So passes Rilgon, MM hunter enthusiast and damn decent hunter. I liked you, guy. You were clear, concise, and kind all around. I'll keep your blog's link on my list, and who knows, maybe I'll click on it again some day and find you back at it. I know it'll bring a smile to my face.
I'll keep up the good fight of MM raiding once this BM stint passes, despite I was told I "really should stay BM" by my guild's bullying officer. I may not have the theory crafting down (nor am I totally enthused about learning more than I must), and I definitely don't keep up with everything that happens on the forums (and now the chances of that happening are extremely thin). But I'll be here, making random ejaculations about the life of a wasted raid spot ;).
Take care, Rilgon. You're missed already.
(And so much for the trickle of traffic garnered from your endorsement. It was nice while it lasted! :D)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
T6 and rising
I took Gronnstalker's Helmet today to prevent it from being sharded. Considering I'm BM for three weeks, it's a minor upgrade, but all in all, it's still a POS. This one is SOOOO much better.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Cyber Bullying
I hate it.
I don't know if it's because I'm a female encroaching on the male dominated field of video gaming, or if I'm just an easy target, but no matter what guild I've been in for the last three years, I've been the target of these assholes.
I've always gotten along better with guys than I do my own sex. Different sorts of drama I suppose. I've been "one of the guys" ever since junior high. When I did my time at Wally World (first job, don't judge me -_-), I would hang out with the guys in electronics before anyone else. It's just who I am, and for the most part, gaming has never been an issue.
The guild I am in has a bully as an officer. He's a bastard, asshole, etc. and he has targeted me. I don't fuck up any more than any other person, I don't say stupid crap any more often than anyone else, I'm just there, in Officer Chat as a Loot Council member, asking questions and giving my opinions.
This is what happened this evening: I've always wondered what healers where healing my pet, particularly on boss fights. It was especially troublesome because tonight we only had five and two half healers on Naj'entus, so when I saw my pet get heals, and I didn't, I kinda got suspicious (I also died twice that fight - health pots, healthstones, and bandage all on cooldown - fun, fun). So after a surprisingly clean Supremus kill, we start pulling the room before Shade of Akama, and I ask OChat "Is there a healer assigned to pets, or is it just see-a-pet-heal-a-pet?" I see how it can be construed as "hey, can we get pet heals" type of question, but obviously that's not what I had intended. That didn't stop the bully from telling me that hunters are in charge of pet heals, it's called mend pet, etc. etc.. So I responded that I didn't care if pets die, I was concerned that healers are wasting mana on it. The reply: It's not your concern.
Definitely a milder case of bullying, he's treated me far worse, but tonight was especially annoying because all I wanted was a simply answer to find out what was going on. Our healing officer is also a member of Loot Council, so I ended up requesting an answer in that channel. Turns out it was most likely a Circle of Healing I saw, though it doesn't address who heals pets during trash, but I was satisfied. And that's all it took.
We were discussing in my sociology class about how humans are social creatures -even more so today what with communications being constant. People can't stand to be anywhere without their cell phones or 24 hour AIM. But, as I brought up in discussion, this great wave of instant communication also depersonalizes people. You can start up a conversation with a random stranger at the bus stop or in a chat room, but which one are you more likely to be rude to? The lack of a face, emotional response, to what we say online deprives us of the concept that the person on the other end of the tell is human.
It's sad how much this one person affects my game play. I try to not let it affect me, but it does. I don't talk as much as I would like to, joke around or tease others, just because I don't want to have a interaction with him. It really detracts from the pleasure of the game, and I hate it.
I don't know if it's because I'm a female encroaching on the male dominated field of video gaming, or if I'm just an easy target, but no matter what guild I've been in for the last three years, I've been the target of these assholes.
I've always gotten along better with guys than I do my own sex. Different sorts of drama I suppose. I've been "one of the guys" ever since junior high. When I did my time at Wally World (first job, don't judge me -_-), I would hang out with the guys in electronics before anyone else. It's just who I am, and for the most part, gaming has never been an issue.
The guild I am in has a bully as an officer. He's a bastard, asshole, etc. and he has targeted me. I don't fuck up any more than any other person, I don't say stupid crap any more often than anyone else, I'm just there, in Officer Chat as a Loot Council member, asking questions and giving my opinions.
This is what happened this evening: I've always wondered what healers where healing my pet, particularly on boss fights. It was especially troublesome because tonight we only had five and two half healers on Naj'entus, so when I saw my pet get heals, and I didn't, I kinda got suspicious (I also died twice that fight - health pots, healthstones, and bandage all on cooldown - fun, fun). So after a surprisingly clean Supremus kill, we start pulling the room before Shade of Akama, and I ask OChat "Is there a healer assigned to pets, or is it just see-a-pet-heal-a-pet?" I see how it can be construed as "hey, can we get pet heals" type of question, but obviously that's not what I had intended. That didn't stop the bully from telling me that hunters are in charge of pet heals, it's called mend pet, etc. etc.. So I responded that I didn't care if pets die, I was concerned that healers are wasting mana on it. The reply: It's not your concern.
Definitely a milder case of bullying, he's treated me far worse, but tonight was especially annoying because all I wanted was a simply answer to find out what was going on. Our healing officer is also a member of Loot Council, so I ended up requesting an answer in that channel. Turns out it was most likely a Circle of Healing I saw, though it doesn't address who heals pets during trash, but I was satisfied. And that's all it took.
We were discussing in my sociology class about how humans are social creatures -even more so today what with communications being constant. People can't stand to be anywhere without their cell phones or 24 hour AIM. But, as I brought up in discussion, this great wave of instant communication also depersonalizes people. You can start up a conversation with a random stranger at the bus stop or in a chat room, but which one are you more likely to be rude to? The lack of a face, emotional response, to what we say online deprives us of the concept that the person on the other end of the tell is human.
It's sad how much this one person affects my game play. I try to not let it affect me, but it does. I don't talk as much as I would like to, joke around or tease others, just because I don't want to have a interaction with him. It really detracts from the pleasure of the game, and I hate it.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Dear Santa, All I want for the holidays is a new cloak
I've had Vengeance Wrap for a very long time. I when I say a very long time, I mean a very long time. As soon as my first Burning Crusade raiding guild had the pattern drop and a tailor friend learned it, I had that bitch made, gemmed, and enchanted. That was a nearly year ago.
My new guild has downed Kael, but the bastard never dropped the best cloak in the game: Thalassian Wildercloak. My only current option is Shadowmoon Destroyer's Drape off of Gorefiend, but I don't need hit. In fact, I'll be hit capped though the next three upgrades or so. Ironic, really. It's a general consensus that maintaining hit is the most difficult stat to keep up through BT/MH. For me, it's the one thing I can't get rid of... (For those of you playing at home: Once Naj'entus is kind enough to drop his polearm again, I can switch out my last Kara ring for the Scale of the Sands ring and pop out that hit gem in my pants for crit. From there's it's a belt upgrade with more hit, and then a loss of hit through t6 shoulders.)
So here's hoping the unlooted bosses in Sunwell have something more pleasing than the legendary rogue stat stick in their armories.
My new guild has downed Kael, but the bastard never dropped the best cloak in the game: Thalassian Wildercloak. My only current option is Shadowmoon Destroyer's Drape off of Gorefiend, but I don't need hit. In fact, I'll be hit capped though the next three upgrades or so. Ironic, really. It's a general consensus that maintaining hit is the most difficult stat to keep up through BT/MH. For me, it's the one thing I can't get rid of... (For those of you playing at home: Once Naj'entus is kind enough to drop his polearm again, I can switch out my last Kara ring for the Scale of the Sands ring and pop out that hit gem in my pants for crit. From there's it's a belt upgrade with more hit, and then a loss of hit through t6 shoulders.)
So here's hoping the unlooted bosses in Sunwell have something more pleasing than the legendary rogue stat stick in their armories.
And on that note...
Every time a boss drops a mail item without Int on it, I feed a Bush Baby to the the wild pack of chimpanzees down the hall:
Blizzard, don't let this little primate's death be on your conscience!
(This dropped off of Archimonde last kill. Our BM hunter took it, and our sitting Enhancement shaman cried.)
Blizzard, don't let this little primate's death be on your conscience!(This dropped off of Archimonde last kill. Our BM hunter took it, and our sitting Enhancement shaman cried.)
Taking the plunge
My raiding guild isn't uber hard core - we're just moderately hard core. This means we expect our raiders to inform us of their absence, cause no matter what, RL > WoW. 'Course, attendance these last few weekends haven't been great, and that's worrisome. There's only so many times we can go farm the Sunwell for random drops... We are perfectly capable of downing Reliquary of Souls (one-fucking-percent!!!!!1!) and Mother is a joke (though it remains to see if she is indeed my idol), so this whole lack of raiders thing is annoying...
Our guild's eldest hunters are taking leaves of absence - one is the proud father of a new baby girl, and the other is taking a well deserved honeymoon. This leaves me. Both of the alumni hunters rerolled BM going into SSC/TK, leaving me to exercise my freedom as a MM hunter guilt-free. But one left to experience parenthood, and soon the other will be gone for a month as well. And I must do what is right...
Once again I iterate my hatred of the BM spec: I'm really not enthused about respeccing, even for the betterment of the raid. I'm going to be sitting there, spamming the same bloody button over and over again. But I even think the worst part will be respeccing, then just farming to get used to the spec again. I rolled it for a week back in the SSC/TK days, and died of boredom. OOOOO Aeris and Sephiroth are all big and red!! OOOO... big fucking deal... I have the gold to respec daily, but I'm not going to waste the effort. It's just a month... right? Ugghhh...
Our guild's eldest hunters are taking leaves of absence - one is the proud father of a new baby girl, and the other is taking a well deserved honeymoon. This leaves me. Both of the alumni hunters rerolled BM going into SSC/TK, leaving me to exercise my freedom as a MM hunter guilt-free. But one left to experience parenthood, and soon the other will be gone for a month as well. And I must do what is right...
Once again I iterate my hatred of the BM spec: I'm really not enthused about respeccing, even for the betterment of the raid. I'm going to be sitting there, spamming the same bloody button over and over again. But I even think the worst part will be respeccing, then just farming to get used to the spec again. I rolled it for a week back in the SSC/TK days, and died of boredom. OOOOO Aeris and Sephiroth are all big and red!! OOOO... big fucking deal... I have the gold to respec daily, but I'm not going to waste the effort. It's just a month... right? Ugghhh...
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth
Sadly, they stopped producing the webcomic last year, but on occasion I re-read it. I had forgotten this one existed:
Forget Illidian, the Scourge, or even Kil'jaeden - rogues are the true evil of the world!
Forget Illidian, the Scourge, or even Kil'jaeden - rogues are the true evil of the world!
The Plight of the Marksman Hunter
I find that the best thing for me to do when I feel overwhelmed is to go farm some Clefthoof leather or some Cobra Scales. Farming is mindless for me: Target prey, send in pet, Arcane Shot, Multishot, Auto Shot, loot, skin, rinse and repeat. It gives me time to sort out my thoughts while doing something productive (course, productive in the video game sense is different from productive in the Real Life sense, but let's not go into that, plzkthx).
Occasionally epiphanies will come to me, either game or Real Life related. Today, I was relaxing while farming some Clefthoof, and it dawned on me how to fix my shot rotation. I tested it out on Dr. Boom, found it successful, and was quite pleased with myself. Ever since I got Supremus' 2.9 crossbow and respecced out of Imp. Pet Rez and into Imp. Arcane Shot, my shot rotation has been wonky, and it was evident in my DPS.
Things like this make me think of Howitzer, who was well-known as THE Marksman hunter. I first knew I was thinking in the right way as a MM hunter when I noticed that my spec was the same as his. Then when I found his thread in Elitist Jerks (courtesy of Rilgon's blog), I was happy to notice that everything I was doing was Howi-recommended. It was wonderful reinforcement for my out-of-vogue spec.
Howitzer quit the game last week, and he can't be blamed. When you experience it all for four+ years, you get bored. But the MM hunters miss him and his voice in the hunter community. I don't know why I go to the Official Hunter forums anymore, but I do on occasion only to find myself more depressed by the MM bashing and little remaining MM support. There are individuals like Rilgon and Mirshalak of course, but their voices are mere whispers compared to the presence of Howi, and that is understandable. People are impressed by the Illidian gear, not the Kara gear. They will listen to what someone has to say when they are sporting the Betrayer's bow when 90% of the hunter population haven't even downed Kael. Howi gave us hope that our sub-par DPS will be only barely sub-par with better gear, which really is how every DPS should be.
That is what I really despise about the Beast Master spec. It takes no gear, no skill to have great damage. It really clicked when a hunter in SSC/TK/Arena gear came in and placed 5th on the charts below me, with a third MH/BT gear, at 4th. I worked so hard as a raider to get where I am, and this scrub BM hunter comes so close to beating me, and can beat me on an appropriate fight. You talent into the best hunter damage, and that's it, you top the damage meters, no matter your gear.
The plight is, of course, how much is my choice hurting my raid. I can't remember how many times the raid has wiped at 1% on a new boss. That 1% would be gone if I were BM instead of MM. But then again, it's new content - DPS is not likely to be as high in a learning situation than it would be in a comfortable situation. If you're wiping at 1% on farmed content, then something else is wrong. My group buff is pathetic and received the worst level scaling ever. But I'm a Leatherworker! I have drums; there's no class that those don't benefit! My one support I can give is (on average) awesome Misdirects. When my first three shots crit, that's an automatic 10k worth of aggro on the main tank. ('Course, we all have those shitty MDs, too, with a lovely 2k worth of aggro.) But when you rock 3k ranged attack power and nearly 40% chance to land a critical, those MDs are going to outperform those of a haste-dependent BM hunter every time.
(Sadly, hunters are the easiest class to replace in a raid. Even when we were actively recruiting a new hunter, a main concern was the lack of MD presence. But let's not go into that.)
And so here we are, stubbornly clinging to our spec which is bashed without mercy by better hunters than I. People like Ippon I cannot respect; Alu I believe is a wonderful person, but I'm not sure if I totally agree with him on some matters. Mirshalak is correct in that so many players do not know their class, and that they follow and flame others like the happy little sheep they are. But we cannot give up hope. I'll just keep my head low for awhile (as it has been for some time, I've noticed) and hope that Blizzard will one day breathe new life into my misbegotten spec.
Occasionally epiphanies will come to me, either game or Real Life related. Today, I was relaxing while farming some Clefthoof, and it dawned on me how to fix my shot rotation. I tested it out on Dr. Boom, found it successful, and was quite pleased with myself. Ever since I got Supremus' 2.9 crossbow and respecced out of Imp. Pet Rez and into Imp. Arcane Shot, my shot rotation has been wonky, and it was evident in my DPS.
Things like this make me think of Howitzer, who was well-known as THE Marksman hunter. I first knew I was thinking in the right way as a MM hunter when I noticed that my spec was the same as his. Then when I found his thread in Elitist Jerks (courtesy of Rilgon's blog), I was happy to notice that everything I was doing was Howi-recommended. It was wonderful reinforcement for my out-of-vogue spec.
Howitzer quit the game last week, and he can't be blamed. When you experience it all for four+ years, you get bored. But the MM hunters miss him and his voice in the hunter community. I don't know why I go to the Official Hunter forums anymore, but I do on occasion only to find myself more depressed by the MM bashing and little remaining MM support. There are individuals like Rilgon and Mirshalak of course, but their voices are mere whispers compared to the presence of Howi, and that is understandable. People are impressed by the Illidian gear, not the Kara gear. They will listen to what someone has to say when they are sporting the Betrayer's bow when 90% of the hunter population haven't even downed Kael. Howi gave us hope that our sub-par DPS will be only barely sub-par with better gear, which really is how every DPS should be.
That is what I really despise about the Beast Master spec. It takes no gear, no skill to have great damage. It really clicked when a hunter in SSC/TK/Arena gear came in and placed 5th on the charts below me, with a third MH/BT gear, at 4th. I worked so hard as a raider to get where I am, and this scrub BM hunter comes so close to beating me, and can beat me on an appropriate fight. You talent into the best hunter damage, and that's it, you top the damage meters, no matter your gear.
The plight is, of course, how much is my choice hurting my raid. I can't remember how many times the raid has wiped at 1% on a new boss. That 1% would be gone if I were BM instead of MM. But then again, it's new content - DPS is not likely to be as high in a learning situation than it would be in a comfortable situation. If you're wiping at 1% on farmed content, then something else is wrong. My group buff is pathetic and received the worst level scaling ever. But I'm a Leatherworker! I have drums; there's no class that those don't benefit! My one support I can give is (on average) awesome Misdirects. When my first three shots crit, that's an automatic 10k worth of aggro on the main tank. ('Course, we all have those shitty MDs, too, with a lovely 2k worth of aggro.) But when you rock 3k ranged attack power and nearly 40% chance to land a critical, those MDs are going to outperform those of a haste-dependent BM hunter every time.
(Sadly, hunters are the easiest class to replace in a raid. Even when we were actively recruiting a new hunter, a main concern was the lack of MD presence. But let's not go into that.)
And so here we are, stubbornly clinging to our spec which is bashed without mercy by better hunters than I. People like Ippon I cannot respect; Alu I believe is a wonderful person, but I'm not sure if I totally agree with him on some matters. Mirshalak is correct in that so many players do not know their class, and that they follow and flame others like the happy little sheep they are. But we cannot give up hope. I'll just keep my head low for awhile (as it has been for some time, I've noticed) and hope that Blizzard will one day breathe new life into my misbegotten spec.
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