Thursday, October 10, 2013
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Timeless Grind
Anyone else find the mob grinding for Emperor Shaohao rep tedious? The fact that I'm only Friendly with them shows how little patience I have with mob grinding, particularly as I have less time to play now than I used to.
I don't, in fact, keep track of Achievements, pets or mounts as much as I used to, since there isn't any way I can keep up with all the new additions at the moment.
Not that that's a bad thing; at least I'll always have something to do. I just don't feel like I have any particular thing to work towards right now, apart from keeping my gear up to date for raiding.
Oh well, I suppose I'll get my rep up some day... there is one thing I'm up to date with, after all - I have pretty much every single useful port item in my bag for ultimate mobility and I don't intend to skip this one!
I don't, in fact, keep track of Achievements, pets or mounts as much as I used to, since there isn't any way I can keep up with all the new additions at the moment.
Not that that's a bad thing; at least I'll always have something to do. I just don't feel like I have any particular thing to work towards right now, apart from keeping my gear up to date for raiding.
Oh well, I suppose I'll get my rep up some day... there is one thing I'm up to date with, after all - I have pretty much every single useful port item in my bag for ultimate mobility and I don't intend to skip this one!
Friday, September 27, 2013
LFRaiders
Yet again, my raiding team has a problem with numbers.
Losing one of our main tanks is going to halt our progression - and it was going pretty well, with 9/14 down in 10m - particularly as a few of us will be taking holidays in the coming months.
I don't know if I really have the patience to sit through LFR if we don't manage to find people. It had pleasantly surprised me how fast we went through content at first, but since my gear is significantly higher than LFR this time around (again, a novelty for me), I've realised that there's no need for me to do it unless I'm trying to get tier set bonuses. Even flex raids are barely an upgrade.
Luckily Zero Yard Range is the type of guild that doesn't mind the occasional PuG from Trade Chat (it's where they picked *me* up, after all), but it's pretty difficult to find a consistent, geared and reliable DPS, let alone a tank.
Crossing my fingers we find someone by Sunday!
Losing one of our main tanks is going to halt our progression - and it was going pretty well, with 9/14 down in 10m - particularly as a few of us will be taking holidays in the coming months.
I don't know if I really have the patience to sit through LFR if we don't manage to find people. It had pleasantly surprised me how fast we went through content at first, but since my gear is significantly higher than LFR this time around (again, a novelty for me), I've realised that there's no need for me to do it unless I'm trying to get tier set bonuses. Even flex raids are barely an upgrade.
Luckily Zero Yard Range is the type of guild that doesn't mind the occasional PuG from Trade Chat (it's where they picked *me* up, after all), but it's pretty difficult to find a consistent, geared and reliable DPS, let alone a tank.
Crossing my fingers we find someone by Sunday!
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Unprecedented
This is the first ever tier where I - and my raiding group - been heroic geared for new content.
I'm not sure whether it's because of that that my raid is breezing through the first few bosses or Blizz is just making content easier in general, but it's a completely novel experience for me to be so far into a raid dungeon this early.
In 10m, we got up to the 7th boss (Kor'kron Dark Shaman) in the first week of raiding... and even then, it doesn't look like too difficult a fight. We just ran out of time!
I think it's a lot better being ahead of the curve... you don't run into fights where you're lacking on DPS/heals - a source of frustration for everyone because there are usually people who "carry" the raid, whether it be gear or skill. It's never fun waiting for people to catch up.
In our case, even if there are some better geared (or better skilled!) than others, it's not enough of a gap to significantly slow progression. Woot for the new and improved raiding experience! :)
(On the other hand, I've suddenly discovered I have much less patience for LFR... was considering not bothering with it, but I feel obliged for the chance at loot :P)
I'm not sure whether it's because of that that my raid is breezing through the first few bosses or Blizz is just making content easier in general, but it's a completely novel experience for me to be so far into a raid dungeon this early.
In 10m, we got up to the 7th boss (Kor'kron Dark Shaman) in the first week of raiding... and even then, it doesn't look like too difficult a fight. We just ran out of time!
I think it's a lot better being ahead of the curve... you don't run into fights where you're lacking on DPS/heals - a source of frustration for everyone because there are usually people who "carry" the raid, whether it be gear or skill. It's never fun waiting for people to catch up.
In our case, even if there are some better geared (or better skilled!) than others, it's not enough of a gap to significantly slow progression. Woot for the new and improved raiding experience! :)
(On the other hand, I've suddenly discovered I have much less patience for LFR... was considering not bothering with it, but I feel obliged for the chance at loot :P)
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Proving Groundless
I had been looking forward to the Proving Grounds, since I do like to challenges.
I did, however, expect somewhat more of a challenge for the Bronze, Silver and Gold trials. You are, after all, "proving" yourself. Maybe I was expecting the difficulty of Challenge Mode Dungeons, I don't know.
In any case, I breezed through the Gold DPS. I'm confident of doing fairly well in Endless, but I'll need to be more awake when I start it, not after a raid!
...and just because I'm me, I attempted the Bronze Heal and Tank mode. Sadly, pet tanking is seriously lacking, otherwise I'd definitely want to give it a go. I suppose this is one of those times that I'll have to make use of my druid. I only hope he's geared enough!
I did, however, expect somewhat more of a challenge for the Bronze, Silver and Gold trials. You are, after all, "proving" yourself. Maybe I was expecting the difficulty of Challenge Mode Dungeons, I don't know.
In any case, I breezed through the Gold DPS. I'm confident of doing fairly well in Endless, but I'll need to be more awake when I start it, not after a raid!
...and just because I'm me, I attempted the Bronze Heal and Tank mode. Sadly, pet tanking is seriously lacking, otherwise I'd definitely want to give it a go. I suppose this is one of those times that I'll have to make use of my druid. I only hope he's geared enough!
Friday, September 13, 2013
Well, that's annoying
This cloak does not go with my outfit :(
I will admit that the effects are very pretty, though!
...I do think rather wistfully that my first legendary really should have been a bow and not a cloak... but oh well. Rhok was orange to me!
I will admit that the effects are very pretty, though!
...I do think rather wistfully that my first legendary really should have been a bow and not a cloak... but oh well. Rhok was orange to me!
Monday, September 2, 2013
High On Qon Kill
I finally got a heroic Iron Qon kill last week, making 4 heroic kills in ToT.
The only heroic kill that Infamy has that I still don't is Tortos - the fight I was probably the most intimately familiar with, since we spent so much time wiping on it.
With Patch 5.4 imminent, I'm hoping Zero Yard Range will be able to get Tortos next week, but I don't have any high expectations.
Somewhat related, I have high hopes for flex raiding in 5.4 - 3 of my former Southern Wardens guildies have come back to WoW and started gearing up in preparation for joining Infamy's planned run. Would be great to have 5 Wardens and Infamy in the one run - ZYR is good, but just not the same as having the old crew back together!
The only heroic kill that Infamy has that I still don't is Tortos - the fight I was probably the most intimately familiar with, since we spent so much time wiping on it.
With Patch 5.4 imminent, I'm hoping Zero Yard Range will be able to get Tortos next week, but I don't have any high expectations.
Somewhat related, I have high hopes for flex raiding in 5.4 - 3 of my former Southern Wardens guildies have come back to WoW and started gearing up in preparation for joining Infamy's planned run. Would be great to have 5 Wardens and Infamy in the one run - ZYR is good, but just not the same as having the old crew back together!
Monday, August 26, 2013
Challenge Accepted
With a few guildies, I've started to work on Challenge Conqueror: Gold in earnest. The difficulty of the dungeons seems to vary quite a lot, particularly depending on group composition.
Because most of my group have done the Challenge modes before, they knew what to expect, which helps both with strategy and where/when to move - getting Silver is a given.
For my part, I've had to learn exactly where to use my cooldowns, potions, CC, everything, because if I do something at the wrong time, a few seconds is the difference between success or failure.
So far, my experience has been thus:
All in all, Challenge modes are a lot easier than I thought they would be. Then again, I have great guildies, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised!
Because most of my group have done the Challenge modes before, they knew what to expect, which helps both with strategy and where/when to move - getting Silver is a given.
For my part, I've had to learn exactly where to use my cooldowns, potions, CC, everything, because if I do something at the wrong time, a few seconds is the difference between success or failure.
So far, my experience has been thus:
- Siege of Niuzao Temple we 1-shot Gold almost by accident while cruising for a Silver.
- Temple of the Jade Serpent looks to be another easy one, since we got close to Gold without trying but haven't been back yet.
- We took a few runs to get used to Stormstout Brewery and another few resets for bad RNG to get Gold, so I'd call that the average.
- Scarlet Halls trash packs are overwhelming for our group, so that one ranks hardest so far.
- The Silver run of Mogu'shan Palace I can see being somewhere between average and hard, since we had a few deaths, but since I've only been there once it's a little hard to tell whether it will be harder than Scarlet Halls or not.
- I haven't tried the other 4, so can't comment on them just yet.
All in all, Challenge modes are a lot easier than I thought they would be. Then again, I have great guildies, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Wrath-I-Owned
Fighting Wrathion was actually not too difficult, once I'd decided on a strat. I don't know about anyone else, but I was having flashbacks to my Rhok demons.... particularly kiting Solenar.
Back then, when it was a) a bigger deal what spec you chose and b) a bigger deal to respec, I'd stuck my guns and did the whole chain in BM spec. I had a brief moment this time around where I wondered whether I should do the same thing, but it didn't last long.
For Rhok, I had wanted to prove that it was possible to kill the demons as BM. Now, I have nothing to prove... because even if I killed Wrathion in BM spec, all I would be giving up is the convenience of a little extra AoE damage and Entrapment - I may as well just take a piece of gear off and it'd amount to about the same thing.
Plus, the game has changed. Specs are no longer what they were; people tweak talents constantly just to make a fight easier, just like Vanilla hunters changed their gear to +intellect (yes, Int. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're new to WoW :P) to kite mobs around, or +stamina to have epic pet tanks.
Saying what spec you are as a hunter really doesn't mean much anymore - a hunter is a hunter, and people expect you to be able to do everything and have every buff pet available when required, which basically means that you need BM as one of your specs no matter what.
Since I'm Ms "BM spec since beta", I hadn't thought about it much before, but that must kinda suck for those hunters that prefer MM and Surv. I would applaud anyone who is brave enough to rock those specs and stand by their choice - it'd be the equivalent of what I did back in Vanilla, so I totally see where you're coming from!
Back then, when it was a) a bigger deal what spec you chose and b) a bigger deal to respec, I'd stuck my guns and did the whole chain in BM spec. I had a brief moment this time around where I wondered whether I should do the same thing, but it didn't last long.
For Rhok, I had wanted to prove that it was possible to kill the demons as BM. Now, I have nothing to prove... because even if I killed Wrathion in BM spec, all I would be giving up is the convenience of a little extra AoE damage and Entrapment - I may as well just take a piece of gear off and it'd amount to about the same thing.
Plus, the game has changed. Specs are no longer what they were; people tweak talents constantly just to make a fight easier, just like Vanilla hunters changed their gear to +intellect (yes, Int. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're new to WoW :P) to kite mobs around, or +stamina to have epic pet tanks.
Saying what spec you are as a hunter really doesn't mean much anymore - a hunter is a hunter, and people expect you to be able to do everything and have every buff pet available when required, which basically means that you need BM as one of your specs no matter what.
Since I'm Ms "BM spec since beta", I hadn't thought about it much before, but that must kinda suck for those hunters that prefer MM and Surv. I would applaud anyone who is brave enough to rock those specs and stand by their choice - it'd be the equivalent of what I did back in Vanilla, so I totally see where you're coming from!
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Stayin' Alive, Stayin' Alive
Yes, I'm still here, unlike Frostheim. It's been awhile since my last update, but last week I hadn't done much in WoW due to being fairly busy IRL and this week I've been busy catching up with all the things I'd missed!
For one thing, after about 3 months' worth of terrible Runestone droprates, I finally accumulated 12. I've only had time for a couple of goes at the Celestial Blessings quest, but it's looking like an incredibly fun challenge already. Will hopefully have time either next weekend or mid-week (since there's a public holiday here on Wed) to figure out tactics (kill adds? kite adds?).
For another, my guild (Infamy) has shifted their Challenge mode dungeon runs to Wed night instead of Sun arvo, which means I've been able to join in when there's a free spot. I do use my PvP abilities (eg. Silence, Scatter, Trap) regularly anyway, but it's not often when the use of them can mean the difference between living and dying! Unfortunately we only managed Silver in Scarlet Halls that night (and being the only one who has never completed a Challenge mode before, a lot of those resets I'm sure I could have done better), but now that I know what they're like, I'm keen to do more.
Finally, the guild I am currently raiding with (Zero Yard Range, not Infamy :P) is extremely close to getting their first heroic Horridon kill. I actually missed all of Infamy's progression runs on Horri, so I've never felt *entirely* comfortable doing it. Wiping with ZYR has been good - as much as I loved the smooth runs with Infamy, I feel bad if I'm being "carried" through fights and I certainly don't feel like I am this time.
I will endeavour to update the ol' blog sooner rather than later, this time. Wouldn't do to have people start thinking I've gone the way of many other hunter bloggers who have stopped playing! :)
For one thing, after about 3 months' worth of terrible Runestone droprates, I finally accumulated 12. I've only had time for a couple of goes at the Celestial Blessings quest, but it's looking like an incredibly fun challenge already. Will hopefully have time either next weekend or mid-week (since there's a public holiday here on Wed) to figure out tactics (kill adds? kite adds?).
For another, my guild (Infamy) has shifted their Challenge mode dungeon runs to Wed night instead of Sun arvo, which means I've been able to join in when there's a free spot. I do use my PvP abilities (eg. Silence, Scatter, Trap) regularly anyway, but it's not often when the use of them can mean the difference between living and dying! Unfortunately we only managed Silver in Scarlet Halls that night (and being the only one who has never completed a Challenge mode before, a lot of those resets I'm sure I could have done better), but now that I know what they're like, I'm keen to do more.
Finally, the guild I am currently raiding with (Zero Yard Range, not Infamy :P) is extremely close to getting their first heroic Horridon kill. I actually missed all of Infamy's progression runs on Horri, so I've never felt *entirely* comfortable doing it. Wiping with ZYR has been good - as much as I loved the smooth runs with Infamy, I feel bad if I'm being "carried" through fights and I certainly don't feel like I am this time.
I will endeavour to update the ol' blog sooner rather than later, this time. Wouldn't do to have people start thinking I've gone the way of many other hunter bloggers who have stopped playing! :)
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