"Sharpening Stones and also Wizard Oils have been discontinued. While they were something nice to use once in a while for most people for many raid guilds they were simply another burden to the cost of raiding. They also caused some issues in that they only helped certain classes and took away some of the uniqueness of other classes who were able to imbue their weapons with temporary enchants such as rogues and warlocks. "
Argh.
Pardon me for not really caring about the "uniqueness" inherent in being able to poison/spellstone your weapon, Rogues and Warlocks, but this is just stupid. Oils weren't even that expensive to begin with - not Superior Mana, at least. I have a much harder time staying in stock of Elixirs and Fel Mana Pots than I do staying in stock of Oil.
And frankly, my consumables aren't even REMOTELY my biggest raiding cost - it's ammunition. I'm not even to Honored with the Scale yet and I already bleed gold like a stuck pig every raid night thanks to ammo. And it's worse for Hunters who raid more than 2-3 hours twice a week like I do. And yet, while ammo is not getting any cheaper and Blizzard has taken no steps to ease the pain, the other classes with intense reagent usage - Priests, Mages, and Druids - get their reagent use slashed to a fifth of what it was with the advent of raid-wide PoF/AB/GotW.
argh.
And I have to be at work on Halloween. :|
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Now I know why my peers are frustrated.
Although it's probably a very different frustration from mine.
I'm not going to expound upon it because there are things that, while I'd like to say them, I won't say them in a public form out of sake of respect. All I know is... I know why you guys are getting run down and frustrated.
/hug to the greater Hunter community
Edit: Also, I hate the Aldor.
I'm not going to expound upon it because there are things that, while I'd like to say them, I won't say them in a public form out of sake of respect. All I know is... I know why you guys are getting run down and frustrated.
/hug to the greater Hunter community
Edit: Also, I hate the Aldor.
I guess it's time I clear the air.
I would like to preface this blog entry with this: I meant no disrespect to BigRedKitty with my blog post which has seemed to stir a lot of traffic towards SES. I haven't seen an influx of negative comments (yet), so I would like to cut that off at the head.
I understood and had a very heavy hunch that BRK's introduction to his seventh podcast episode was sarcasm and his own brand of humor. Usually, that brand of humor makes me giggle. This time it did not. I tried to post something similar to this on BRK's newest post, but twice I was denied by the spam filter and lost what was probably 8-10 minutes of typing, so I'll write it on SES and cross-link it.
My initial hostility and anger towards these nerfs is that they work directly against balance. BRK in his newest post talks about class balance and what must occur to preserve it. For the large part, I agree with him. Where our agreement ends is the realm of PVP. I, personally, believe that the pursuit of PVP balance at this point in World of Warcraft's lifecycle is wholly impossible. The game is far too entrenched, far too settled into itself, and far too hard to change radically without a massive outcry to truly balance.
What this nerf that I take offense to does not do, however, is balance the Retribution Paladin for PVE. Both today, at level 70, and on the beta, at level 80, I have raided with Retribution Paladins. For the most part, I regard them as another DPSer - someone that I have to beat out if I want to be number one on the DPS charts. And as a Hunter, the Grand Arbiter of MQoSRDPS (/bow to BRK for the great acronym), that is my overarching goal. Yes, I have other responsibilities, such as trapping if necessary, aggro maintenance, and pet management, but my primary raid goal is DPS, and my personal raid goal is topping the DPS.
On the Beta, Retribution Paladins were a very fair and strong competitor in that race. They were not blasting miles ahead of me, nor was any other DPSer (Rogues, Fury or Arms Warriors, Kitty Druids, Mages, etc). The numbers came down to two things: Who was better geared, and who was on their A-Game. This was great! I was not threatened by Ret Paladins - I knew that if we were equally geared and we put out equal effort, I could squeak out a win. This, of course, holds true to Blizzard's new philosophy of "bring the player, not the class/spec".
These nerfs are shattering that.
Last night, I went to Black Temple. My guild has a very skilled and wonderful Ret Paladin. Throughout the entire instance, he and the three Hunters present duked it out for the leadership on the DPS charts. It was neck and neck for most of the night - sometimes I'd eek ahead, sometimes he'd pull ahead, and other times another Hunter would lead the pack. It was a friendly competition that spurred all parties present to DPS as hard as they could within reason (aggro, mana, etc). Friendly poking and prodding was part of the fun - the person lagging in fourth would jovially get called out on it, and they'd rocket into something beyond their A-Game, catch up, and the cycle would repeat.
It was fun.
Now, my Ret Paladin friend will not be part of that race. He will be lagging behind. We won't be able to, in good faith, poke good-natured fun at his DPS, as he'll likely be doing the best he can and still trailing the other DPSers by a fair margin. Essentially, you are taking away a player in my fun little game and it hurts very badly.
I don't have a Paladin. Hell, I don't have an alt, even. But I know what it's like to be nerfed because people are crying about you in PVP. It happened to us in 2.0.6. You remember how that felt? It sucked. And now you're glorifying the same treatment to Retribution Paladins today? Why?
From the inception of Beta, World of Warcraft was a PVE game. The PVP was tacked on as a minor afterthought due to a decent number of beta testers clamboring for it. I was not among them.
"But Rilgon, the game is shifting focus!" you will tell me. To which, I would respond as thus: the change is shifting due to one person with a very flawed and selfish ideology. I have gone over this, as have other bloggers, but it remains the same. The game is being slowly mutated and ruined by one man and his short-sighted "dream" of making WoW no longer the place where raids are fought and lore is spun but the place where noobs are pwned and money is made in some sort of eSport league.
And I say this: WoW will never achieve that "dream". Starcraft it is not.
Let me close with this: If I offended anyone, angered anyone, or lost favor with anyone due to my frustration, I apologize. But you must sincerely look at things from all facets - a nerf that "balances" a Ret Paladin for PVP may very well ruin that Ret Paladin's PVE career entirely. Is that fair to the Ret Paladin who never PVPs at all, and was in no way a cause of this massive outcry?
And if you truly want a game where PVP is the controlling factor, please go and play it.
I understood and had a very heavy hunch that BRK's introduction to his seventh podcast episode was sarcasm and his own brand of humor. Usually, that brand of humor makes me giggle. This time it did not. I tried to post something similar to this on BRK's newest post, but twice I was denied by the spam filter and lost what was probably 8-10 minutes of typing, so I'll write it on SES and cross-link it.
My initial hostility and anger towards these nerfs is that they work directly against balance. BRK in his newest post talks about class balance and what must occur to preserve it. For the large part, I agree with him. Where our agreement ends is the realm of PVP. I, personally, believe that the pursuit of PVP balance at this point in World of Warcraft's lifecycle is wholly impossible. The game is far too entrenched, far too settled into itself, and far too hard to change radically without a massive outcry to truly balance.
What this nerf that I take offense to does not do, however, is balance the Retribution Paladin for PVE. Both today, at level 70, and on the beta, at level 80, I have raided with Retribution Paladins. For the most part, I regard them as another DPSer - someone that I have to beat out if I want to be number one on the DPS charts. And as a Hunter, the Grand Arbiter of MQoSRDPS (/bow to BRK for the great acronym), that is my overarching goal. Yes, I have other responsibilities, such as trapping if necessary, aggro maintenance, and pet management, but my primary raid goal is DPS, and my personal raid goal is topping the DPS.
On the Beta, Retribution Paladins were a very fair and strong competitor in that race. They were not blasting miles ahead of me, nor was any other DPSer (Rogues, Fury or Arms Warriors, Kitty Druids, Mages, etc). The numbers came down to two things: Who was better geared, and who was on their A-Game. This was great! I was not threatened by Ret Paladins - I knew that if we were equally geared and we put out equal effort, I could squeak out a win. This, of course, holds true to Blizzard's new philosophy of "bring the player, not the class/spec".
These nerfs are shattering that.
Last night, I went to Black Temple. My guild has a very skilled and wonderful Ret Paladin. Throughout the entire instance, he and the three Hunters present duked it out for the leadership on the DPS charts. It was neck and neck for most of the night - sometimes I'd eek ahead, sometimes he'd pull ahead, and other times another Hunter would lead the pack. It was a friendly competition that spurred all parties present to DPS as hard as they could within reason (aggro, mana, etc). Friendly poking and prodding was part of the fun - the person lagging in fourth would jovially get called out on it, and they'd rocket into something beyond their A-Game, catch up, and the cycle would repeat.
It was fun.
Now, my Ret Paladin friend will not be part of that race. He will be lagging behind. We won't be able to, in good faith, poke good-natured fun at his DPS, as he'll likely be doing the best he can and still trailing the other DPSers by a fair margin. Essentially, you are taking away a player in my fun little game and it hurts very badly.
I don't have a Paladin. Hell, I don't have an alt, even. But I know what it's like to be nerfed because people are crying about you in PVP. It happened to us in 2.0.6. You remember how that felt? It sucked. And now you're glorifying the same treatment to Retribution Paladins today? Why?
From the inception of Beta, World of Warcraft was a PVE game. The PVP was tacked on as a minor afterthought due to a decent number of beta testers clamboring for it. I was not among them.
"But Rilgon, the game is shifting focus!" you will tell me. To which, I would respond as thus: the change is shifting due to one person with a very flawed and selfish ideology. I have gone over this, as have other bloggers, but it remains the same. The game is being slowly mutated and ruined by one man and his short-sighted "dream" of making WoW no longer the place where raids are fought and lore is spun but the place where noobs are pwned and money is made in some sort of eSport league.
And I say this: WoW will never achieve that "dream". Starcraft it is not.
Let me close with this: If I offended anyone, angered anyone, or lost favor with anyone due to my frustration, I apologize. But you must sincerely look at things from all facets - a nerf that "balances" a Ret Paladin for PVP may very well ruin that Ret Paladin's PVE career entirely. Is that fair to the Ret Paladin who never PVPs at all, and was in no way a cause of this massive outcry?
And if you truly want a game where PVP is the controlling factor, please go and play it.
Anyone else find themselves chain-MDing their pets?
Like, I dunno about you, but even with Tenacity pets (Raymi, Kongsecrate), I find myself instinctively chain-MDing them.
Why? Because it's easy, it's rather cheap, and because I can do it basically every other fight or so. It's GREAT being able to unload in things' faces and not worry about aggro.
I've got a macro like such:
/target Kongsecrate
/cast Misdirection
/targetlasttarget
bound to my ` key, and I just flick it every time it's up on MSBT. It's making my farming nigh-effortless, which is delicious.
Am I alone?
Why? Because it's easy, it's rather cheap, and because I can do it basically every other fight or so. It's GREAT being able to unload in things' faces and not worry about aggro.
I've got a macro like such:
/target Kongsecrate
/cast Misdirection
/targetlasttarget
bound to my ` key, and I just flick it every time it's up on MSBT. It's making my farming nigh-effortless, which is delicious.
Am I alone?
This is strangely addicting.
I'm slowly becoming a WoWWiki junkie. Ack!
I did an overhaul of the Aspect of the Viper page, made a new page for the Guardian of Cenarius title, and now I'm preparing a new article for Aspect of the Dragonhawk, once I get some insight into what I need to do special to the article since it's covering Beta information.
Should I be worried? :P
I did an overhaul of the Aspect of the Viper page, made a new page for the Guardian of Cenarius title, and now I'm preparing a new article for Aspect of the Dragonhawk, once I get some insight into what I need to do special to the article since it's covering Beta information.
Should I be worried? :P
Monday, October 27, 2008
Good thing there isn't an Essence of Pride.
Or maybe I'm it right now?
Pretty stoked with my performance tonight in Black Temple - especially on Teron Gorefiend. :P
I would've been higher, but I got Shadowed near the end, and he died when my Shadow of Death was at 1 second. XD
Yeah, I'm sure someone, somewhere is going to post a WWS with a higher DPS than mine, but that's a personal record and I'm bloody damn proud of it. Not the 2000 DPS benchmark I'm struggling to breach, but it's close, and there's always next week. :)
Pretty stoked with my performance tonight in Black Temple - especially on Teron Gorefiend. :P
I would've been higher, but I got Shadowed near the end, and he died when my Shadow of Death was at 1 second. XD
Yeah, I'm sure someone, somewhere is going to post a WWS with a higher DPS than mine, but that's a personal record and I'm bloody damn proud of it. Not the 2000 DPS benchmark I'm struggling to breach, but it's close, and there's always next week. :)
*yawn* BRK ain't paying attention, I guess.
I like how he claims on his most recent podcast episode that MM Hunters aren't keeping up with (or beating) BM Hunters.
He must not being paying attention to, well, anything.
Like, y'know, the Patchwerk Scoreboard, or any good MM Hunter blogger *coughmeornegglesoranyoftherestofuscough*.
I mean, sure, he's biased, but meh. :P
Also, normally I wouldn't write something like this, but his little snarky anti-Paladin introduction pissed me off - celebrating ANYTHING generated by whiny PVP children = pathetic.
He must not being paying attention to, well, anything.
Like, y'know, the Patchwerk Scoreboard, or any good MM Hunter blogger *coughmeornegglesoranyoftherestofuscough*.
I mean, sure, he's biased, but meh. :P
Also, normally I wouldn't write something like this, but his little snarky anti-Paladin introduction pissed me off - celebrating ANYTHING generated by whiny PVP children = pathetic.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Another relic of the old me reclaimed!
BRK already touched on the return of the invading necropoli, and how admittedly different things are now than they were in 1.11. For me, however, this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reclaim something from my old character that I thought I'd never see again.
My Tabard of the Argent Dawn.
I still think it's the best looking, classiest tabard in the game, even WITH the advent of the Tabard of the Shattered Sun, which has been banked for me.
Sure, there's other things I still miss, but all of those can be reclaimed with time and a little help from my friends, aside from the Mechanostrider. I always thought that I'd never have an AD tabard again.
I'm glad time has proven me wrong. :)
My Tabard of the Argent Dawn.
I still think it's the best looking, classiest tabard in the game, even WITH the advent of the Tabard of the Shattered Sun, which has been banked for me.
Sure, there's other things I still miss, but all of those can be reclaimed with time and a little help from my friends, aside from the Mechanostrider. I always thought that I'd never have an AD tabard again.
I'm glad time has proven me wrong. :)
Y'know, I may not support this zombie plague fully.
But the fact that I can zombify and kill Arena and Battleground NPCs is the best thing ever.
Long live the Plague, and long live the temporary death of Arena!
Long live the Plague, and long live the temporary death of Arena!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Beta 9138 - *yawn*
I'm too lazy to copy/paste from MMO-C, so:
Aspects are off GCD and on a 1s internal cooldown
Hawk IX/X are now Dragonhawk I/II - same RAP bonus, but a 18% dodge bonus too (who cares)
Disengage needs no target
AotDH works with IAotH, IAotM, GoAotM, and Aspect Mastery (gets both bonuses).
And that's basically it. like I said - *yawn*
Aspects are off GCD and on a 1s internal cooldown
Hawk IX/X are now Dragonhawk I/II - same RAP bonus, but a 18% dodge bonus too (who cares)
Disengage needs no target
AotDH works with IAotH, IAotM, GoAotM, and Aspect Mastery (gets both bonuses).
And that's basically it. like I said - *yawn*
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
You know, I thought Ghostcrawler actually had it right.
But apparently he's just as blind and idiotic as any other developer.
"As I have suggested a few times, we are concerned that hunters of all 3 specs are doing damage that is clearly superior to other classes. While we're trying to achieve closer parity among specs of all classes with regard to dps, and we want to particularly make sure that hunters, rogues, mages and locks are not left behind, we do think the hunters are too far ahead, particularly at 80, in good gear, when raid-buffed.
However, we have also tried to give hunters a substantial survivability boost in PvP and we don't want to do anything that hurts them too much in PvP.
So here are changes you will most likely see soon:
1) Ranged attacks no longer benefit from the haste effects of Windfury Totem and Improved Icy Talons. This is a nerf to hunter white damage.
2) We are also improving the armor on level 83 raid bosses by 10%. This will be a nerf to the dps of any class that does physical damage. For classes that would slide behind with such a change, we'll take steps to adjust them -- though it probably isn't as many as you think. The raid buff stacking overhaul was very beneficial to melee (and hunters). Sunder / Expose Armor alone can be a 20%+ dps increase, which is why we decided to attack the problem from this angle."
This is possibly the most laughable bundle of contradictions, self-lies, and horseshit I've ever seen GC spew. First off, it's not anywhere close to helping to ensure "closer parity between specs" - this yet AGAIN makes Beast Mastery the fucking prominent spec, since Serpent's Swiftness is going to be mandatory to get us down to the GCD cap. Secondly, expanding on what I said, it's not just a nerf to white damage if you're MM or SV - we rely on Steady as the bulk of our rotations, and now this is gonna nerf Steady by a good 20% too! So now we're taking a 20% nerf on 65-70% of our damage! Very raw math shows this to be a roughly 15% overall DPS nerf, and we BARELY beat Rogues/Warriors/Ret Paladins/Frostfire Mages by 300-500 DPS! Assuming the best Hunter parse on the Patchwerk scoreboard (5472 DPS, MM Hunter), that puts us at 4651.2 DPS - below Arms and Fury Warriors, Mutilate Rogues, Frostfire Mages, and Ret Paladins on that scoreboard! And a few places below 4650, in the area of 4200, you see Ret Paladins and Frost DKs - AND THEY'RE NOT FULLY EPICED!
And there's other posts by GC that I'll let you go look at MMO-C's BlueTracker to find, but suffice it to say, there's a lot of PVE nerfing mindset in the dev team, and if they keep it up, you're gonna see a lot of Hunters losing raid spots pretty soon. Because, after all, what do we bring to the table other than crazy amounts of ranged DPS? Misdirection?
hahahahaha, yeah, right.
"As I have suggested a few times, we are concerned that hunters of all 3 specs are doing damage that is clearly superior to other classes. While we're trying to achieve closer parity among specs of all classes with regard to dps, and we want to particularly make sure that hunters, rogues, mages and locks are not left behind, we do think the hunters are too far ahead, particularly at 80, in good gear, when raid-buffed.
However, we have also tried to give hunters a substantial survivability boost in PvP and we don't want to do anything that hurts them too much in PvP.
So here are changes you will most likely see soon:
1) Ranged attacks no longer benefit from the haste effects of Windfury Totem and Improved Icy Talons. This is a nerf to hunter white damage.
2) We are also improving the armor on level 83 raid bosses by 10%. This will be a nerf to the dps of any class that does physical damage. For classes that would slide behind with such a change, we'll take steps to adjust them -- though it probably isn't as many as you think. The raid buff stacking overhaul was very beneficial to melee (and hunters). Sunder / Expose Armor alone can be a 20%+ dps increase, which is why we decided to attack the problem from this angle."
This is possibly the most laughable bundle of contradictions, self-lies, and horseshit I've ever seen GC spew. First off, it's not anywhere close to helping to ensure "closer parity between specs" - this yet AGAIN makes Beast Mastery the fucking prominent spec, since Serpent's Swiftness is going to be mandatory to get us down to the GCD cap. Secondly, expanding on what I said, it's not just a nerf to white damage if you're MM or SV - we rely on Steady as the bulk of our rotations, and now this is gonna nerf Steady by a good 20% too! So now we're taking a 20% nerf on 65-70% of our damage! Very raw math shows this to be a roughly 15% overall DPS nerf, and we BARELY beat Rogues/Warriors/Ret Paladins/Frostfire Mages by 300-500 DPS! Assuming the best Hunter parse on the Patchwerk scoreboard (5472 DPS, MM Hunter), that puts us at 4651.2 DPS - below Arms and Fury Warriors, Mutilate Rogues, Frostfire Mages, and Ret Paladins on that scoreboard! And a few places below 4650, in the area of 4200, you see Ret Paladins and Frost DKs - AND THEY'RE NOT FULLY EPICED!
And there's other posts by GC that I'll let you go look at MMO-C's BlueTracker to find, but suffice it to say, there's a lot of PVE nerfing mindset in the dev team, and if they keep it up, you're gonna see a lot of Hunters losing raid spots pretty soon. Because, after all, what do we bring to the table other than crazy amounts of ranged DPS? Misdirection?
hahahahaha, yeah, right.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I will be the first to admit I'm wrong.
Was talking with Nassira over at Diaries of a Marksman Hunter, and we got into the topic of Chimera-Serpent and how it behaves. Now, prevailing wisdom on the Beta forums and in practice on the Beta stated that it did 40% of what your Serpent has done, not what it will do.
I held onto that belief as well, until today.
I was wrong.
Chimera does a full 40% of the potential damage of your Serpent Sting. Now, what does this mean?
A) Optimizing your Chimera damage is already done by firing it every 10 seconds on the dot. People were theorizing that if you held out for 14.5 seconds, you'd get more oomph on the Chimera-Serpent effect. This is wrong.
B) Glyph of Serpent Sting is awesome for MM Hunters. It ups the damage of Serpent Sting by 20%, which ups your Chimera-Serpent by 5%.
C) You can poke fun at me for being wrong. :P
This post is dedicated to my guildie, Miyrah, who graciously donated a Glyph of Serpent Sting to help me verify the above. <3
I held onto that belief as well, until today.
I was wrong.
Chimera does a full 40% of the potential damage of your Serpent Sting. Now, what does this mean?
A) Optimizing your Chimera damage is already done by firing it every 10 seconds on the dot. People were theorizing that if you held out for 14.5 seconds, you'd get more oomph on the Chimera-Serpent effect. This is wrong.
B) Glyph of Serpent Sting is awesome for MM Hunters. It ups the damage of Serpent Sting by 20%, which ups your Chimera-Serpent by 5%.
C) You can poke fun at me for being wrong. :P
This post is dedicated to my guildie, Miyrah, who graciously donated a Glyph of Serpent Sting to help me verify the above. <3
And now I have a papercut, damnit.
But hey, I'm done, and I will never handle another god-forsaken Encrypted Twilight Text ever again. :P
Monday, October 20, 2008
Y'know? Third ain't bad.
When it's third in overall DPS over the span of a Hyjal run, that is.
Yes, third. On trash, too.
Why? The glorious, delicious, soul-nourishing glory of Volley, of course!
Oh, and I was first DPS on Anetheron with 1470 DPS. ^_^;
but I'm still not Honored with Scale. *sigh*
And yes, Hyjal is way better with alcohol. *hugs Captain Morgan*
Yes, third. On trash, too.
Why? The glorious, delicious, soul-nourishing glory of Volley, of course!
Oh, and I was first DPS on Anetheron with 1470 DPS. ^_^;
but I'm still not Honored with Scale. *sigh*
And yes, Hyjal is way better with alcohol. *hugs Captain Morgan*
Hot damn, got my Glyph of Feign Death!
Well, all my Glyph Circles are active, now (aside from my third Major which is locked until 80) - my three Minors that I wanted (Feign, Mend, and Revive Pet), plus Glyph of Aimed and Glyph of Hunter's Mark since I can't get what I want (Glyph of Steady and Glyph of AotV).
/happy
/happy
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Enchantment Theorycrafting at 80 (as of 9095)
So... I have a habit of looking to the future. As such, I am thinking of what enchants I'm wanting on my delicious raid gear.
Let's do some thinking.
Helm:
I haven't seen anything new and good here as of Wrath. If that's the case, our old standby, the Arcanum of Ferocity is the go-to enchant here. There's the Arcanum of Triumph, but 16 Hit > 16 AP, IMO.
Shoulders:
Gotta be Greater Inscription of the Axe. If you're a Scribe, then get the Master's version. I can only pray the Sons of Hodir are easier to rep up with then the god-forsaken Aldor.
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats will carry on the legacy of Hunters being the best at using the +Stats enchants. :)
Cloak:
Enchant Cloak - Major Agility looks tasty. Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed MIGHT be okay, depending on a LOT of testing, but I'm gonna stick with the Agility.
Boots:
Either Enchant Boots - Superior Agility or Enchant Boots - Greater Assault. Math will need to be done to decide - I kinda have my chips on Superior Agility.
Gloves:
Enchant Gloves - Crusher. Slightly above the item budget of Enchant Gloves - Major Agility, and it's more AP for me.
Bracers:
Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault. Delicious AP, and way more beneficial than the +Stats enchant, sadly.
Pants:
Delicious, glorious Icescale Leg Armor. So much AP! :D
Belt:
What else is there other than an Eternal Belt Buckle? :P
Ranged Weapon:
Guess it'll be a Heartseeker Scope since lol haste.
Two-Handed Melee:
Enchant Weapon - Massacre will be what you'll rock if you're rocking a season 5 two-hander (lol like Hunters actually get in Arenas)
One-Handed Melee:
Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Intellect.
YOU HEARD ME.
Look at it this way. Dual wielding, you have three options: Intellect, Agility, or Accuracy.
Assuming you have Careful Aim and don't have Combat Experience:
2x Exceptional Intellect: 1350 Mana, 90 AP
2x Exceptional Agility: .62% Crit, 52 AP
2x Accuracy: 1.09% Crit, 1.52% Hit
Now, if you're not Hit capped, 2x Accuracy might be a better buy for you, since that's a surprisingly large amount of hit. But if you're not, Intellect's HUGE Mana amount and larger AP than Agility looks like it'll be a better acquisition than Exceptional Agility.
(Disclaimer: All of this is done using my 7/57/7 spec, and I really don't want to analyze it for BM or SV Hunters. All opinions are just that - my opinion - and should not be taken as any sort of salvation or gospel. No refunds if I turn out to be wrong. Not liable for any explosions.)
Let's do some thinking.
Helm:
I haven't seen anything new and good here as of Wrath. If that's the case, our old standby, the Arcanum of Ferocity is the go-to enchant here. There's the Arcanum of Triumph, but 16 Hit > 16 AP, IMO.
Shoulders:
Gotta be Greater Inscription of the Axe. If you're a Scribe, then get the Master's version. I can only pray the Sons of Hodir are easier to rep up with then the god-forsaken Aldor.
Chest:
Enchant Chest - Powerful Stats will carry on the legacy of Hunters being the best at using the +Stats enchants. :)
Cloak:
Enchant Cloak - Major Agility looks tasty. Enchant Cloak - Greater Speed MIGHT be okay, depending on a LOT of testing, but I'm gonna stick with the Agility.
Boots:
Either Enchant Boots - Superior Agility or Enchant Boots - Greater Assault. Math will need to be done to decide - I kinda have my chips on Superior Agility.
Gloves:
Enchant Gloves - Crusher. Slightly above the item budget of Enchant Gloves - Major Agility, and it's more AP for me.
Bracers:
Enchant Bracers - Greater Assault. Delicious AP, and way more beneficial than the +Stats enchant, sadly.
Pants:
Delicious, glorious Icescale Leg Armor. So much AP! :D
Belt:
What else is there other than an Eternal Belt Buckle? :P
Ranged Weapon:
Guess it'll be a Heartseeker Scope since lol haste.
Two-Handed Melee:
Enchant Weapon - Massacre will be what you'll rock if you're rocking a season 5 two-hander (lol like Hunters actually get in Arenas)
One-Handed Melee:
Enchant Weapon - Exceptional Intellect.
YOU HEARD ME.
Look at it this way. Dual wielding, you have three options: Intellect, Agility, or Accuracy.
Assuming you have Careful Aim and don't have Combat Experience:
2x Exceptional Intellect: 1350 Mana, 90 AP
2x Exceptional Agility: .62% Crit, 52 AP
2x Accuracy: 1.09% Crit, 1.52% Hit
Now, if you're not Hit capped, 2x Accuracy might be a better buy for you, since that's a surprisingly large amount of hit. But if you're not, Intellect's HUGE Mana amount and larger AP than Agility looks like it'll be a better acquisition than Exceptional Agility.
(Disclaimer: All of this is done using my 7/57/7 spec, and I really don't want to analyze it for BM or SV Hunters. All opinions are just that - my opinion - and should not be taken as any sort of salvation or gospel. No refunds if I turn out to be wrong. Not liable for any explosions.)
I can't fucking STAND the new Viper.
Ugh. It's so TERRIBLE. I can't even get out of Viper in a 15-second Rapid Fire, and that's with all my shots costing 60% LESS thanks to Rapid Recuperation. Christ.
The passive regen either needs to be occurring every second, or it needs to be tripled (or it needs to go back to its original implementation and a new Aspect made that works for PVP).
It is severely throttling my PVE DPS capacity, and I'm sick of it.
The passive regen either needs to be occurring every second, or it needs to be tripled (or it needs to go back to its original implementation and a new Aspect made that works for PVP).
It is severely throttling my PVE DPS capacity, and I'm sick of it.
So here's what I'm thinking. (9095)
This spec.
Yes, I know, some sort of cardinal sacrilege for not having Improved Hawk (olol dragonhawk) or Focused Fire. That said, can the 12% boost to Aimed and Volley, plus the 12% crit bonus to Aimed and 100% pushback resistance on Volley close the gap left by Focused Fire? Can it push me over the edge? And what if, instead of getting a Glyph of Aimed Shot (to severely slash Aimed's mana cost), I keep my once-beautiful but now worthless Glyph of Trueshot Aura? In my PVP gear on Beta I'm sitting at 35-ish percent crit... 12% from Improved Barrage and 10% from a Glyph is making Aimed sit at something like, sheesh, 57% Crit?
I dunno. This weekend, the dummies are getting shot at with my old 7/57/7 and my theoretical 0/64/7 and I'll see what the numbers say. This could be the "next big thing".
And hey, the less I drop in BM, the more I can bash it, right? ;)
Yes, I know, some sort of cardinal sacrilege for not having Improved Hawk (olol dragonhawk) or Focused Fire. That said, can the 12% boost to Aimed and Volley, plus the 12% crit bonus to Aimed and 100% pushback resistance on Volley close the gap left by Focused Fire? Can it push me over the edge? And what if, instead of getting a Glyph of Aimed Shot (to severely slash Aimed's mana cost), I keep my once-beautiful but now worthless Glyph of Trueshot Aura? In my PVP gear on Beta I'm sitting at 35-ish percent crit... 12% from Improved Barrage and 10% from a Glyph is making Aimed sit at something like, sheesh, 57% Crit?
I dunno. This weekend, the dummies are getting shot at with my old 7/57/7 and my theoretical 0/64/7 and I'll see what the numbers say. This could be the "next big thing".
And hey, the less I drop in BM, the more I can bash it, right? ;)
*lightbulb turns on*
Dear Blizzard,
The most simple fix you can do to make the new Viper not a dramatic nerf for PVE players is to increase the passive mana regeneration to either 4% every second or 12% every 3 seconds.
Behold math! (All math assumes Glyph of Aspect of the Viper and assumes it will be changed to affect the passive regen as well)
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .066) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .044) = 8,800
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under "4/1" Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 15 * (10,000 * .044) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under "12/3" Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .132) = 13,200
Voila! PVPers get a passive component to Viper to prevent them from being drained, LOSed, and made useless, and PVEers do not get a nerf to what was a perfectly good way to refill on mana!
Sincerely,
Rilgon Arcsinh, Master Goblin Engineer
The most simple fix you can do to make the new Viper not a dramatic nerf for PVE players is to increase the passive mana regeneration to either 4% every second or 12% every 3 seconds.
Behold math! (All math assumes Glyph of Aspect of the Viper and assumes it will be changed to affect the passive regen as well)
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .066) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .044) = 8,800
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under "4/1" Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 15 * (10,000 * .044) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under "12/3" Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .132) = 13,200
Voila! PVPers get a passive component to Viper to prevent them from being drained, LOSed, and made useless, and PVEers do not get a nerf to what was a perfectly good way to refill on mana!
Sincerely,
Rilgon Arcsinh, Master Goblin Engineer
Friday, October 17, 2008
There are NO WORDS for my fury.
"Glyph of Trueshot Aura - While your Trueshot Aura is active, you have 10% increased critical strike chance on your Aimed Shot. (Old - Increases the attack power bonus of Trueshot Aura by an additional 2%.)"
*foams at mouth*
In other 3.0.3/9098-related news:
Skills
Beast Mastery
Aspect of the Viper changed to - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged and melee attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
Survival
Disengage mana cost has been lowered from 14% of base mana to 5% of base mana.
Talent
Beast Mastery
Ferocious Inspiration now affects your raid.Animal Handler now increase your pet's expertise by 5/10. (Old - Increased the chance to hit by 2/4%)
Marksmanship
Improved Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
Pet Skills
Swipe (Bear) focus cost reduced from 25 to to 20. Damage increased (60-84 to 90-126 for Rank 6)
Snatch (Bird of Prey) focus cost reduced from 40 to 20.
Gore (Boar) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (122-164 for Rank 6)
Rake (Cat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 59-83 + 21-27 over 9 sec to 24-34 + 22-28 over 9 sec)
Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) now has a 20 yards range.
Froststorm Breath (Chimaera) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
Lava Breath (Core Hound) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Stamped (Rhino) damage increased (from 91-123 to 182-246 for Rank 6). Knockback reduced from 15 yards to 10 yards.
Spirit Strike (Spirit Beast) damage increased. (from 43-47 + 43-47 over 10 sec to 85-115 + 85-115 over 10 sec)
Acid Spit (Worm) damage increased. (62-88 to 124-176 for Rank 6)
Thunderstomp (Gorilla) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Tendon Rip (Hyena) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Savage Rend (Raptor) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.Ravage (Ravager) damage increased. (89-125 to 106-150 for Rank 6)
Scorpid Poison (Scorpid) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 85 to 45 for Rank 6)
Poison Spit (Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Spore Cloud (Sporebat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Sting (Wasp) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Now Barrage and Improved Barrage are actually useful, meaning I want to spend yet MORE points in Marks. Christ. I almost want to go something like... 0/64/7 now.
*foams at mouth*
In other 3.0.3/9098-related news:
Skills
Beast Mastery
Aspect of the Viper changed to - The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged and melee attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. In addition, you gain 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
Survival
Disengage mana cost has been lowered from 14% of base mana to 5% of base mana.
Talent
Beast Mastery
Ferocious Inspiration now affects your raid.Animal Handler now increase your pet's expertise by 5/10. (Old - Increased the chance to hit by 2/4%)
Marksmanship
Improved Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
Barrage now affects Aimed Shot.
Pet Skills
Swipe (Bear) focus cost reduced from 25 to to 20. Damage increased (60-84 to 90-126 for Rank 6)
Snatch (Bird of Prey) focus cost reduced from 40 to 20.
Gore (Boar) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (122-164 for Rank 6)
Rake (Cat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 59-83 + 21-27 over 9 sec to 24-34 + 22-28 over 9 sec)
Fire Breath (Dragonhawk) now has a 20 yards range.
Froststorm Breath (Chimaera) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
Lava Breath (Core Hound) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage increased. (64-86 to 128-172 for Rank 6)
Monstrous Bite (Devilsaur) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Stamped (Rhino) damage increased (from 91-123 to 182-246 for Rank 6). Knockback reduced from 15 yards to 10 yards.
Spirit Strike (Spirit Beast) damage increased. (from 43-47 + 43-47 over 10 sec to 85-115 + 85-115 over 10 sec)
Acid Spit (Worm) damage increased. (62-88 to 124-176 for Rank 6)
Thunderstomp (Gorilla) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Tendon Rip (Hyena) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Savage Rend (Raptor) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.Ravage (Ravager) damage increased. (89-125 to 106-150 for Rank 6)
Scorpid Poison (Scorpid) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20. Damage lowered. (From 85 to 45 for Rank 6)
Poison Spit (Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Spore Cloud (Sporebat) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Lightning Breath (Wind Serpent) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Sting (Wasp) focus cost reduced from 25 to 20.
Now Barrage and Improved Barrage are actually useful, meaning I want to spend yet MORE points in Marks. Christ. I almost want to go something like... 0/64/7 now.
I have seen the Gorilladin Light.
And it is good.
I tamed one of the black gorillas from STV, and did something that I put off for a while - went to Silithus to farm Cenarion Circle rep.
THIS IS THE GREATEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO HUNTER FARMING EVER.
I mean yea, the Twilight Cultists are level 58-60, sure. But Kongsecrate is only level 65, so it's not a totally unfair advantage. He can take like 15 cultists at once, then I MD -> Volley -> everything dies and I loot a ton of Runecloth (10g/stack now, holy god), text, and other goodies.
I feel like a Mage, minus the fancy dresses and free water.
I tamed one of the black gorillas from STV, and did something that I put off for a while - went to Silithus to farm Cenarion Circle rep.
THIS IS THE GREATEST THING TO EVER HAPPEN TO HUNTER FARMING EVER.
I mean yea, the Twilight Cultists are level 58-60, sure. But Kongsecrate is only level 65, so it's not a totally unfair advantage. He can take like 15 cultists at once, then I MD -> Volley -> everything dies and I loot a ton of Runecloth (10g/stack now, holy god), text, and other goodies.
I feel like a Mage, minus the fancy dresses and free water.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Math on New Viper
Let:
X = ranged weapon speed = 3.00
Y = mana pool = 10,000
Z = total haste gained from buffs (quiver, Windfury, Rapid Fire) = 1.8676
Old Viper formula = $NUMBER_OF_SHOTS * (Y * X / 100 * 2)
New Viper formula = $NUMBER_OF_SHOTS * (Y * X / 100) + [(Y * .04) * $TIME_IN_VIPER / 3]
3.00 / 1.8676 = 1.61 (1.606-ish)
(Numbers do not include Steady or Chimera mana costs, all variables use Glyph of Aspect of the Viper)
In 3.22 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 5 * (10,000 * .066) = 3,300
In 3.22 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 5 * (10,000 * .033) + (10,000 * .044) = 2,090
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .066) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .044) = 8,800
So yeah :|
X = ranged weapon speed = 3.00
Y = mana pool = 10,000
Z = total haste gained from buffs (quiver, Windfury, Rapid Fire) = 1.8676
Old Viper formula = $NUMBER_OF_SHOTS * (Y * X / 100 * 2)
New Viper formula = $NUMBER_OF_SHOTS * (Y * X / 100) + [(Y * .04) * $TIME_IN_VIPER / 3]
3.00 / 1.8676 = 1.61 (1.606-ish)
(Numbers do not include Steady or Chimera mana costs, all variables use Glyph of Aspect of the Viper)
In 3.22 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 5 * (10,000 * .066) = 3,300
In 3.22 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 5 * (10,000 * .033) + (10,000 * .044) = 2,090
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under old Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .066) = 13,200
In 15 seconds, using Steady and Chimera, under new Viper: 20 * (10,000 * .033) + 5 * (10,000 * .044) = 8,800
So yeah :|
Out of line. My apologies.
After a couple of people not-so-politely informed me that they thought my previous post on this topic was wholly out of line, I agreed with them. I am reforming it in this post with a healthy dose of tact and less irrational anger.
From GC:
"After further discussion, we're not crazy about the "stance dancing" that hunters need to do to switch to Monkey when someone is in on you in melee. As we've said a few times, Disengage and Deterrence should be your go-to abilities at that time. If anything, removing Aspects from the GCD makes it feel like you are supposed to go Monkey every time you're in melee.
Rather than revert the change, we are introducing a new spell!
Instead of getting new ranks of Hawk at level 75 and 80, you now get the new Aspect of the Dragonhawk. This powerful aspect combines all of the effects of Hawk and Monkey. Any talent or glyph that affects either Hawk or Monkey also affects Dragonhawk the same way. The idea is that you retire Hawk and Monkey at level 75 and go to essentially two Aspects: Dragonhawk for combat and Viper for mana regen.
Enjoy."
Again, I really don't see any use for it - it seems like a sorry compensation for losing Scatter Shot and my beloved Frost Grenades, but hey. So long as it doesn't make Aspects go back on the GCD... Buff + Useless Upgrade = Buff. I guess I can live with it.
My apologies to anyone who was offended by my rant or thought I was out of line. I was.
From GC:
"After further discussion, we're not crazy about the "stance dancing" that hunters need to do to switch to Monkey when someone is in on you in melee. As we've said a few times, Disengage and Deterrence should be your go-to abilities at that time. If anything, removing Aspects from the GCD makes it feel like you are supposed to go Monkey every time you're in melee.
Rather than revert the change, we are introducing a new spell!
Instead of getting new ranks of Hawk at level 75 and 80, you now get the new Aspect of the Dragonhawk. This powerful aspect combines all of the effects of Hawk and Monkey. Any talent or glyph that affects either Hawk or Monkey also affects Dragonhawk the same way. The idea is that you retire Hawk and Monkey at level 75 and go to essentially two Aspects: Dragonhawk for combat and Viper for mana regen.
Enjoy."
Again, I really don't see any use for it - it seems like a sorry compensation for losing Scatter Shot and my beloved Frost Grenades, but hey. So long as it doesn't make Aspects go back on the GCD... Buff + Useless Upgrade = Buff. I guess I can live with it.
My apologies to anyone who was offended by my rant or thought I was out of line. I was.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
One hand giveth, one hand taketh away.
I know it's already been reported and I'm probably hours late on reporting it, but!
Blizzard giveth:
"Aspects are now off the GCD. It's true. There will still be a 1 sec cooldown to switch from one aspect to another. It should feel a lot more like warrior stances or death knight presences.
We're also going to be putting a little bit of dodge (~10%?) onto Monkey. I'll update when we decide on a final number.
Just for consistency, paladin auras will probably get the same treatment.
These changes should go live before Nov 13."
And Blizzard taketh away:
"Here is the actual Viper change we're going to implement: The per attack mana regeneration has been reduced by 50% but it now generates 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. In addition, the per attack regeneration now also works on melee attacks."
I'm not at all happy with the changes to Viper. It's a ridiculous nerf. And yet again, it's only being made to appease PVP faggots like Levidian, Megatf, Drotara, and their braindead ilk. It's sickening.
But I'll make it work, because I have no other choice. And hey, at least the Aspect thing is nice, it means I don't have to sacrifice a Steady to hop into Viper. *sigh*
Blizzard giveth:
"Aspects are now off the GCD. It's true. There will still be a 1 sec cooldown to switch from one aspect to another. It should feel a lot more like warrior stances or death knight presences.
We're also going to be putting a little bit of dodge (~10%?) onto Monkey. I'll update when we decide on a final number.
Just for consistency, paladin auras will probably get the same treatment.
These changes should go live before Nov 13."
And Blizzard taketh away:
"Here is the actual Viper change we're going to implement: The per attack mana regeneration has been reduced by 50% but it now generates 4% of maximum mana every 3 sec. In addition, the per attack regeneration now also works on melee attacks."
I'm not at all happy with the changes to Viper. It's a ridiculous nerf. And yet again, it's only being made to appease PVP faggots like Levidian, Megatf, Drotara, and their braindead ilk. It's sickening.
But I'll make it work, because I have no other choice. And hey, at least the Aspect thing is nice, it means I don't have to sacrifice a Steady to hop into Viper. *sigh*
3.0.2 - The First Hours
Objectives done:
*Get the Ragefire Chasm achievement
*Tame Mynia
*Buy stable slots
*Break 1500 DPS on a training dummy over more than 5 minutes (1605, peak of 2011)
*Get Glyph of Mend Pet
*Get Glyph of Revive Pet
*Rant about how good Volley is
Still to do:
*Tame Oona
*Tame either Lezard or Kongsecrate (Gorilladin)
*Rant about how good Volley is (more)
*Get Glyph of Feign Death
*Bitch about Northrend herbs not being available for my Major Glyphs
*Make a macro of "/2 herbs = pigments = ink = glyphs, lexicons of power are at inscription trainers, press 1 for horse"
*Level Mynia, Raymi, Oona, and Lezard/Kongsecrate to 70
*Break 2000 DPS in a raid
*Fix my god-damned UI
*Get the Ragefire Chasm achievement
*Tame Mynia
*Buy stable slots
*Break 1500 DPS on a training dummy over more than 5 minutes (1605, peak of 2011)
*Get Glyph of Mend Pet
*Get Glyph of Revive Pet
*Rant about how good Volley is
Still to do:
*Tame Oona
*Tame either Lezard or Kongsecrate (Gorilladin)
*Rant about how good Volley is (more)
*Get Glyph of Feign Death
*Bitch about Northrend herbs not being available for my Major Glyphs
*Make a macro of "/2 herbs = pigments = ink = glyphs, lexicons of power are at inscription trainers, press 1 for horse"
*Level Mynia, Raymi, Oona, and Lezard/Kongsecrate to 70
*Break 2000 DPS in a raid
*Fix my god-damned UI
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
COME ON FAILWHEEDLE CARTEL
COME UP DAMN YOU
CURSE YOU RETRIEVING CHARACTER LIST
Also
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CURSE YOU RETRIEVING CHARACTER LIST
Also
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128 MB of 1.2 GB - 52 minutes remaining.
Now, mind you, I can't do a damn thing until 4 PM CDT, but woot for it being almost done.
Catch you on the flip side, kids - I know lots of you are having pseudo-doom-and-gloom posts on your blogs - we will be FINE. Trust me. I've been in Beta - life is GOOD.
Unless you PVP, then I really don't care.
Catch you on the flip side, kids - I know lots of you are having pseudo-doom-and-gloom posts on your blogs - we will be FINE. Trust me. I've been in Beta - life is GOOD.
Unless you PVP, then I really don't care.
Monday, October 13, 2008
It is time for a changing of the guard.
Pike was right. Real Hunters cry. Sadly, there's redundancy between having two Cunning pets, and Tassadar is still marginally more useful than Fenix in Wrath. And since Raymi will be my primary leveling partner to 80, I figured it was wise to tame her now, and level her to 70 before Wrath release.He'll be fine, though. He loved swimming around. Loch Modan will be fun for him, and he can terrorize any lowbie Horde who pass through.
Goodbye, my little Dragoon. You will be missed. May Aiur live long in your memory.
You know, since you put it that way...
Quoting GC, regarding that dual-spec feature:
"Since dps is your primary concern most of the time, this gives you a way to have say a trash spec and a boss spec"
Huh. And this doesn't come at a financial cost, eh? So you're saying I could have something like... this for trash, with Glyph of Volley instead of Glyph of Steady Shot, and then jump back into my 7/57/7 for actual bosses... Hrm...
*ponders* Y'know, that doesn't actually sound that bad anymore.
"Since dps is your primary concern most of the time, this gives you a way to have say a trash spec and a boss spec"
Huh. And this doesn't come at a financial cost, eh? So you're saying I could have something like... this for trash, with Glyph of Volley instead of Glyph of Steady Shot, and then jump back into my 7/57/7 for actual bosses... Hrm...
*ponders* Y'know, that doesn't actually sound that bad anymore.
People on Murmur can't dance. :(
So I'm in Naxx 10 right now on my new Murmur premade - a female blueberry named Lynarii.
We downed Noth - that's such a fun fight with my new Volley - but NO ONE CAN DANCE FOR HEIGAN. AT ALL. WHY CAN'T YOU DANCE
IT'S LIKE... arrow arrow arrow arrow fast arrows arrow
No wait, that's DDR.
<_<;
NP: OMEGA - MAX 300
We downed Noth - that's such a fun fight with my new Volley - but NO ONE CAN DANCE FOR HEIGAN. AT ALL. WHY CAN'T YOU DANCE
IT'S LIKE... arrow arrow arrow arrow fast arrows arrow
No wait, that's DDR.
<_<;
NP: OMEGA - MAX 300
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Aww, all the widdle PVPers are upset.
I haven't done as much reading up on the results of Blizzcon as I should have - that said, I haven't been reading because as I said earlier, the class is golden for the only part of the game that matters. But apparently, during Blizzcon, Blizzard made a few quips that have all the PVPers up in arms.
Apparently Blizzard made a comment about how since we have mail, we have "enough defenses to survive in melee and walk away". Now, yeah, that's false. But you know what? I don't care! I used to care. I used to empathize with PVPers because their frustration seemed to echo my frustration that Marksmanship was utter shit for a whole expansion. But when I offered my suggestions and my empathy and my assistance, it was all turned around and shoved down my throat. So you know what? QQ more you PVP fucks.
In other, more positive news, 3.0.2 is only 2 days away. I'm probably gonna be spending all day before Hyjal leveling my new pets - I need to go tame Mynia (my moth), Raymi (my ber), punt Aethiopica and Fenix out on the street, and then look at my list of pets and train the rest of them once I buy my fourth/fifth stable slots.
Plus I might ask for a contingency of Knights to help me get into MC and tame Lezard, too. :3
Apparently Blizzard made a comment about how since we have mail, we have "enough defenses to survive in melee and walk away". Now, yeah, that's false. But you know what? I don't care! I used to care. I used to empathize with PVPers because their frustration seemed to echo my frustration that Marksmanship was utter shit for a whole expansion. But when I offered my suggestions and my empathy and my assistance, it was all turned around and shoved down my throat. So you know what? QQ more you PVP fucks.
In other, more positive news, 3.0.2 is only 2 days away. I'm probably gonna be spending all day before Hyjal leveling my new pets - I need to go tame Mynia (my moth), Raymi (my ber), punt Aethiopica and Fenix out on the street, and then look at my list of pets and train the rest of them once I buy my fourth/fifth stable slots.
Plus I might ask for a contingency of Knights to help me get into MC and tame Lezard, too. :3
Saturday, October 11, 2008
About time.
Q: What other spells are going to be useable indoors? mounts?
A: We have one great update. Blizzcon exclusive! In the 1st content patch that follows wotlk, all of your ground mounts will no longer dismount in water. they'll swim now.
/praise deity
Q: Will hunter aspects ever be taken off the global cooldown and be more fluid?
A: Tricky, hunters want everything off the GCD. i wouldn't rule it out completely.
I will call off the paid hitmen hired to kill Kalgan if you do.
A: We have one great update. Blizzcon exclusive! In the 1st content patch that follows wotlk, all of your ground mounts will no longer dismount in water. they'll swim now.
/praise deity
Q: Will hunter aspects ever be taken off the global cooldown and be more fluid?
A: Tricky, hunters want everything off the GCD. i wouldn't rule it out completely.
I will call off the paid hitmen hired to kill Kalgan if you do.
I'm done with the Beta Hunter forums.
I'm done.
I'm sick and tired of trying to provide positive, helpful conjecture, ideas, and theories about how to assist Hunters in their PVP aspects without damaging their PVE prowess and having what I've proposed dismissed as not good enough.
I'm sick and tired of Hunters who are completely willing to sacrifice the PVE capacity of the class just so they can get their jollies off in Arena.
I'm sick and tired of my mantra towards PVP potential being skewed, used against me, and insulted.
I'm sick and tired of trying positively to reach a middle ground with these mouth-breathing, self-serving PVP-minded asswipes.
We are fine in PVE, and if my attempts to reach out to PVPers and help them without their actions hurting us are going to continuously be batted away and insulted, then I'm done.
Ship it. The class is golden for the part of the game that matters.
I'm sick and tired of trying to provide positive, helpful conjecture, ideas, and theories about how to assist Hunters in their PVP aspects without damaging their PVE prowess and having what I've proposed dismissed as not good enough.
I'm sick and tired of Hunters who are completely willing to sacrifice the PVE capacity of the class just so they can get their jollies off in Arena.
I'm sick and tired of my mantra towards PVP potential being skewed, used against me, and insulted.
I'm sick and tired of trying positively to reach a middle ground with these mouth-breathing, self-serving PVP-minded asswipes.
We are fine in PVE, and if my attempts to reach out to PVPers and help them without their actions hurting us are going to continuously be batted away and insulted, then I'm done.
Ship it. The class is golden for the part of the game that matters.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
This is officially the most awesome daily quest EVER.
http://wotlk.wowhead.com/?quest=13003
To quote someone on the WoW Beta forums:
"Looking at this massive harpoon you realize just how bored you are. You notice a huge protodrake soaring majestically outside. You decide for some reason that this deeply offends you.
Grappling hook up to the dragon's underbelly using the harpoon gun, then punch it in the throat until it falls from the sky.
Press 1 to steady your grip.
Press 2 to dodge the drake's attacks.
Press 3 to throat punch.
Press 4 to gore with the harpoon.
Fight hard, you can't hold on forever...
Protodrake used 'Eat your dumb ass'.
It's Super Effective!
Holy crap. The dragon is trying to eat you. Luckily it's still weak from all that throat punching.
Press 1 to force its jaws open.
Press 2 to finish it.
The wider its jaws are the more likely your final attack will succeed. But you don't have long, he's chewing you pretty good.
Congratulations. You punched a dragon to death and only got mildly chewed up in the process. Seriously, what the hell? You should probably seek professional help.
You receive 11g 32s."
To quote someone on the WoW Beta forums:
"Looking at this massive harpoon you realize just how bored you are. You notice a huge protodrake soaring majestically outside. You decide for some reason that this deeply offends you.
Grappling hook up to the dragon's underbelly using the harpoon gun, then punch it in the throat until it falls from the sky.
Press 1 to steady your grip.
Press 2 to dodge the drake's attacks.
Press 3 to throat punch.
Press 4 to gore with the harpoon.
Fight hard, you can't hold on forever...
Protodrake used 'Eat your dumb ass'.
It's Super Effective!
Holy crap. The dragon is trying to eat you. Luckily it's still weak from all that throat punching.
Press 1 to force its jaws open.
Press 2 to finish it.
The wider its jaws are the more likely your final attack will succeed. But you don't have long, he's chewing you pretty good.
Congratulations. You punched a dragon to death and only got mildly chewed up in the process. Seriously, what the hell? You should probably seek professional help.
You receive 11g 32s."
So I did that Wordle thing.
Pretty neat. I love the giant grey SHOT in the middle, rofl. To those who don't know, Wordle takes blocks of text OR a website with an RSS feed and compresses all the words down into a "cloud" like this, where the larger a word is, the more frequently it's used! Interesting how large some words (like However) are, and how small some are (Wrath is surprisingly small o_O). However, that's Stabilized Effort Scope in a Wordle. Pretty cool, IMO!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
9061 is as boring as Rage Winterchill.
*The threat value of Growl (Rank 9 - Level 80) has been increased from 800 to 1234.
I mean yeah, it's NICE, but it's boring.
Then again, what'd I expect from a 5 MB patch?
I mean yeah, it's NICE, but it's boring.
Then again, what'd I expect from a 5 MB patch?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
It's not official until Rage dies.
But yeah, the Knights and I had our first forays into Mount Hyjal.
I'm gonna say this rather bluntly - I hate this trash crap. That's all there is to it - I can't STAND it. Maybe next week when Volley is the second coming of Dharma and I can feel like an AoEer too, but holy crap that was stupid. >_<
I mean yeah, I was able to help with some SES Industries Super Sapper Charges, but like hell I'm gonna make 10+ of those things per raid, the mats are inordinate. I should not have to use an entire primal on a consumable.
Ah, Rage Winterchill. Boring fight. Has like 11 billion HP. Pew pew, move out of the cherry soda, trinket out of the freezing trap, etc. etc. Just... urgh. I can't imagine if I was BM during that fight, I'd probably fall asleep.
Best performance was 24% tonight. Hopefully the Knights will down him Thursday and push forward. :) As always, I won't be there, but I will be willing them on. :D
I just want my pants and my bow. :(
I'm gonna say this rather bluntly - I hate this trash crap. That's all there is to it - I can't STAND it. Maybe next week when Volley is the second coming of Dharma and I can feel like an AoEer too, but holy crap that was stupid. >_<
I mean yeah, I was able to help with some SES Industries Super Sapper Charges, but like hell I'm gonna make 10+ of those things per raid, the mats are inordinate. I should not have to use an entire primal on a consumable.
Ah, Rage Winterchill. Boring fight. Has like 11 billion HP. Pew pew, move out of the cherry soda, trinket out of the freezing trap, etc. etc. Just... urgh. I can't imagine if I was BM during that fight, I'd probably fall asleep.
Best performance was 24% tonight. Hopefully the Knights will down him Thursday and push forward. :) As always, I won't be there, but I will be willing them on. :D
I just want my pants and my bow. :(
A Thesis on Marks Raiding in Wrath, by Rilgon Arcsinh
Firstly, all conceptual ideas, rotation projections, relationships between abilities, and so forth are based off of this talent spec. That said, let us begin.
Raiding in Wrath of the Lich King as a Marksmanship Hunter is something that is far less looked down upon than it was in The Burning Crusade or the latter part of World of Warcraft. Finally, we have been given the tools and talents necessary to present ourselves as a competitive DPS force once properly geared. There are many MM Hunters like myself who are theorizing and preaching their version of the art, and I will be doing the same with this write-up. Sadly, my experience with the proposed talent spec is not vast - two runs of Obsidian Sanctum (one 10-man and one 25-man) and one partial run of Naxx 25 (Raz, Patch, Anub). That said, I believe the experience I have has given me enough of an insight into the build I have crafted and how it works to be able to dissertate how it should function and why it is good to you.
One of the primary elements of the Hunter class is the concept of a "shot rotation". Normally, this meant that you were attempting to keep your special shots from delaying your Auto Shots from firing. This was done by rotating your specials around your Autos, and creating a pattern that either timed three specials in sequence, or spammed one special rapidly due to an abundance of Haste. However, the changes in Wrath of the Lich King - primarily, the change that Auto Shot will fire uninhibited, so long as you are stationary - has caused a paradigm shift from "can I shoot something now?" to "what should I shoot right now?". To say that timing is unimportant would be a lie - optimal DPS still demands that exactly one shot is fired every 1.5 seconds. However, the brief windows of quiet in the pre-Wrath rotations are no longer present. Something should always be being fired. Using the talent build above, I have found that the following rotation is the most ideal:
Serpent Sting (only one at the beginning), Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Chimera Shot
An unusual and unanticipated upside to using Aimed Shot in a natural rotation is that the Mortal Strike debuff is placed upon raid mobs. Some mobs, like those in Obsidian Sanctum, have the ability to heal if raid members are not paying attention. Our near-constant uptime of the healing debuff adds another level of usefulness and covering for our lesser raid members.
The topic of Mana is one that has plagued most Marksmanship Hunters, and with good reason. Our new signature ability, Chimera Shot, is prohibitively expensive. However, Blizzard has given us two tools that, used together, help to solve this issue - Rapid Fire and Aspect of the Viper. Now, I know, most Hunters consider Rapid Fire to be a DPS tool, and its use under the DPS-slashing Aspect of the Viper is folly. This is wrong, however. Rapid Fire greatly accelerates your mana gain under Viper, and the less time you spend outside of Viper, the more time you spend in Hawk. In practical testing, I can pull myself from less than 1000 mana to my full mana raid-buffed (11,000-ish on my premade) in under 9 seconds. By simply continuing my rotation aside from Aimed Shot, I can regenerate my mana very rapidly, and still have a few seconds of Rapid Fire to play with post-Viper. Plus, with Readiness, I can use Rapid Fire and Viper in tandem more often, letting me get huge surges of mana right when I need it.
In summary, I feel that there is a lot for us to be thankful for - we've reclaimed, if not our absolute dominance we had pre-1.7, at least an equal footing with all three talent specs. And really, that is all I have wanted since I came back in The Burning Crusade.
~Rilgon Arcsinh, Grand Master Goblin Engineer, Marksmanship Hunter, Champion of the Naaru
Raiding in Wrath of the Lich King as a Marksmanship Hunter is something that is far less looked down upon than it was in The Burning Crusade or the latter part of World of Warcraft. Finally, we have been given the tools and talents necessary to present ourselves as a competitive DPS force once properly geared. There are many MM Hunters like myself who are theorizing and preaching their version of the art, and I will be doing the same with this write-up. Sadly, my experience with the proposed talent spec is not vast - two runs of Obsidian Sanctum (one 10-man and one 25-man) and one partial run of Naxx 25 (Raz, Patch, Anub). That said, I believe the experience I have has given me enough of an insight into the build I have crafted and how it works to be able to dissertate how it should function and why it is good to you.
One of the primary elements of the Hunter class is the concept of a "shot rotation". Normally, this meant that you were attempting to keep your special shots from delaying your Auto Shots from firing. This was done by rotating your specials around your Autos, and creating a pattern that either timed three specials in sequence, or spammed one special rapidly due to an abundance of Haste. However, the changes in Wrath of the Lich King - primarily, the change that Auto Shot will fire uninhibited, so long as you are stationary - has caused a paradigm shift from "can I shoot something now?" to "what should I shoot right now?". To say that timing is unimportant would be a lie - optimal DPS still demands that exactly one shot is fired every 1.5 seconds. However, the brief windows of quiet in the pre-Wrath rotations are no longer present. Something should always be being fired. Using the talent build above, I have found that the following rotation is the most ideal:
Serpent Sting (only one at the beginning), Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Chimera Shot
An unusual and unanticipated upside to using Aimed Shot in a natural rotation is that the Mortal Strike debuff is placed upon raid mobs. Some mobs, like those in Obsidian Sanctum, have the ability to heal if raid members are not paying attention. Our near-constant uptime of the healing debuff adds another level of usefulness and covering for our lesser raid members.
The topic of Mana is one that has plagued most Marksmanship Hunters, and with good reason. Our new signature ability, Chimera Shot, is prohibitively expensive. However, Blizzard has given us two tools that, used together, help to solve this issue - Rapid Fire and Aspect of the Viper. Now, I know, most Hunters consider Rapid Fire to be a DPS tool, and its use under the DPS-slashing Aspect of the Viper is folly. This is wrong, however. Rapid Fire greatly accelerates your mana gain under Viper, and the less time you spend outside of Viper, the more time you spend in Hawk. In practical testing, I can pull myself from less than 1000 mana to my full mana raid-buffed (11,000-ish on my premade) in under 9 seconds. By simply continuing my rotation aside from Aimed Shot, I can regenerate my mana very rapidly, and still have a few seconds of Rapid Fire to play with post-Viper. Plus, with Readiness, I can use Rapid Fire and Viper in tandem more often, letting me get huge surges of mana right when I need it.
In summary, I feel that there is a lot for us to be thankful for - we've reclaimed, if not our absolute dominance we had pre-1.7, at least an equal footing with all three talent specs. And really, that is all I have wanted since I came back in The Burning Crusade.
~Rilgon Arcsinh, Grand Master Goblin Engineer, Marksmanship Hunter, Champion of the Naaru
Monday, October 6, 2008
I blame Neggles. Then again, I like networking.
Probably would've never seen it if Neggles didn't have it linked, but I'm adding Diaries of a Marksman Hunter to my blogroll.
It makes sense! She's MM like I am! Gloss over the fact where she talks about her pet chewing on blueberries and just think about it! She's a intellectual peer! If I have to get pepper spray to keep her pet off of me, fine, but still!
Although I disagree with Neggles - I'm the mad one. :P
It makes sense! She's MM like I am! Gloss over the fact where she talks about her pet chewing on blueberries and just think about it! She's a intellectual peer! If I have to get pepper spray to keep her pet off of me, fine, but still!
Although I disagree with Neggles - I'm the mad one. :P
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sarth 25 down.
No screenshots because I'm an idiot and because I'm heading out to lunch with some coworkers soon.
BUT!
2097 DPS over the whole run, 2411 DPS on Sartharian with my new 7/57/7 build.
No mana issues whatsoever - I only had to dip into Viper once.
<3 so much
BUT!
2097 DPS over the whole run, 2411 DPS on Sartharian with my new 7/57/7 build.
No mana issues whatsoever - I only had to dip into Viper once.
<3 so much
So I'm thinking again.
How about this spec?
HEAR ME OUT DAMNIT
Aimed hits harder than Arcane, in theory. Aimed benefits from the stuff that Arcane also benefits from (i.e. Improved Steady), plus dips into Piercing Shots. It ALSO works with Marked for Death's crit bonus affect. It's only slightly more expensive than Arcane.
I dunno, I'm just feeling it... If Murmur's up ima test it kk
Edit: THIS IS IT. THIS IS SO THE SPEC. I CAN FEEL IT.
Normally, with SS x2, ArS, SS x2, CS, I'm doing like low 1600 DPS, right?
1780 DPS @ 10 minutes with this spec. Rotation is SS x2, AiS, SS x2, CS.
The Rapid Recuperation point + my Viper & Rapid theory = I'm out of Viper in 7 seconds.
I dunno, guys, I think this is the one!
HEAR ME OUT DAMNIT
Aimed hits harder than Arcane, in theory. Aimed benefits from the stuff that Arcane also benefits from (i.e. Improved Steady), plus dips into Piercing Shots. It ALSO works with Marked for Death's crit bonus affect. It's only slightly more expensive than Arcane.
I dunno, I'm just feeling it... If Murmur's up ima test it kk
Edit: THIS IS IT. THIS IS SO THE SPEC. I CAN FEEL IT.
Normally, with SS x2, ArS, SS x2, CS, I'm doing like low 1600 DPS, right?
1780 DPS @ 10 minutes with this spec. Rotation is SS x2, AiS, SS x2, CS.
The Rapid Recuperation point + my Viper & Rapid theory = I'm out of Viper in 7 seconds.
I dunno, guys, I think this is the one!
So I had this really odd idea.
Let the following be true:
X = base ranged weapon speed
Y = max mana with normal gear
Z = the amount of Intellect gained from two caster-oriented one-handed weapons enchanted for Int
When you run LOM, you jump into Viper, then throw on your weapons defined in Z.
Mana = Y + 15 * Z
Extra mana gained per shot = (15 * Z) * (X * 2 / 100) * 1.10 (Glyphed)
Theoretical: X = 2.80, Y = 8500, Z = 156 (90 from enchants, 66 from two Saronite Spellblades)
Mana with the blades: 10840
Target mana: 8500
Mana per shot: 667.744
Shots to Target mana: 12.7-ish (so 13)
Mana without the blades: 8500
Target mana: 8500
Mana per shot: 523.6
Shots to Target mana: 16.2 (so 17)
Is making 13 shots weaker while in Viper worth getting four more normal shots out of Viper? Only time will tell. But I really think it's... at least worth looking into.
X = base ranged weapon speed
Y = max mana with normal gear
Z = the amount of Intellect gained from two caster-oriented one-handed weapons enchanted for Int
When you run LOM, you jump into Viper, then throw on your weapons defined in Z.
Mana = Y + 15 * Z
Extra mana gained per shot = (15 * Z) * (X * 2 / 100) * 1.10 (Glyphed)
Theoretical: X = 2.80, Y = 8500, Z = 156 (90 from enchants, 66 from two Saronite Spellblades)
Mana with the blades: 10840
Target mana: 8500
Mana per shot: 667.744
Shots to Target mana: 12.7-ish (so 13)
Mana without the blades: 8500
Target mana: 8500
Mana per shot: 523.6
Shots to Target mana: 16.2 (so 17)
Is making 13 shots weaker while in Viper worth getting four more normal shots out of Viper? Only time will tell. But I really think it's... at least worth looking into.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Well this is disheartening.
From Ghostcrawler:
"Yes, we do read those [Arena Junkies] forums."
What a fucking waste of dev time. Explains a lot.
"Yes, we do read those [Arena Junkies] forums."
What a fucking waste of dev time. Explains a lot.
Friday, October 3, 2008
I had a female Dwarf, once...
She was a Priest, however, not a Female Dwarf Hunter (which do exist, contrary to popular belief).
Yes, I'm adding Female Dwarf Hunter to my blogroll underextreme duress polite reminders to do so.
I dunno, though... Nowadays, I still prefer female blueberries...
/use Turbo-Charged Flying Machine Control
/run like hell
Yes, I'm adding Female Dwarf Hunter to my blogroll under
I dunno, though... Nowadays, I still prefer female blueberries...
/use Turbo-Charged Flying Machine Control
/run like hell
Thursday, October 2, 2008
First we're "casters", now this?
Quote by Ghostcrawler:
"As you can probably guess, we are trying to move the hunter a little closer to the outdoorsman, survivalist part of the class and away from just being a sniper."
Sure, I know Mirsh is gonna like that design mentality, but I know I sure as hell don't. -_-;
Am I the only one that this actually frustrates at some core level?
"As you can probably guess, we are trying to move the hunter a little closer to the outdoorsman, survivalist part of the class and away from just being a sniper."
Sure, I know Mirsh is gonna like that design mentality, but I know I sure as hell don't. -_-;
Am I the only one that this actually frustrates at some core level?
An interesting change found in 9014 that'll impact 3.0.2...
Reports coming in on MMO-Champion are indicating that all BC raid boss mobs are having their HP slashed by 30% come 3.0.2, assuming that what is in 9014 carries over to 3.0.2.
People are probably going to deride me for this, but I like this change. I know people I know won't (foremost of which are probably Neggles and Female Dwarf Hunter - remind me to put her on my blogroll), but I do. We are starting Hyjal this coming Tuesday (taking our last few stabs at Kael on Thursday and maybe Monday), and if we can get to Archimonde and down him and maybe get me my Bristleblitz before Wrath... meh. Let's just say I'd be happy. :) I don't wanna use a dead bird to 77-ish.
And if we can go back and bag Vashj and Kael... *drools at thoughts of having a Band of the Eternal Champion finally*
People are probably going to deride me for this, but I like this change. I know people I know won't (foremost of which are probably Neggles and Female Dwarf Hunter - remind me to put her on my blogroll), but I do. We are starting Hyjal this coming Tuesday (taking our last few stabs at Kael on Thursday and maybe Monday), and if we can get to Archimonde and down him and maybe get me my Bristleblitz before Wrath... meh. Let's just say I'd be happy. :) I don't wanna use a dead bird to 77-ish.
And if we can go back and bag Vashj and Kael... *drools at thoughts of having a Band of the Eternal Champion finally*
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
[B] Screw anonymity. :P
Mostly because I'm too damn lazy to censor these.
As promised: Obsidian Sanctum. With the three minibosses dead (because FUCK doing it on hard mode), we are ready to pull Sartharion. DPS charts on the side are for trash and the minibosses. Please note that Silverwind and Zmey actually have REAL PVE GEAR FROM NAXX AND SARTH, HOLY SHIT!
Got him! This fight is a blast when the melee keeps the adds off my face - with no Multi getting obnoxious add-aggro, I only have to worry about Mend Pet, but Yendor just dies too quickly to that lava wave. Dumbass wolf.
And with that, official damage meters for me. I'm strangely surprised by the prevalence of Auto-Shot on there, but that's because there was a bit of kiting, some staggered Steadies, the portal mobs on the second miniboss whom I didn't have TIME to steady, Heroisms... yeah, you get the idea.
Overall... I'm very happy raiding as Marks. Once I got into a solid rhythm and stuff wasn't breaking it (sup GIANT FUCKING WAVES OF LAVA), it was very... trance-like. Something I could listen to Infected Mushroom and just zone out doing. My DPS is quite nice, considering I'm still in horseshit PVP gear - I did do a smart move and get some Bold Ornate Rubies (I know, spare me the dissertation, they are LITERALLY the best I can get on Beta) to replace the bullshit gems I had. I left two, though, so I can keep my admittedly nice meta gem active.
Speaking of meta gems... While I know I should obviously want this meta gem... Is it bad of me that I'm considering this one instead? :x
Edit: Hahaha, holy crap, you probably want my new talent build, don't you. XD
It's 7/56/8.
As promised: Obsidian Sanctum. With the three minibosses dead (because FUCK doing it on hard mode), we are ready to pull Sartharion. DPS charts on the side are for trash and the minibosses. Please note that Silverwind and Zmey actually have REAL PVE GEAR FROM NAXX AND SARTH, HOLY SHIT!
Got him! This fight is a blast when the melee keeps the adds off my face - with no Multi getting obnoxious add-aggro, I only have to worry about Mend Pet, but Yendor just dies too quickly to that lava wave. Dumbass wolf.
And with that, official damage meters for me. I'm strangely surprised by the prevalence of Auto-Shot on there, but that's because there was a bit of kiting, some staggered Steadies, the portal mobs on the second miniboss whom I didn't have TIME to steady, Heroisms... yeah, you get the idea.Overall... I'm very happy raiding as Marks. Once I got into a solid rhythm and stuff wasn't breaking it (sup GIANT FUCKING WAVES OF LAVA), it was very... trance-like. Something I could listen to Infected Mushroom and just zone out doing. My DPS is quite nice, considering I'm still in horseshit PVP gear - I did do a smart move and get some Bold Ornate Rubies (I know, spare me the dissertation, they are LITERALLY the best I can get on Beta) to replace the bullshit gems I had. I left two, though, so I can keep my admittedly nice meta gem active.
Speaking of meta gems... While I know I should obviously want this meta gem... Is it bad of me that I'm considering this one instead? :x
Edit: Hahaha, holy crap, you probably want my new talent build, don't you. XD
It's 7/56/8.
[B] Rilgon, what does the scouter say about Build 9014?!
Firstly, I humbly apologize for the terrible DBZ references.
On to the show, however.
THINGS I HAVE NOTICED:
*My DPS on my premade has gone up by 200 with the 3% hit rating from Careful Aim. This assuages one fear of mine - the bloody fucking lack of Hit Rating on ANYTHING, but yet AGAIN it's more points I'm FORCED to sink in upper Marksmanship. Christ.
*Rapid Fire -> Readiness -> Rapid Fire is fucking fun. I'm sorry. I don't like speccing into Readiness, but holy jesus is it a blast to have 30 seconds of ohmygodpewpewgogogogogogog. I can use my "real" Rapid in Viper to fill up a ruined mana pool, then Readiness and use a Rapid Fire in Hawk. Alternatively, I can use Rapid Fire every 90 seconds (3 minute CD + 3 minute CD on Readiness, staggered) to have HUGE surges of mana in Viper, eviscerating the time I spend in it.
*MY HIT IS MY PET'S HIT. Yendor, my premade's wolf, was missing like... almost not at all. My world is upside down.
*Glyph of AotV definitely works. It's definitely a must-have raiding glyph.
*Serpent's ticks do NOT trigger Viper. This is horse shit. I'm using Rapid Vipers to make up for it.
*Black Arrow is not in. I was looking forward to it. I miss it from Closed Beta.
I don't have many other conclusive things to talk about - I'm about to hit up Obsidian Sanctuary 10 on my premade, and I'll post yet again (hopefully without a crappy DBZ reference to 9014) with my experiences and MAYBE a Recount report.
/love to all the Hunters I've /loved before :)
On to the show, however.
THINGS I HAVE NOTICED:
*My DPS on my premade has gone up by 200 with the 3% hit rating from Careful Aim. This assuages one fear of mine - the bloody fucking lack of Hit Rating on ANYTHING, but yet AGAIN it's more points I'm FORCED to sink in upper Marksmanship. Christ.
*Rapid Fire -> Readiness -> Rapid Fire is fucking fun. I'm sorry. I don't like speccing into Readiness, but holy jesus is it a blast to have 30 seconds of ohmygodpewpewgogogogogogog. I can use my "real" Rapid in Viper to fill up a ruined mana pool, then Readiness and use a Rapid Fire in Hawk. Alternatively, I can use Rapid Fire every 90 seconds (3 minute CD + 3 minute CD on Readiness, staggered) to have HUGE surges of mana in Viper, eviscerating the time I spend in it.
*MY HIT IS MY PET'S HIT. Yendor, my premade's wolf, was missing like... almost not at all. My world is upside down.
*Glyph of AotV definitely works. It's definitely a must-have raiding glyph.
*Serpent's ticks do NOT trigger Viper. This is horse shit. I'm using Rapid Vipers to make up for it.
*Black Arrow is not in. I was looking forward to it. I miss it from Closed Beta.
I don't have many other conclusive things to talk about - I'm about to hit up Obsidian Sanctuary 10 on my premade, and I'll post yet again (hopefully without a crappy DBZ reference to 9014) with my experiences and MAYBE a Recount report.
/love to all the Hunters I've /loved before :)
[B] It's over 9000, and it's weird.
Beta Patch 9014. I'm only putting the "official" MMO-Champion patch changes here for now. I will make a new post (possibly titled something equally not-witty) once I have put these changes into effect on my 80 Premade and on Beta-Rilgon.
Hold onto your hats, folks, these changes look like they came out of the Twilight Zone.
Skills
Beast Mastery
*Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistance by 130. (Up from 70)
*Aspect of the Viper changed to : The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon.
*Aspect of the Beast has been changed and re-added to the game. The hunter takes on the aspects of a beast, becoming untrackable and increasing melee attack power of the hunter and the hunter's pet by 10%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
Marksmanship
Aimed shot mana cost reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%. Casting time changed from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds. Damage reduced to about 25% of the old value. (Lowered from 1570 to 408 for Rank 9)
*Kill Shot damage now deals 200% weapon damage (down from 205%). Additional damage nerfed as well. (Down from [ 40% of RAP + 1200 ] to [ 40% of RAP + 650 ] for rank 3)
*Multi-Shot mana cost has been increased from 8% of base mana to 9%.
*New Spell - Fires a Black Arrow at the target, slowing the target's movement speed by 70%. While the movement speed effect holds, the damage done by your ranged shots are increased by 15% on the target. Lasts for 6 sec. (6% of base mana, 5-35 yd range, Instant cast, 12 sec cooldown)
Survival
*Freezing Arrow now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
*Freezing Trap now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
Talents
Beast Mastery
*Kindred Spirits does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects anymore.
Marksmanship
*Readiness has been removed from Survival Tree and moved to Tier 5 of Marksmanship Tree.
*Scatter Shot has been removed from Marksmanship Tree and moved to Tier 3 of Survival Tree
*Marked for Death now increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 4% on marked targets. (Down from 8%)
*Focused Aim doesn't affect Aimed Shot anymore and now also increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
Survival
*Readiness has been removed from Survival Tree and moved to Tier 5 of Marksmanship Tree.
*Scatter Shot has been removed from Marksmanship Tree and moved to Tier 3 of Survival Tree
*Point of No Escape has been changed from 3 to 2 points and now affects Freezing Arrow. Critical strike chance increased changed to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%)
*Surefooted has been moved from Tier 4 to Tier 2 and doesn't increase hit chance anymore.
*Lock and Load now has a 2/4/6% chance to proc on periodic damage. (Down from 5/10/15%)
*Trap Mastery has been moved from Tier 3 to Tier 9 and now increases the duration by 30% of both Freezing and Frost Trap.
*T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
Glyphs
*Glyph - Aimed Shot - Reduces the mana cost of your Aimed Shot ability by 20%. (Old - Decreases the cast time of Aimed Shot by 0.5 sec.)
Patch is 71% done. Get ready...
Hold onto your hats, folks, these changes look like they came out of the Twilight Zone.
Skills
Beast Mastery
*Aspect of the Wild (Rank 4) now increases Nature resistance by 130. (Up from 70)
*Aspect of the Viper changed to : The hunter takes on the aspect of the viper, causing ranged attacks to regenerate mana but reducing your total damage done by 50%. Mana gained is based on the speed of your ranged weapon.
*Aspect of the Beast has been changed and re-added to the game. The hunter takes on the aspects of a beast, becoming untrackable and increasing melee attack power of the hunter and the hunter's pet by 10%. Only one Aspect can be active at a time.
Marksmanship
Aimed shot mana cost reduced from 11% of base mana to 8%. Casting time changed from 2.5 sec to instant. Cooldown increased from 6 seconds to 10 seconds. Damage reduced to about 25% of the old value. (Lowered from 1570 to 408 for Rank 9)
*Kill Shot damage now deals 200% weapon damage (down from 205%). Additional damage nerfed as well. (Down from [ 40% of RAP + 1200 ] to [ 40% of RAP + 650 ] for rank 3)
*Multi-Shot mana cost has been increased from 8% of base mana to 9%.
*New Spell - Fires a Black Arrow at the target, slowing the target's movement speed by 70%. While the movement speed effect holds, the damage done by your ranged shots are increased by 15% on the target. Lasts for 6 sec. (6% of base mana, 5-35 yd range, Instant cast, 12 sec cooldown)
Survival
*Freezing Arrow now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
*Freezing Trap now breaks on any damage. (Old - The ice has a chance to break on damage.)
Talents
Beast Mastery
*Kindred Spirits does not stack with other movement speed increasing effects anymore.
Marksmanship
*Readiness has been removed from Survival Tree and moved to Tier 5 of Marksmanship Tree.
*Scatter Shot has been removed from Marksmanship Tree and moved to Tier 3 of Survival Tree
*Marked for Death now increases your damage done by your shots and the damage done by your pet's special abilities by 4% on marked targets. (Down from 8%)
*Focused Aim doesn't affect Aimed Shot anymore and now also increases your chance to hit by 1/2/3%.
Survival
*Readiness has been removed from Survival Tree and moved to Tier 5 of Marksmanship Tree.
*Scatter Shot has been removed from Marksmanship Tree and moved to Tier 3 of Survival Tree
*Point of No Escape has been changed from 3 to 2 points and now affects Freezing Arrow. Critical strike chance increased changed to 3/6% (up from 2/4/6%)
*Surefooted has been moved from Tier 4 to Tier 2 and doesn't increase hit chance anymore.
*Lock and Load now has a 2/4/6% chance to proc on periodic damage. (Down from 5/10/15%)
*Trap Mastery has been moved from Tier 3 to Tier 9 and now increases the duration by 30% of both Freezing and Frost Trap.
*T.N.T. has been moved from Tier 2 to Tier 4.
Glyphs
*Glyph - Aimed Shot - Reduces the mana cost of your Aimed Shot ability by 20%. (Old - Decreases the cast time of Aimed Shot by 0.5 sec.)
Patch is 71% done. Get ready...
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