Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
I should have known better....
I still have blue pants and a vendor-bought gun, but after running PuG 10man Naxx today, I won end loot: Yet another pair of gloves to add to my collection.
I'm starting to think it's like my luck with BC loot, except in reverse: I ran Steamvaults enough times to be exalted twice with Cenarion Expedition, and never saw either piece of Beast Lord armour (you'd think I'd have more of a chance with 2 pieces dropping off the same boss, but noooooo). Now, bosses are throwing gloves at me and I don't even need them.
Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, here I come!
I'm starting to think it's like my luck with BC loot, except in reverse: I ran Steamvaults enough times to be exalted twice with Cenarion Expedition, and never saw either piece of Beast Lord armour (you'd think I'd have more of a chance with 2 pieces dropping off the same boss, but noooooo). Now, bosses are throwing gloves at me and I don't even need them.
Well, at least I can sell these... they're actually one of the best (if not the best) PvE hunter gloves in the game at the moment so they're worth a few hundred gold.
Traveler's Tundra Mammoth, here I come!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
PvE: Easy, or Hard?
Today's blog post is prompted by my guildie Siha over at Banana Shoulders, who rants against people who say that PvE is easy.
I wouldn't say PvE is easy, exactly... but I do think that PvE is easiER in terms of personal skill.
Why?
Because PvE is pretty much the same thing, every time. You know what to expect - watch for void zones for this boss, cleanse for this boss, kill this mob first in this trash pack, taunt at 10 stacks of debuff, heal this target.
In my guild, I've been one of the highest DPSers with my crappy non-DPS spec since level 60 raids... and up until halfway through BC, I clicked and keyboard turned for everything except kiting.
So... compared to competitive PvP, I do think PvE is easier in terms of personal skill. However... I also think PvE is hard.
Why?
Because to progress in a difficult heroic raid zone you need TWENTY-FOUR other people to be as good, or better, than you in terms of personal skill. You also need a raid leader that is good (and patient!) enough to lead all 25 people through.
This, of course, is easy for high-end raiding guilds. Someone isn't good enough? /gkick and replace them; there are plenty of applicants eager to prove their worth. That shadow priest keeps dying on Heigan but is usually an excellent player? Bring in a warlock for Heigan only, and the priest can come back in when Heigan is dead.
For most "casual" raiding guilds, this isn't an option. The guilds are based on friendships rather than skill, and there's always that one hunter who can't keep their pet alive, that one warlock that has lower DPS than the tank, that one shaman that falls asleep in raids, that one pally that turns up drunk.
We have to motivate them, wake them up, spend more time explaining, show them what to do... and if all else fails, "carry" them through content by DPSing harder, overgearing the encounter a little, or even resorting to a little raid stacking until we get it right.
We do it because we'd rather wipe a few times and laugh at people failing frogger than give up our friends... and that's what really makes PvE hard.
I wouldn't say PvE is easy, exactly... but I do think that PvE is easiER in terms of personal skill.
Why?
Because PvE is pretty much the same thing, every time. You know what to expect - watch for void zones for this boss, cleanse for this boss, kill this mob first in this trash pack, taunt at 10 stacks of debuff, heal this target.
In my guild, I've been one of the highest DPSers with my crappy non-DPS spec since level 60 raids... and up until halfway through BC, I clicked and keyboard turned for everything except kiting.
So... compared to competitive PvP, I do think PvE is easier in terms of personal skill. However... I also think PvE is hard.
Why?
Because to progress in a difficult heroic raid zone you need TWENTY-FOUR other people to be as good, or better, than you in terms of personal skill. You also need a raid leader that is good (and patient!) enough to lead all 25 people through.
This, of course, is easy for high-end raiding guilds. Someone isn't good enough? /gkick and replace them; there are plenty of applicants eager to prove their worth. That shadow priest keeps dying on Heigan but is usually an excellent player? Bring in a warlock for Heigan only, and the priest can come back in when Heigan is dead.
For most "casual" raiding guilds, this isn't an option. The guilds are based on friendships rather than skill, and there's always that one hunter who can't keep their pet alive, that one warlock that has lower DPS than the tank, that one shaman that falls asleep in raids, that one pally that turns up drunk.
We have to motivate them, wake them up, spend more time explaining, show them what to do... and if all else fails, "carry" them through content by DPSing harder, overgearing the encounter a little, or even resorting to a little raid stacking until we get it right.
We do it because we'd rather wipe a few times and laugh at people failing frogger than give up our friends... and that's what really makes PvE hard.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Real PvP - Not quite dead
I've always had a PvP server mentality. Battlegrounds just don't do it for me - you don't need skill to kill Horde in AV, and it's horribly boring to boot. Along with all the challenging solo PvE stuff I do, I guess you could call me competitive... or just bloodthirsty.
The above screenshot was one of the extremely rare times where both Horde and Alliance ignored the fact that we were on Proudmoore and duked it out around the graveyard outside Silvermoon City after a city raid... for a good couple of hours.
Or, more accurately, I voluntarily subjected myself to a couple of hours of corpse camping by a few Horde - I could rez and kill one of them, but not all. Not most people's idea of fun, I know... but I hardly noticed the time.
It's such a nice change to be able to fight on my hunter instead of my druid, or warlock, both of which I'm extremely rusty on when I play them (although being the excellent one-vs-one classes that they are, I often manage not to fall prey to gankers, even when using the wrong spells).
68 world PvP kills in one day - not bad at all for a PvE server. Pity the Horde would only stay flagged when they outnumbered us, and not the other way around. Damn chickens!
The above screenshot was one of the extremely rare times where both Horde and Alliance ignored the fact that we were on Proudmoore and duked it out around the graveyard outside Silvermoon City after a city raid... for a good couple of hours.
Or, more accurately, I voluntarily subjected myself to a couple of hours of corpse camping by a few Horde - I could rez and kill one of them, but not all. Not most people's idea of fun, I know... but I hardly noticed the time.
It's such a nice change to be able to fight on my hunter instead of my druid, or warlock, both of which I'm extremely rusty on when I play them (although being the excellent one-vs-one classes that they are, I often manage not to fall prey to gankers, even when using the wrong spells).
68 world PvP kills in one day - not bad at all for a PvE server. Pity the Horde would only stay flagged when they outnumbered us, and not the other way around. Damn chickens!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Enough gloves, already!
After dutifully joining both 10- and 25-man Archavon PuGs once a week since I hit 80 without fail, I finally got my first piece of loot from that Vault - Deadly Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets.
Don't get me wrong, I do need them. My 2v2 partner and I are getting pwned hard in arena (or maybe I should just say *I* am, since mages can take me out in the time it takes me to dismount), so the resilience is definitely welcome.
However...
I am wearing Rusted-Link Spiked Gauntlets for PvE, which has dropped twice in my presence.
I also have Heroes' Cryptstalker Handguards, which has also dropped twice in my presence (in token form).
I also have Handgrips of the Savage Emissary, which seems to drop every time I run heroic VH... a good 3-4 times now.
If the Blizzard loot god reads this blog at all - I could really use a new bow. Or, you know, a kind guildie gave me epic quality leg armour quite awhile ago and I still don't have anything decent to put it on...
WTB pants!
Edit 10th Jan 09:
Valorous Cryptstalker Handguards.
The Blizzard loot god is /lol ing at me, I'm sure of it.
On the upside, at least it won't take up another bag slot - I can delete the Heroes version.
Don't get me wrong, I do need them. My 2v2 partner and I are getting pwned hard in arena (or maybe I should just say *I* am, since mages can take me out in the time it takes me to dismount), so the resilience is definitely welcome.
However...
I am wearing Rusted-Link Spiked Gauntlets for PvE, which has dropped twice in my presence.
I also have Heroes' Cryptstalker Handguards, which has also dropped twice in my presence (in token form).
I also have Handgrips of the Savage Emissary, which seems to drop every time I run heroic VH... a good 3-4 times now.
If the Blizzard loot god reads this blog at all - I could really use a new bow. Or, you know, a kind guildie gave me epic quality leg armour quite awhile ago and I still don't have anything decent to put it on...
WTB pants!
Edit 10th Jan 09:
Valorous Cryptstalker Handguards.
The Blizzard loot god is /lol ing at me, I'm sure of it.
On the upside, at least it won't take up another bag slot - I can delete the Heroes version.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
The things we miss
Being an Oceanic player on a US time-based server (Proudmoore) rather than an Oceanic time-based server (such as my main Horde server, Frostmourne) has a lot of advantages:
The best advantage is that at almost any time of day, there is a sizeable population online. The same can't be said for other servers (such as Nerzhul, where my main alt warlock is based), where you can /who Dalaran at certain times of day and not have a full 49 listed. The population advantage (as well as the carebear PvE status) helped Proudmoore grind SSO dailies like no other, winning the race to each Sunwell phase.
It also helps with PuGging, particularly retro raiding, as there is both a US and Oceanic population to pool interested parties from. MC, BWL, AQ40 (it took quite awhile to find a group that could get past Twin Emps!), SSC, TK, and BT were all PuGged extensively for one reason or another, and I'd still like to get Hyjal and Sunwell completely cleared at some point too.
However, being on a different clock to server time has a lot of disadvantages, too:
I have never been able to compete in the STV Fishing Contest, as Sunday afternoon for the Yankees is Monday morning for Oceania.
Rolling restarts on Proudmoore still happen between 8-11pm on Tuesday nights, unlike Oceanic servers such as Frostmourne, where (if you're lucky!) Blizzard will sometimes push back rolling restarts to non-peak times (ie 5am AEST, not US time).
...and something I wasn't even aware of until recently - we miss being able to turn on the lights in Dalaran at 9pm server time.
I know these things are such a small part of WoW, but I'd still like to experience them. Oh well, maybe one day!
The best advantage is that at almost any time of day, there is a sizeable population online. The same can't be said for other servers (such as Nerzhul, where my main alt warlock is based), where you can /who Dalaran at certain times of day and not have a full 49 listed. The population advantage (as well as the carebear PvE status) helped Proudmoore grind SSO dailies like no other, winning the race to each Sunwell phase.
It also helps with PuGging, particularly retro raiding, as there is both a US and Oceanic population to pool interested parties from. MC, BWL, AQ40 (it took quite awhile to find a group that could get past Twin Emps!), SSC, TK, and BT were all PuGged extensively for one reason or another, and I'd still like to get Hyjal and Sunwell completely cleared at some point too.
However, being on a different clock to server time has a lot of disadvantages, too:
I have never been able to compete in the STV Fishing Contest, as Sunday afternoon for the Yankees is Monday morning for Oceania.
Rolling restarts on Proudmoore still happen between 8-11pm on Tuesday nights, unlike Oceanic servers such as Frostmourne, where (if you're lucky!) Blizzard will sometimes push back rolling restarts to non-peak times (ie 5am AEST, not US time).
...and something I wasn't even aware of until recently - we miss being able to turn on the lights in Dalaran at 9pm server time.
I know these things are such a small part of WoW, but I'd still like to experience them. Oh well, maybe one day!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
That was fun....
It took 4 wipes to get the hang of it, but soloing Onyxia could actually be pretty lucrative - she dropped over 200g worth of stuff (including vendored loot).
I donned some level 70 FR gear (about 180FR worth) to make it easier, but I have no doubt that if you were careful you could do it without.
With my guild starting official raids soon, it'll be really difficult to find time to do this type of thing again... but AQ20 and ZG are definitely on the list to try next!
Saturday, January 3, 2009
I couldn't do it...
...I couldn't give up Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey. It's just way, way too much fun having a speed buff when I dodge.
What I gave up instead (and here's where all the raiding hunters will pull their hair out in horror): Glyph of Steady Shot, one of the main "mandatory" glyphs for maximising DPS.
(In fact, the first comment on WoWHead for this glyph begins, "Needless to say, this Glyph will be on pretty much every Hunter's Glyph page.")
All three of my major Glyphs are, in fact, pretty selfish - I have:
- Glyph of Freezing Trap - useful if the trap breaks because I have an extra few seconds time to kite the mob/enemy player
- Glyph of Aspect of the Monkey - as mentioned above
- Glyph of Bestial Wrath - although this provides a significant DPS boost and would be on every raiding BM hunter's glyph page... I'm sorry to say I would have considered taking it purely for the immunity to CC Beast Within provides.
So.... if my guild ever wipes on a boss at 1%, it's probably my fault (although they should be used to it by now; I don't think I've ever specced for full DPS...). Sorry!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A minor quibble...
I think it's great that the new vendor ammo is the same price as the old ammo....
...I just wish they had different icons.
One of these days I'll find myself in a 1% wipe because I accidentally bought the wrong arrows.... and was scrambling to equip the inferior type before we all died!
...I just wish they had different icons.
One of these days I'll find myself in a 1% wipe because I accidentally bought the wrong arrows.... and was scrambling to equip the inferior type before we all died!
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!
From Phyllixia and her faithful companions:
Quickblade (ravager), Seismic (gorilla), Koopa (turtle), Vampyr (bat) and Shadow (cat).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)