Do You Dig It?

I've been neglecting the secondary professions this expansion; fishing and archaeology aren't exactly the most riveting way to spend WoW time.

However, since I started to do pet battle rounds to get the 4 minipet pandas from the Beasts of Fable chains, I noticed some improvements to archaeology... or at least, the Mantid sites seem to require less movement than other sites. Could possibly also be the density of mobs in those sites, but /shrug.... either way, I'm liking it!

Of course, I'm not sure how long my enthusiasm will last since I got the last panda yesterday... although getting 75 pets to lvl 25 is going to need some roaming around as well.

With any luck, by the time the next expansion rolls around I'll have caught up somewhat on the Achievement front, although I may leave BG farming until then. Don't particularly feel like being the PvE-geared glass cannon at end game right now! :P

One fish, two fish....

...dammit, lost the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza again.

Being the one day in summer when I'm actually free (ie. not going to work), I decided to try the new version of the STV fishing comp.

I had actually thought it might be easier this time around - after all, there are 3 winners now, right?

Wrong. Unfortunately, it seems to be a lot harder, since you're competing for pools with cross-realm people and it's harder to gauge the number of people in each zone since you can't use /who to find them.

In fact, now more than ever you need to find a quiet place to fish... and because I rarely do the comp, I don't tend to know where the best places are.

Looks like I'll have to wait until daylight savings is over in the US for me to get another chance.... oh well. One day :)

It's beginning to look a lot like

...that time of year when I don't have time to make a proper blog post. Oops!

It's been an interesting year in terms of WoW. My playstyle has changed somewhat; generally I try to race to level cap, race to get exalted with all the new factions, race to get all the new mounts and pets, race to try and solo achievements I missed in previous expansions... but since WoW is now extremely casual-friendly, I feel as if I'm playing more "casually" as well.

I still do make sure I do my LFRs every week as soon as possible, but apart from that, I haven't done many dailies, I haven't seriously gone after Scenario or Heroic achievements, I haven't finished all the quest/exploration achievements... and I'm actually playing my druid, which generally doesn't happen until I'm well into an expansion when I've completed all of the above.

(Of course, things like Double Agent and Jack of All Trades probably have something to do with that too, but still... there are easier achievements to get)

I haven't even actively tried to join raiding PuGs when I see them (which admittedly for a hunter isn't often). In fact, I actually feel as if I'm playing the way I used to play WoW when I first started, before I started raiding - like a single-player game.

I'm pretty sure that when my guild does manage to pull together a 10man team (hopefully early next year), I'll be keen and ready to raid, but at the moment I'm quite comfortable with the dabbling. :)

Is that supposed to hurt?

At first I thought the Anatomical Dummy from Archaeology wasn't as good as the Turnip Punching Bag from questing; after all, what's so good about a normal-looking dummy mob that's level 93 when you can have a skull-level mob for raid testing that looks like a vegetable?

With bag space at a premium right now (why Blizzard decided to make every other quest reward a fun item, I have no idea... it's great, but also awful because I haven't enough space for them all), I almost deleted it.

I'm glad I didn't, though, because the Anatomical Dummy is worth keeping just for this:

Fishing Fail

I've been trying to win the STV fishing comp for awhile now.

However, for the past couple of weeks, there have been issues with cross-realm zones: some people are fishing up Tastyfish in realms in an earlier time zone and then going back to their own zone to hand the fish in as soon as the competition starts.

Since I have absolutely no chance of competing with these people, I don't think I'll bother trying to fish until Blizzard fixes it... not a happy situation, but what can you do? Props to the people that managed to figure out "creative use of game mechanics", but I hope it gets fixed soon!

Digging the Archy Changes

Whilst on the hunt to re-fill my stables (more on that in a later blog post), I discovered the improvement Blizzard made to Archaeology:

Increasing the number of times you can survey at a dig site means you can get one or two common artifacts at each site - great for people like me who still have one rare item left to discover for a few of the races (and 4 for Tol'vir :P).

I still don't think I'll manage to get all of the rare items before MoP brings in more, but at least I have more of a chance now! :)

No glory for silver

This week, the STV fishing comp started just after Bolt's lightning Olympic run, so I figured I had a great chance of winning for once.

Indeed, I started off fantastically, getting quick bites of mostly tastyfish and not too much competition for pools.

I'd just picked up my second last fish - and getting tentatively excited - when a tauren made a neat landing next to the pool I was fishing from and promptly fished it out.

"OK, it's fine. I just need one more," I thought.

Of course, it wasn't to be; every pool from that area had vanished and by the time I *did* find a pool (close to half the map away) and cast the line out for my last fish, someone had handed theirs in.

I guess this week just reflected what the Aussie swim team must be feeling: close, but no cigar! :P

Aspect of the Dragonhawk

No, we aren't getting that spell back; I'm talking about this:

Yep. Because you can change Aspects whilst mounted, you actually get a cast animation if you change Aspects whilst transformed into a dragon via Vial of the Sands.

It does look a little odd, since the dragon looks like a chicken sticking its neck out really quickly... but pretty amusing as well!

Holiday Hunting

Happy New Year!

As Proudmoore is usually a highly populated server, I decided to take advantage of the holiday lull to get some "rare" hunting done and hit the jackpot:

I finally managed to tame Loque'nahak - and not only that, I found him again to kill for Frostbitten! :D

I now only have 3 rares left for Frostbitten (one of which, Dirkee, will likely be difficult due to all the people camping for the Time-Lost Proto Drake in Storm Peaks) and none for Bloody Rare:

Unfortunately, there were still a few people around for the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza and I didn't manage to win it... but I did grab a PuG to do a few Cataclysm 5man Heroic achievements, putting me over the 12,000pt mark.

Not bad, considering that 1) the person with the highest number of Achievement points in the world is somewhere in the mid-14,000's and 2) I haven't done any PvP for a good long while and still haven't tried the two newest, meaning there are a few more Achievements I could easily get! :)

Old habits die hard

Things I still need to get used to, even though I'm now fairly comfortable with Focus:

1. Not automatically stopping to cast Multi-Shot (you can now cast it while moving)
2. Not wasting Focus on Widow Venom (that keybind used to be Aimed Shot, which used to do damage as well as the healing debuff, unlike WV)
3. Using Scatter Shot, particularly in BM spec
4. Using Lifeblood for the haste buff instead of saving it for the now-pathetic heal component

Anyone else?

I have never said this before

1. Blood elves can be hunters? Bugger, wish I could have joined the Horde under Sylvanas Windrunner.
Never mind, I've spent so much time on my hunter; I don't want to make another hunter.

2. You can only use ONE potion in combat? Bugger. I guess Alchemy wasn't that useful after all; should have taken Engineering.
Never mind, at least I still use quite a few mana and health potions while soloing/raiding.

3. You can change Factions now?
Never mind, I've spent a lot of time on this server with my guild; I won't change to Blood Elf.

4. Level 60 Onyxia is no more? Yikes, what about the Sinew for Rhok?
Never mind, hopefully Blizz will keep the quest in but make the sinew drop somewhere else; off black whelps perhaps.

5. Forsaken hunters and Night elf mages? Bugger. Wish I could have been those classes.
Never mind, I've spent so much time on my night elf hunter in a friendly guild and server; I won't change now.

6. Hunters will no longer use mana?

For the first time ever, I will join the millions of whiners that seem to think WoW should be made for their own ideals and no-one else's to ask:

What the hell are you doing to my class?

Seriously... I made Phyllixia for the pet, the ranged, the "caster" with mana, Shadowmeld and Rhok - now, mages have a pet (water elemental), are ranged, are a caster with mana and can cast Shadowmeld as a night elf. And then there's druids, which can be a tank, healer AND two different types of DPS; how's that for flexibility?

Both of those classes are what I *almost* chose over a hunter, with me wanting to be a night elf and doing a "test of skill" quest for Rhok being the deciders. Similarly, my expected liberal use of mana and health potions was the decider for Alchemy over Engineering.

Of course, there's a small problem with rerolling: My Achievements. And I don't just mean the ones you get points for - I also mean things like soloing Onyxia, being able to chain trap and kite forever as well as DPS and of course getting Rhok as BM spec.

I've spent a lot of time on Phyllixia the Night Elf Hunter and I can't really throw that out.... but I guess it will depend on whether I'll like the new "Focus" system or not.

Hopefully I will, although I'm still going to mourn having even less use for potions than I did previously - maybe I should switch to transmute or elixir mastery....

Patch 3.PvP

Patch notes for 3.PvP, a.k.a. 3.2, are up.

Why 3.PvP? Well... most of the changes I thought were interesting are related to PvP, with only a couple of PvE changes making me sit up. Let's see....

The newest season of Arena gear can only be purchased if you meet the requirements with your 3 or 5-player team rating.

Wow, what a blow to 2v2ers. Sure, it's a bit more of a scissors-paper-rock bracket than the other two, but I've always found that bracket fun. There wouldn't be any reason for "hard core" Arena-ers to do it any more.

Players with experience gains turned off who compete in Battlegrounds will face off only against other players with experience gains turned off.

Well... it's now easier for twinks to *be* twinks... but when you enter the battleground you're not really "twinked" compared to the other twinks, are you? I'm sure we'll see twinks trying to get around this to join the "regular" battlegrounds.

Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead.

One of two major non-PvP changes that made me think. If heroics drop Conquest, there may be less people going to Naxx/Maly/OS... not great for PuGs, although it's good that heroics will be visited again.

All items that provide "X mana per five seconds" have had the amount of mana they regenerate increased by approximately 25%.

Replenishment: This buff now grants 1% of the target's maximum mana over 5 seconds instead of 0.25% per second.

The other non-PvP change... and a nerf. What hunter has more than a token few Mp5 points from gem(s) on their gear?!

All pets now receive 40% of their master's resilience and 100% of their master's spell penetration.

About frickin' time, but what about armour penetration? And is 40% really enough Resilience?

The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.

This will make setting up chain trapping slightly more difficult, since you won't be able to set it up early and wait for the trap cooldown.

Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.

OK, not bad at all. Survival hunters in particular will have an extra Entrapment from Snake + Freeze/Frost, and be able to use Black Arrow to boot. Guess I'll have to move some of those traps back onto my bar.

Roar of Sacrifice: Redesigned. This ability can now be used on any friendly target to make that target immune to critical strikes, but the hunter pet takes 20% of all damage taken by that friendly target. Cooldown increased to 2 minutes.

Buff to PvP.... major nerf to PvE. Using it to reduce incoming damage when doing elite soloing just got that much harder.

Alchemy

• Added a new pattern for Flask of the North, usable by players with a high alchemy skill. The recipe is purchased from Northrend trainers. Flask of the North increases your spell power, attack power or strength for 1 hour and is usable in Arenas. It is not consumed when used.
  
• Endless Healing Potion and Endless Mana Potion no longer usable in Arenas. Amount of health and mana has been increased, and the cooldown reduced.

Had to add this one in, since I'm a Herb/Alchy - I'm not sure whether I should call this a buff for Arena or not. Stats are definitely nice, and the Endless potions definitely needed a buff in terms of how much HP/mana they gave you, but sometimes that extra HP boost was enough to keep me alive.

There were many other changes that interested me, but aren't hunter-related as such, so I'll refrain from discussing them here... this post is a pretty huge wall o' text as it is!

Fishing dailies fixed

I picked up Crocolisks in the City yesterday (I've been doing that one to try and get the other 3 croc mini-pets I still don't have), and discovered that you no longer automatically get the quest item on your first cast.

I guess Blizz finally fixed the fishing quests, so if you were hoping to use the bug to catch Old Crafty, you may have missed your chance.

Endless? More like USEless!

I ventured into 2v2 Arena today, the first time since the end of Season 4.

To my disappointment, Endless Healing and Mana potions have the SAME cooldown. What's up with that???

I thought they were relatively pathetic to start with (600 mana? Really?), but only being able to use ONE is even worse.

I wish I'd known that you couldn't use both; you can't vendor them and I'd have saved myself 10 Runic Mana pots!

Crafty Fishing

After my success in catching Old Crafty, a couple of guildies have asked me for tips. This post isn't really any more information than you can find yourself on WoWHead and similar sites, but I've added some screenshots and gathered all the info into one post so that your venture into Orgrimmar as Alliance will be quick and easy.

Strategy:

First, pick up Crocolisks in the City, the fishing daily from Old Man Barlo. There is a bug at the moment where the quest item is a 100% drop when fishing in Orgrimmar, and ALSO increases the chance for Old Crafty to drop.

Don't loot the Baby Croc until you loot Old Crafty.

There WILL be a confirmation box to loot Old Crafty, even if you are alone - so make sure you don't recast without clicking "Yes" to the loot!

Next, be prepared to die at least once or twice. FD and Shadowmeld don't work on Orgrimmar guards, so I would assume Vanish/Invis etc don't work either. I recommend mounting up and getting as far as you can through the back door of Orgrimmar (accessed via a bridge in NE Durotar going across the small river between the Barrens and Durotar), preferably sans armour.

The place I fished from is in the Valley of Spirits. The dangerous part about this is that this is where any portal to Orgrimmar dumps the Horde, so there's usually a bit of traffic. However, there is a place behind the rock and palm tree in the area where you can fish and be very hard to spot (unless Horde visit the priest trainer/cloth handin person).

Here's a screenshot of the rock/tree I'm talking about:

...and another view from behind the rock:

If you're on a particularly bloodthirsty server, you may want to stop fishing if Horde port in, so that they don't hear the splashing and come to investigate. When I did it, the Horde usually went straight out the front of the hut after porting in and didn't look back, so I didn't get bothered at all.

Unfortunately for Horde, this bug doesn't work for Ironforge because the fishing daily is for Stormwind... and it's a lot harder to get into IF than Orgrimmar. Sorry! :(

Phyl can cook

(so can you)!

A kind guildie (thanks Az!) who has an alt Horde-side donated the recipe for Dig Rat Stew to me last night, which now means I have every single Cooking recipe (and also every Alchemy recipe) in the game.

I've spent a lot of time and effort into collecting these recipes, so it's nice that Alchemy will have some profession-specific perks come WotLK. Until I added Lifeblood to my hotbar, every time a hunter-relevant leatherworking pattern dropped in raids, or someone would come past with their rings nicely enchanted, I felt a little left out... Not any more :)

Pros/Cons of sticking to one class

Although I do have another 70 alt, I rarely spend time on her. Ditto my other alts, probably because most are on different servers to each other *and* my main (most are rerolls with RL friends). I have also never switched professions, or even my main talent tree.

Because of this, I tend to be a little... one-sided.

In my guild, I'm often the first to post on my guild forum with alternative kiting pathways for mobs, changes to hunter spells, tricks with traps or new ways to use Misdirect. I know not to blow mana trying to burst a mage down if they haven't used Ice Block yet, or to keep a Flare up when a rogue is around.

On the other hand... I rarely remember that mages can use Slow Fall and rogues Cloak of Shadows against raid bosses to prevent incoming damage.

The other day, I was in a ZA PuG. One of the other raid members, a tailor, used a Netherweave Net to snag the Dragonhawk trash scouts and prevent them from running away.

Now, although my warlock is a tailor and has this pattern, I'd never thought about the fact that they could be used on the scouts - a tip that could have helped my guild when we were wiping on that content.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has this problem, but I always have a /facepalm moment when I come across something that suddenly makes me realize that even though I'm an OK teacher in the Hunter subject, I'm still a student in everything else!