshalak.

(2008-04-03 15:22:03) Mirshalak: something else to consider tho...
(2008-04-03 15:22:11) Mirshalak: you know about Big Red Kitty?
(2008-04-03 15:22:23) Rilgon: The blog, yes, the person, no.
(2008-04-03 15:22:39) Mirshalak: the author of that blog would tell you not to be BM
(2008-04-03 15:22:51) Mirshalak: he's told other people to spec Marks because they were more suited to it
(2008-04-03 15:22:55) Mirshalak: and he could see that
(2008-04-03 15:22:59) Rilgon: Really.
(2008-04-03 15:23:01) Mirshalak: yes
(2008-04-03 15:23:18) Mirshalak: his forums also have sections for all three specs
(2008-04-03 15:23:23) Mirshalak: he loves his spec...
(2008-04-03 15:23:42) Mirshalak: but when he gets people who write to him saying they want to spec differently...he tells them to do so
(2008-04-03 15:24:53) Mirshalak: because he understands...as I do...that another of the trees can be as much more powerful on paper as you like...but someone who is doing something they don't want and is in conflict is still not going to do as well with it...
(2008-04-03 15:25:00) Mirshalak: as someone who is doing what they love.
(2008-04-03 15:25:08) Mirshalak: that is more important than anything else.

Screw the disbelievers. Screw the haters. Screw the hive mind. If a guild cannot accept me for what I am, then they don't deserve my tenacity, my willingness to learn, my desire to see others happy, and my willingness to sacrifice my possessions for the greater good.

I will not err. I will not falter. I have a promise to keep, and I won't break it again.

I am a Goblin Engineer. I am a Marksman. I am a statesmen to the wild masses of the Hunter forums. I am a calculator, but I am also a cheerleader. I am arrogant, but I am benevolent.

But above all, I am me. And I will never again change myself to the greater voice. I refuse to in real life - why should my "games" be any different?

I am so sorry to everyone I disappointed this day.

I need incentive not to give up.

I'm dead serious. I'm sick of guild applications being denied since I'm MM. I'm sick of having to defend myself on the forums. I'm sick of knowing that my desire to be proactive about my DPS is hurting my DPS. I'm sick of everything about being Marks but want to desperately cling to it BECAUSE of everything about being Marks.

In short, a paradox that doesn't end.

My main reasonings all seem to have a pro-BM retort that I can't deny.

• Marksmanship Hunters have a more challenging rotation, due to hand-weaving, and deserve more DPS. Well, no, because apparently a lot of SV Hunters (who use a 1.5:1 like we do) can macro their entire rotation assuming 4/5 IAS.
• If I give up, Blizzard will never make Marksmanship raid viable, and therefore will disappoint everyone with my desire but without my tenacity. It seems very obvious from the fact that the first 31 points of Marksmanship looks virtually identical to what it looked like before Burning Crusade when I raided says scores about this. If we were not buffed in the game's expansion, what makes anyone (especially me) think my tree will be buffed in a content patch?
• As I progress, I'll start getting closer and closer. Well, not really, since what MM Hunters gain in Haste gear, BM Hunters can gain in other DPS stats cheaper than Haste and reopen the gap. Plus, if I can't get a progressing guild, I can't progress. Catch-22.
• People are beginning to respect me! I'm building a reputation as the Last Marksman (though I'll be damned if Tom Cruise stars as me). Sure, I'm respected by a few people and I'm starting to get name-dropped. But for every person that respects me, I have ten or more people insulting me and calling me an idiot for even attempting to make the spec viable.
• If I give up, I'll have failed not only myself by giving in to what Blizzard wants me to do, but I'll have failed every other Hunter that wants to raid as MM. Sure, but what do I want out of World of Warcraft? What brought me back? Raiding, pure and simple. I want to stand tall against Illidan, hear him to declare me to be unprepared, and show him in no uncertain terms that I am. I want to bring my might to bear against every raid boss in this game like I did before I quit, and it doesn't look like I'm ever going to be able to do that as Marks for a number of reasons.

I am at a crossroads. Do I reroll the character that I've invested time, dedicated, and love in to become an admittedly more in-demand archetype? Do I give in to every pressure and abandon my crusade to optimize the character I already have? Do I quit WoW altogether and suicide bomb Blizzard's headquarters, taking out Kalgan in the process as a last act of martyrdom to the Hunter class who scorns me?

I don't know. That's the hard thing. If you'd asked me a week ago, my answer would be "Fuck Blizzard and fuck the Beast Masters, I'm a Marksman through and through!" I... can't answer the same way today.

I didn't lol IRL.

So if anyone is paying attention to our Blizzard forums this wonderful April 1st, you'll see that we've been besieged by a patently retarded filter on the forums. Apparently Blizzard, in their infinite wisdom, saw it fit to add a random string at the end of each sentence properly terminated with a period. So far, I've caught "lol", "rofl", "lmao", "lolcats" (WTF?), "i lol'd irl", and "kekeke", but there could be others. Now, IMO, there's a few things wrong with this. Firstly, they're only doing it to the people with enough good sense to write their sentences properly and end them with a period. However, those of us with that much grasp of the English language usually separate a "LOL" or what have you from our main sentence with a comma.

"Yeah, I went to the Arena and got owned by a 2000+ team in the 1400 bracket, lol."

Blizzard is just cramming them in the sentence right before the period with a space, without any concern for grammar or wit. They even had the audacity not to capitalize the 'I' in "I lol'd IRL" (rewritten to actual grammar). It's just... depressing.

Oh, and if you don't like it? Apparently you're "inciting hate", and you get a temp ban from the forums. What's next - is Warden going to sniff our Greasemonkey settings to see if we have javascript addons to prevent this childish nonsense? Is anyone with a dissenting opinion (i.e. that MM should be raid viable, oh noes!) be banned for good?

HAPPINESS IS MANDATORY. ARE YOU HAPPY, READER?

I mean yeah, I liked the furbolg avatars. I fell out of my seat laughing at the Molten Core video game. But come on. This whole meme thing is childish to an extreme. Lolcats doesn't even FIT, it's a concept, not an exclamation.

So I close this entry as a tribute to Mirshalak, who fell as the first martyr for the sake of English. I drink this tea to thee, Mir.