Drain Life

Duh.

Defending Alone-a

Anyone else spend a whole lot of time with Defender Illona dead?

This follower has got to be the most frustrating one to level up, particularly as she has the tendency to kill herself:

Yep, the Garrison Training Dummy killed her. Tough mobs, those training dummies.

Sure, I may have killed Arachnis a little close for splash damage, but when my pet gets into combat with it I can always call it back... I didn't even have time to *think* about the fact that you can't call Illona back before she died.

It's a good thing this is my last bodyguard not at max level... if I had tried levelling her with a lower ilvl she would have died a lot more!

Not So Cursed

7 kills later:

Hooray for warforged!

Also, eat this, Raid Leaders who kicked me from 2 different elitist Heroic Arch PuGs on pre-execute wipes because my DPS was low:

Won't have an excuse to kick me now!

(For the record, I did 53k before we wiped at the start of Killshot range using my old bow and got kicked before I joined the Mannoroth PuG. Blessing in disguise?)

Legion of Hunter Fans

Today's Legion hunter class preview has a lot of hunters excited for the upcoming changes to the 3 specs in the next expansion.

As always, I've only skimmed the changes - I tend to like getting the feel for new spells and talents only when I'm on the PTR or live servers rather than reading previews - but one thing I'm happy about is the connection the specs have to lore.

Anybody who has been reading my blog for awhile would know my original connection to the old WC3 dark ranger, so Marksman is sounding better and better all the time. I'll definitely be happy to see the last of Sniper Training; being mobile is probably the main reason the classes I'm most comfortable playing are the hit-and-run hunter and resto druid.

Survival is sounding interesting as well, although it's not a spec I'd be playing much, being fully melee. Potentially something I'd pull out for world PvE and soloing ventures, particularly if Harpoon turns out to be as fun as it sounds. I'm anticipating a lot of "clever use of game mechanics" type shenanigans going on with that one!

I would have liked a bit more info on the pet-hunter interaction for Beast Mastery - the spells don't stand out to me right now (apart from the thought of having every pet in your stables coming out to help you, which would be frickin' awesome).

Also, whilst I agree that Survival having a monopoly on traps is mostly fine, I actually think it makes more sense for BM to get Snake Trap. I mean, really, if you're going to carry around and throw down a cage of snakes at someone and have them strike at your enemy with precision, surely you need to have some kind of bond with them?!

If At First You Don't Succeed

...make sure you have enough gold for repair bills.

After running 6 PuGs this week with varying numbers of idiots, incompetents and elitists to get this kill on the board, I was so relieved to finally get a winning combo that I didn't even care that I (once again) didn't get loot.

Honestly, it's quite disheartening when someone /ignores you because you dared to whisper them after being kicked that it wasn't your fault that someone else's chains killed you and you couldn't kill shadows whist dead (this was after a single wipe and I already had points against me because a) I was BM and not MM; and b) I didn't have AotC).

Luckily not all the groups were that toxic, otherwise I'd have given up earlier. There were also good-natured but ultimately bound to fail groups:

...and it even got to the point where I was "that guy" and left a raid after one wipe because I just knew they wouldn't be able to get a kill (I was right; they were still in the LFG tool hours later).

Yes, this week was a complete nightmare of PuGs, but on the upside I did manage to scrape through with the all-important achievement to link for next week.

Now that I can breathe a little easier on that front, I plan to start practicing MM a little. I don't know whether I'll be able to get better DPS out of it given my tendency to move randomly whilst raiding (thus ruining Sniper Training and cancelling out any advantage MM is supposed to have from the 4set this tier), but I'm willing to at least give it a go - even I have to admit that the last phase of Archimonde is incredibly pet-unfriendly!

The LFG Note

With no experience in the Upper Citadel and an ilvl in the low 700s due to some lacklustre loot luck, I'd had to be quite diligent and a little creative about my LFG note for trying to get past Heroic Gorefiend.

Unfortunately, even "744 Ring" - an indication that you've killed Normal Archimonde 3 times - didn't seem to be quite enough for picky PuG leaders.

I was more than a little relieved when loot started dropping again this week, jumping me 6 ilvls (in my bags, at least!) to sit comfortably at 710 plus 4pc, and subsequently putting 2 more heroic kills on the board.

Yes, I'm probably getting carried a little - I had a mage in my PuG do almost double my DPS in the Heroic Xhul kill (and ranked 1st for mages on that fight to boot - had to have been a fairly progressed Mythic raider) - but I've never been bottom in any kills yet, so I can't be *too* much of a hindrance.

Luckily, now that I can put "8/13H" in my note, I'm a lot more confident about getting to 11/13H, considering the extra kills are an unconscious step up from the "easy" first 6.

Hopefully I'll find a Socrethar PuG this week for a chance at the crossbow as well - it would be nice to be on the higher end of the DPS rather than the lower one. Besides, any more kills I can add to the ol' LFG note just means I'll find it easier to get a PuG next week. Go go experience!

Hell Hath Frozen Over

Unfortunately I didn't have time to queue and take advantage of it... the novelty!

Decorating

I have to admit, this new statue that you get for killing Archimonde on normal mode or higher is pretty decent. A lot better than the Master Draenor Crafter and Master of Apexis statues, at any rate.

Unfortunately, although the ol' Garrison looks a little better, my gear doesn't - the past couple of weeks have been pretty average for loot. Even though I managed to scrape a full clear on normal and 6 bosses on heroic, I've only had a couple of minor upgrades for offset pieces... which means my iLvl (and therefore DPS) will still be on the low side.

On the upside, I did manage to score this little guy in my guild raid, which kind of makes up for it:

Now if I could just score the gun off Heroic Hellfire Assault, I'd be OK, I think. It would be nice to get some tier or trinkets, of course, but I'd be a lot more comfortable going for the better Heroic PuGs with a decent ranged weapon.

Argh-imonde

Week 3 in Hellfire Citadel brought me 2 heroic kills to add to my 12/13 normal kills and although the DPS requirement is clearly tougher, it wasn't too bad.

Archimonde, on the other hand, was a different story.

Stand too close at the wrong time, you wipe. Stand too far at the wrong time, you wipe. Stand in fire at the wrong time, you wipe. Don't stand in portal at the wrong time, you wipe. Don't interrupt, you wipe.

I have now done a few PuGs on Archi with raids of varying ability and have to admit that the fight is well designed as a final boss... by which I mean there is very little room for error.

I also experienced something that I can't remember experiencing for a very long time, if at all - I got kicked from a PuG for being the lowest DPS.

Not running a DPS mod, it took me by surprise until I looked at the logs and discovered I was the lowest ilvl as well - apparently 694 isn't fantastic for doing the last boss of HFC, which I suppose is understandable considering you could have had higher with heroic BRF and crafted gear.

This week I'm starting the PuG grind a little higher at 697, including a new gun, so hopefully I'll look a little better in the gear stakes. Not quite as high as the group I got kicked from - most of them were >700 - but at least not "fresh off the BRF boat"!

Fel Over Zakuun

Week 2 of raiding Hellfire Citadel and the PuGs have been good.

After last week's effort, I've managed to fill in those gaps and now sit at 12/13 Normal, with the guild at 5/13.

I'm actually very impressed with this raid. Almost all of the fights are complex and therefore interesting to me, which makes it enjoyable (although on the other hand, potentially frustrating if your raid members are struggling).

For those who have gotten that far, no, I don't know what happened with Fel Lord Zakuun either... and it's not like Blizzard are likely to re-tune him, since making a boss harder after some guilds have downed him wouldn't feel great.

I'm looking forward to trying to get a PuG for Archimonde again this week - I had some attempts and have seen to 40%, but would like to see what the Twisting Nether looks like.

Plus, it's infinitely easier to get PuGs if you already have a kill, so the earlier I can get it, the better. Having a full clear on Normal might also stand me in good stead to start trying for Heroic PuGs, as well.

Hell and High Water

Well, week 1 of raiding in Hellfire Citadel and my armory page looks completely wacky:

As a guild, Ashes (plus assorted friends, including some of my old Proudmoore guildies from Southern Wardens) managed to down the first four bosses on normal and had some good attempts on the fifth.

Not too bad, considering we had to work out mechanics (and the fact that we only raid for ~3hrs twice a week); I don't anticipate them being any trouble for us whatsoever when we head back in there this week.

Being me, I was of course keen to see the rest of the place, so managed to get two different PuGs to down Gorefiend and Mannoroth, with some attempts on Xhul'horac (now there's a chaotic fight!) and Archimonde (yeah... NFI what's going on there).

Overall, I'm extremely happy with this new raid - the mechanics and visuals are interesting and definitely a step up in difficulty from Blackrock Foundry.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some more of it. It's been awhile since I've felt a real challenge in raiding due to being limited to clearing heroic BRF instead of moving onto mythic. Even better, the heroic mode for this dungeon seems a lot more.... heroic. As it should be, considering it's a tier up - I don't expect to get bored any time soon!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

...is on my head. WTF?

https://bnetcmsus-a.akamaihd.net/cms/content_entry_media/2IE8E3SCTBCB1433800953745.jpg

Still keeping my stance that T3 was the only really awesome hunter tier set... :P

#Inappropriate Selfie

Did anyone at Blizzard perhaps think about the fact that #funeral selfies are a trend that really shouldn't be encouraged?

Aspects of the Fox

Since Patch 6.2 is set to remove Aspect of the Fox, I've been trying to monitor how often I use it in raids and how essential - or non-essential, as Blizzard seems to think - the ability really is. So, my uses in BRF:

1. Oregorger - directly after a feeding frenzy (1x)
2. Hans/Franz - start of final burn phase (1x)
3. Beastlord - none
4. Gruul - during destructive rampage (1x)
5. Flamebender - as requested
6. Thogar - none
7. Blast Furnace - start of phase 2 and during phase 3 (2x)
8. Kromog - none
9. Iron Maidens - Marak's boat phase (1x)
10. Blackhand - phase 3 (1x)

Notably, I would say only #2, #4, #7 and #10 are the fights where AotF is useful; and then only #7 and #10 where it's really useful. Considering Blast Furnace and Blackhand are pretty much the two hardest fights in the entire raid, it's unsurprising for any raid-wide ability to be a significant boost.

However, is AotF really necessary? Probably not, considering most casters have either some sort of cooldown to cast on the run or instant cast spells that could tide the raid over until the phase change settles down, which is when AotF is the most useful.

Will I miss it? Sure. Nothing like pulling it out to rez your pet on the run... but I have a feeling our boomkin will miss it more, and I'm fairly content with that!

And Here's Me at the Frozen Throne

Trying to take a few travel selfies and Arthas photobombed me... such an attention hog.

No such thing as a free lunch

...at least, not from me.

 

What is it with people asking for gold anyway? It's not difficult to generate income in WoW - you could join a whole string of levelling guilds and raid their banks for a start, if you're that desperate.

Plus, this person didn't even say "please", nor what he/she needed it for.... so, no, it's not OK. Go bug someone else! :P

Rematch

I've been wandering around Draenor recently trying to get Grand Treasure Hunter and have re-discovered a mob I had trouble soloing when I was a fresh 100:

At the time, I had pulled the rare with every confidence that my BM hunter hax would pull me through (as it had for every other rare I'd encountered thus far), but even burning all my cooldowns, trying different pets and having a couple of random buffs wasn't quite enough to get him down.

With my heroic BRF gear now, I can now solo Echidna easily.

Extremely satisfying to come back and knock this guy over - it's not usually my style to admit defeat! Probably would have kept trying at the time too, except I had been under some pressure to gear up quick - most of my then-guild were already raid-ready on multiple toons and I didn't want to be *too* much of a drag on the rest of the raid.

Old School Facepalm

I really did NOT think that it was possible to have "Legolas" as a name unless you use about 3 ASCII characters, but apparently you can...

Amusingly enough, this guy got kicked (or possibly left) after a few wipes on heroic Blackhand due to crap latency/DPS. Gotta love stereotypes! :D

Behind the Curve

I've been out of the PuGging game for awhile (no, I don't count LFR... and yes, changed guilds again. Don't ask :P), so I was rather confused with the request for "AotC" on most of the heroic Blackhand groups.

Being a hunter, I'm used to AotC meaning Aspect of the Cheetah, but of course it's not - it's Ahead of the Curve, as in you've killed the boss on heroic before. Unfortunately before tonight, I didn't have it... so trying to find a PuG to take me - and also be good - has been annoying.

The smaller groups (for some reason the "magic number" seems to be 2 tanks, 4 heals and 9 DPS - possibly something to do with the balance of loot and organising the number of people) had huge problems with handling phase 2. If a couple of people died to mechanics, especially in phase 1, you weren't likely to recover.

It was a whole different story when I found a 25m PuG this evening - people were getting hit with bombs and marks left, right and centre. I had to /boggle at the easy two shot (although the group had been going on a little while before I joined, I think).

I also discovered that you can't loot two tokens from Blackhand - as in, one coined and one from the boss. Not that I minded, since I had my 4pc bonus already, but I wouldn't have said no to a 5th piece to swap in/out with non-tier.

Either way, I'm glad I have the achievement now - hopefully will be less trouble to PuG Blackhand in future weeks, which at least means I should be able to get the 5th tier piece soon!

Today is an Awesome Day

I happened to take a detour into Acroniss' cave whilst looking for Lunar Festival Elders and lo and behold, I have a new pet:

I still have a few pet slots waiting for Patrannache, Terrorpene, green Madexx and Gara, but this one is definitely one I've wanted for awhile - the other colours for plasma wyrms just don't cut it!

Inn Size

Anyone else think that if followers like Blook are going to frequent the inn, the garrison crew should have built it a little larger?

BlackRhok'in Foundry

Having settled into our new guild Resurrected on Khaz'goroth - a much better fit for us than the previous high-end guild on Proudmoore was - we have made quite a decent headway (9/10 and looking like Blackhand won't prove too difficult) into heroic Blackrock Foundry.

Unlike others, I hadn't really had any complaints about Highmaul. It's an interesting enough raid dungeon and the Mythic fights are extremely challenging for me. However, BRF is proving to be what Blackwing Lair was to Molten Core - a huge step up in fun and mechanics.

We are, of course, still going through mythic Highmaul, since we still haven't cleared it. With the gear jump from T17 2 and 4pc bonuses, we managed to get mythic Brackenspore without too much trouble.

I can see mythic Tectus being a little bit of a challenge - I cannot imagine having to deal with US latency on this fight - the first time I've actually felt that the drop in latency wasn't just a happy convenience but a bit more of a necessity.

As it is, the first few attempts I couldn't manage to get out from under the mountains before getting one-shot (I eventually realised I couldn't afford to even be a single step behind the person getting targeted, otherwise I wouldn't make it).

I'm also still finding it difficult to maximise my SV DPS - at first glance, I can't really see any major errors, but I'm significantly behind compared to the other hunters in execution. On the other hand, I'm finding the set bonuses for SV a lot better than the BM set bonuses, just because I find the BM procs a little too random to be useful.

I'm still hopeful that I can make a killing on mythic Tectus using BM beast cleave, but we'll have to see how that goes.... we'd actually need to survive past the first lot of motes before I can figure that one out! :P

Resurrected

After my last blog post indicating that my raiding guild had dissolved, I have now moved to Khaz'goroth - an Oceanic server - with 3 of my Zero Yard Range guildies.

Rather appropriately, the fresh start on a fresh server has seen us join a guild called "Resurrected", who have accepted all four of us as trials. I don't expect too many problems, considering we are at the same stage of progression: 2/7 Mythic.

At first glance, they seem like a more laid back kind of group, which I'm happy about - I'll hopefully have a little more time during the week for non-raiding stuff... including more hunter-related blog posts.

I realise that a lot of my posts lately have been guild-drama related, so in the near future I'm going to make a concerted effort to get back to what I intended this blog to be about: how much hunters Rhok! :)

Non Combat

In a rather unsurprising, but unwelcome, turn this week, my guild Non Combat Pet (team Dropbears) has dissolved. Numbers were declining and both raid leaders decided that the raiding pace was too slow (read: not cleared Mythic yet) and quit for greener pastures.

Unfortunately with Proudmoore being what it is, there are next to no Oceanic guilds running raids anymore - certainly none anywhere near our level of progression.

This of course puts me in a position of needing to transfer realms if I want to keep raiding at that level... and finding yet another new guild.

At least this time I'm going to have a couple of my old Zero Yard Range guildies in the same boat - trying to prove yourself in a new guild with no support is a pretty hard slog. I'm hoping that at least a couple of us will be in a slightly more social, and less progression-oriented, guild this time around - I have absolutely no desire to raid 4 nights a week again!

I Ain't No Flamin' Brack Girl

I'm currently the backup raider and flamethrower on Mythic Brackenspore.

Unfortunately, it seems like every time I start getting the hang of things, something happens to break the flow.

For a start, there are only 20 in a Mythic raid and if everybody shows up, I'd be on the bench.

Secondly, if the other two main hunters are in the raid, I don't use the flamethrower (we have a boomkin for our third).

Thirdly, our flamethrower strat between the 3 raiders is still evolving - trying to find a balance between maxing out two flamethrowers and keeping the moss in check is pretty difficult when your raid DPS changes slightly every raid due to different people, different gear and mushroom spawn points.

Tonight it so happened that one hunter was sick, so I was looking forward to either a kill or a decent run of attempts to practice in... only for the raid to be called due to various raiders having technical issues.

Disappointing not getting a kill, but my main problem? The less I play at a high level, the worse I get at actually playing. Not helpful if you're in the type of guild where you get benched for lack of skill!

I'm considering doing some PvP or at least Brawler's Arena to keep my reaction times fast this weekend if I get some spare gaming time... and probably should anyway for the achievements. So far behind on non-raiding related stuff... not even at 20k points and still have an entire zone I haven't explored!

Hunter Tools in WoD

Zeherah of http://www.femaledwarf.com/ fame has unfortunately stopped updating the absolutely brilliant tool that was the Hunter DPS Analyzer. Having used a version of this spreadsheet since the time when it was actually a spreadsheet at Elitist Jerks, I am very sorry to see it go, although I wish Zeherah well and thank her for all the effort it took to keep it up to date.

Happily, there is a new tool updated by Esoth:
http://www.wowhuntertools.com/hunter/

...although considering the gear choices in raiding are currently extremely straightforward, it probably isn't going to get much use from me in the near future.

More useful is http://www.noxxic.com/wow

...which I found extremely helpful for spelling out situational shot priority for Survival (there are guides for MM and BM as well). Definitely useful when DPS is a limiting factor for boss kills; my guild managed to kill Mythic Twin Ogron this week and the last wipe before the kill we were a few % short before someone reminded everybody about Augment Runes.

I'm still a bit shaky on SV DPS compared to BM DPS, but improving as I get more comfortable with it.