The Lair Of The Ninjaoctopus

Computer Lag & Real Life Lag

2009-11-10T03:00:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there, readers. You've probably noticed I've not posted yet this month...sadly, I've suffered some blog lag due to real life. My uni work is starting to get serious and so I may have to post a bit less regularly. However, never fear. I shall still be here (rhyme) to post of course. It just might lose it's weekly-ness. I'm sure my vast supply of readers will be devastated!

So...what's this post about? Well, it's a small post about my laptop being a pain to me but it also raises a point too. Let me start with the laptop plight. I'm currently in a new guild due to a guild merger XXL have with them. They seem like really nice people and I've been lucky enough to go to Uld 25 with them a couple of times and one Uld 10 too. They invited me to go to Trial Of The Crusader and I accepted because my laptop seemed to be a bit slow but okay to raid still. However, once I accepted the invite and began a flight to the Tourney grounds from Storm Peaks, my laptop suddenly went NAO! and my frame rate went to either 1 or 0. If I was lucky, it went up to a whopping two!

Now, this was a problem to me cause I felt really bad cause it looked like I was making excuses because I had been asked to heal. Yes, I admit that I was nervous as hell about healing in it because I'm not amazing at healing yet. However, I would never let my guild down by saying no to healing because I warned them about it all and Moomy (guild leader) seemed fine with it. I know that my laptop isn't brilliant and it has an average frame rate of 8 and the highest I've seen it at is 17. There are people out there reading this right now who are going "OMR HOW DO YOU PLAY WITH SUCH A CRAPPY LAPTOP? GO BUY NEW ONE!"...sadly, I can't do this since I'm a student. But this raises another question...am I putting my guild at a disadvantage by not having a good laptop and all?

On the one hand, I've been in Naxx and Ulduar before and I've done things and my frame rate has been it's usual self and I've only had a bit of lag at times. I haven't just been frozen doing nothing. Therefore, you could argue that it works well enough and I'm fine to be included. However, my laptop is prone to lag and can do so during endgame. It also has an issue with overheating too that I've noticed...my poor poor laptop. Therefore, you could also argue that I'm actually hurting the guild by having this laptop. Whilst I left TOTC25 due to my low framerate (since it would have been very cheeky to stay when I couldn't do anything), the lag could strike anytime and I could ruin a fight because of it or I could have my laptop shut itself down due to overheating and also ruin a fight.

So...I'll put the question across to anyone who reads this and feels like commenting. Should someone with a lower end laptop be able to raid? Does it matter if someone has a laptop that isn't totally efficient as long as it does the job?

Survival Hunters, Sing With Me...I Will Survive!

2009-10-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

10 days since my last post...tut tut. Sorting out my uni loan nonsense and uni work is getting in the way of my blog posting. I do apologise to those who are keeping up with my blog...let's hope things get smoother for me eh? Anyway, this is the final Hunter spec post and it's looking at Survival. So let's look at Gloria Gaynor's favourite topic...make sure to sing with me though!

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Survival is a good choice for Draenei huntards. They've crash landed and are having to survive on the Isles that are the starting zones for the space goats. I think that this would force Draenei hunters to focus on traps and tracking and surviving as best as they can. This is my fav choice for an Ally Survival Hunter.

Dwarf-Well, back when Survival was viewed more as a melee-hunter spec as such, I'd have said Dwarfs were a good choice for that. But Wrath has changed Survival for the better and Survival Hunters are not just about this as such and as a result, Survival is my least favourite choice for a Dwarf Hunter.

Human-Survival can work for a Human Huntard since they fit well with all three specs really. Survival spec would mean that Humans focus on tracking the beasts more and using traps to catch their prey.

Nelf-While Survival could work with regards to the tracking aspect, I don't think that Nelfs would care as much about traps as other races would nor would they like to get in as close as much as other hunters at times. Marks and BM fit better for a Nelf in my opinion.

Worgen-Survival would work well with the Worgen, I reckon. Here's why I have that view. Worgen are humans struggling to control their beast and all so they may be prone to running in to try and fight the mob personally before having to control themselves and back off. Also, tracking is a key aspect of Survival to me and the Worgen would be great at that.

Horde

Belf-I don't really like the combo of Survival and Belf. I guess I just favour Marks too much when it comes to looking at Belf hunters and RP'ing them.

Goblin-Survival would work well with Goblins. I can imagine them putting down traps and proudly telling everyone else how they built their traps and how they modified them personally and other things. I also reckon they'd use their traps to hunt animal furs/skins for mooneh.

Orc-Even though Survival isn't as melee-orientated as it used to be in my eyes, an Orc is still that Hunter who will love to get in close with their pet and fight alongside them which is what Survival lets them do better than the others. I imagine them charging in with their pet going "FOR THE HORDE" because that's what Orcs do best.

Tauren-Hmm, I'm not sure on Tauren and the Survival spec. While the Tauren would be really good at tracking and the shots you get with Survival, I don't see them being as keen on traps and I just think the other two specs fit them better. However, Survival isn't horrible for them.

Undead-Survival would work quite well for an Undead Hunter. I mean, they've had to fight for their survival in their starting zones thanks to the loveable Scarlet Crusade and I imagine they'd love to use traps to control the enemy or cause them pain. I'm looking at you, Immolation Trap.

Abilities

Raptor Strike-It's one of the Hunter's few melee strikes. I use these way too much when going around with Shiny because I like to hit things and be up close with Spork now and again. Don't follow my example (I am a Hunter Fail!), always remember to be at range in PvE and PvP. If something gets close, Disengage.

Track Humanoids-I know that it may seem pointless commenting on this but I had to put them in the list since they come under Survival. This one lets you track Humanoids. Go figure.

Wing Clip-This used to do damage but it currently doesn't do any. This means that you can use it if a Freezing Trap works on a mob or player and not break the trap. Handy because you can then Disengage away from them and begin to open up a can of ranged pewpew!

Immolation Trap-This is the first trap that Hunters get to place down. It's a nice little DoT trap but if you're a Survival hunter, you will find you use this very little since all Fire traps shares a cooldown with Black Arrow.

Mongoose Bite-A nice little secondary attack that can be used in melee range. While I don't advise that we get in close to fight enemies/players, it can't always be avoided so use this and then Disengage to get a little bit of cheeky damage off whilst fleeing.

Track Undead-Are there Undead around you? Use this to let them show up on your minimap. Isn't it EXCITING?!

Disengage-This spell got a major change for WOTLK and now it's really fun to use for me. Think of it as similar to a Mage's Blink spell only it launches you backwards instead. It's great for getting out of melee range and for catching up to people in Battlegrounds. Also, I've read some good stories about combining this with a jump to go further or a Parachute to just float across half of Warsong Gulch.

Freezing Trap-The second trap that us Hunters get to use and abuse. Use this to crowd control an enemy mob or an enemy player. Sadly, there isn't as much of a need for CC currently in instances but with Icecrown coming out soon, perhaps that will change. However, this trap has helped me so much whilst levelling Shiny that I considered marrying it but I didn't want to be known as Shiny Trap so I had to decline.

Track Hidden-This Track spell is useful for dealing with Rogues really. However, bear in mind that it doesn't show them on the minimap until they are close to you so you have a very good chance of seeing them but knowing it's too late as they Sap you and begin to wreak havoc on your innocent Hunter soul. Flare is more handy for revealing those in stealth but this will help too.

Track Elementals-This one lets you track MICKEY MOUSE! That's a lie but I just wanted to liven this up a bit.

Frost Trap-This is a handy area of effect trap that slows things down for you. I mainly find a use for it when running away from an angry swarm of mobs or in PvP but I imagine it might have situational usage in endgame PvE.

Feign Death-This is our "OH NOES, AGGRO!" button really. Use this to get the aggro back to your pet or a tank to avoid death really. However, it isn't guranteed to work 100% of the time. I presume that it works like that cause some mobs bother to check your pulse. Those clever mobs.

Track Demons-Explaining all these Track abilities makes me feel like I'm patronising the reader. It's like I'm teaching the ABC's to a toddler!

Explosive Trap-Here's a nice little AoE damage trap that will help when dealing with a group of mobs that you want to kill quickly. A combo of this and Volley results in some nice AoE damage from your Hunter. However, be aware of aggro when doing this combo since you can get unwanted attention this way.

Track Giants-Fee fi fo fum...this will help you track a giant's bum! That's about it really. Well, what did you expect? Pancakes?

Track Dragonkin-Finally, the last of the Track spells! If there are dragonkin nearby, track them. Always remember to track mobs if you have the Improved Tracking talent (for a 5% dps increase) which most Hunters will have really.

Deterrence-This ability gives you the ability to parry and deflect for a whole 5 seconds which makes you quite invincible as long as they attack from the front and all. However, you can't attack during this (since it would be far too OP) so bear that in mind since it could feel like you're using Dismantle (a Rogue move) on yourself.

Snake Trap-IM TRIED OF THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKE TRAPS ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING ZEPPLIN! Okay, on a more serious note, I really enjoy putting this trap down and watching the snakes go to work. They can come in handy during some PvE situations where they can absorb a spell too. However, I don't recommend this trap for PvP since the snakes have low hp and will die very very quickly.

Misdirection-Ah, this spell makes us the best pullers in an instance in my eyes. Before we get this, you could argue that hunters aren't as necessary to pull. However, with this spell and Feign Death, we're the best class to pull mobs to the rest of the group really. I've found that some tanks won't accept this though and you wind up denting their tank pride. Bless them.

Freezing Arrow-This spell seems to be okay to me. It's great that you can trap from a distance as such but for PvE, a Hunter should be able to know how to trap properly at that point anyway. I can see how this move will have some uses for PvP but I don't think it's all that brilliant personally. What I'd rather see happen is that Freezing Arrow becomes Trap Arrow and what happens is, we get to choose the trap that goes with this spell with a toolbar bit that's similar to a Shaman's totem bar. Tis just my idea for this since Freezing Arrow seemed a bit disappointing to me.

Scatter Shot-And now we come to the talent abilities. Scatter Shot is a handy spell for dealing with enemies in PvP and getting a bit of distance/some more control as such. I personally would like to see this made a baseline ability since I don't think it should be a Survival talent only. However, I acknowledge that Hunters could be a bit too OP then so it would have to be done on public realms first to see how unfair it was to let all Hunters have it.

Counterattack-This is mainly a PvP move to help us gain range in a fight. The best thing to do is to use Deterrence first and then follow up with Counterattack once you're able to attack again. This robs your enemy of their mobility and you can just Disengage and laugh at them for being such an elephant in tar. Fear us Hunters, puny mortals!

Wyvern Sting-Nice little move that puts a mob/player to sleep and does some damage when they wake up. However, bear in mind that this suffers from diminishing returns of course and it shares this with Freezing Trap so you can't just spam Wyvern Sting forever and make a player's life hell. After all, we wouldn't wanna take the "They're not letting me do anything!" crown from the Rogues now would we?

Black Arrow-Now, this is a nice move and is one of the reasons why Survival went from being the LOLcat spec to a raid viable spec in WOTLK. One of the best abilities a Hunter could ask for. So if you are Survival, feel free to mock those who aren't Survival until they cry!

Explosive Shot-Someone set us up the bomb! Wow, this blog article has been full of a few internet memes now hasn't it? Anyway, Explosive Shot is another snazzy ability that Survival hunters got from Blizzard to say sorry for all the times they were mocked pre-Wrath. Make sure to use this ability all the time since it procs a busload of talents and it's an important Survival ability.

Bear Trap-This can be a trap that all Hunters can enjoy that catches a person in it and does a bit of bleed damage over time. However, it leaves them with a "Bleeding" debuff that causes them to take more damage from Bleed effects so you could use the Bleed Shot I suggested in the Marks thread or another Bear Trap. This way, it helps to increase dps for BM Hunters and possibly Marks too depending on their rotation. Survival probably won't use this trap but ya never know.

And there you have it. There's all three Hunter spec posts done. I hope you enjoyed reading this one and the previous two. At some point, there will be a WTB Summary post for those of you who are lazy or who don't enjoy the length of these posts. I can't help that I like to ramble!

Anyway, I don't know what the next post of mine will be so I'll leave you in suspense. However, if you want to suggest a topic for me to write about or a question for me to look at or answer, let me know via the comments!

Marksmanship: Making Sure You Always Hit The Mark

2009-10-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

I've had a lot of silly things to sort out lately life-wise. However, I've found some time finally to do my next Hunter post and it's gonna be on....Marksmanship! If you've been following my blog, this will come as no suprise to you of course. Anyway, let's get to the usual routine.

Races

Alliance

Draenei-I just don't see these as the Marks type. Personally, I don't think Draenei would care too much about their accuracy and how good they are with their shots.

Dwarf-I could see a Dwarf Hunter trying to be the best shot EVAR with a gun. I imagine them to probaly do it to help to be really good at tracking and hunting animals and to enjoy the hunt (like Hemet Nesingwary) since Dwarves are one of two races who I imagine fitting that stereotype.

Human-And that leads me on to the second race who could fit the stereotype above. Humans would be Marksmanship to me because they'd want to brag about how they shot something from really far away and with only one shot. That's just how I see a Marks Human Huntard.

Nelf-I see a Marks Nelf Hunter favouring the bow over the gun and a Marks Nelfy Hunter would want to be the best shot because they would either have a sense of pride about their accuracy and ability, they would want to kill the animaly quickly/with as little harm as possible or a bit of both.

Worgen-Now, I know that Worgen are Humans that can turn into wolves...but I just think they'd care less about being the best shot or hunting animals now. After all, they are beasts themselves now and I just don't see them as enjoying the hunt gun wise. They might enjoy hunting animals with their bare paws but that's a different story.

Horde

Belf-Belfs are pretty similar to Nelfs really in my eyes. I imagine a Marks Belf Hunter is part of the Farstriders or acts similar to the Farstriders at least.

Goblin-A Goblin Marks hunter would not really care about how great their shots are. They'd probably care more about building their own gun and testing it (more of an Engineer thing there). However, they could fit the role of a Hunter trying to hunt animals for money but I think they'd do that via traps which would make them more suited for Survival.

Orc-Orcs are one of those races who can fit all 3 Hunter specs in my eyes. I imagine a Marks Orc Hunter to be one who hunts for honour and pride. Getting a one-shot kill would bring an Orc Hunter great honour after all.

Tauren-I see a Tauren hunter as being Marks only because they'd want to be an expert shot to make sure the animal they are hunting dies quickly and without pain. A bit like the pointy eared Nelfies really.

Troll-I see Troll Marks Hunters as being pretty flexible. Either, they want to be great with their aim because they want to be the best shot and have some pride in it or because they enjoy getting that one-shot kill and the thrill of hunting. I have an amusing idea that some Trolls are Marks Hunters because they are so laid-back, they'd rather kill them in one hit so they don't have to waste more ammo/spend any longer hunting.

Undead-I see Marks Undead Hunters as being the ones who work on their ability to aim a ranged weapon so that they can control their aim. Then, they can be as sadistic as they like with their arrows/bullets. Watch out, Alliance. The Undead MM Hunters will be shooting you in the crotch. You have been warned.

Abilities

Serpent Sting-The first sting a Hunter gets to enjoy. This is my default sting that I use on mobs and if you get glyph of Steady Shot, you'll always use this sting to get a damage increase for Steady Shot.

Arcane Shot-You'll mainly use this if you're a BM spec Huntard. Otherwise, there are better shots to use and this won't find a place in your shot rotations. Aww, poor Arcane Shot.

Hunter's Mark-This is a nice spell for catching those who like to turn invisible (I'm looking at you, Rogues). Also, you may feel it's good for a dps increase if you get the glyph for it. Personally, I think it helps at first but as your gear gets better and better, the glyph becomes less useful when compared to others.

Concussive Shot-It's a nice shot to daze a mob/player to reduce their movement speed. However, Steady Shot does more damage to Dazed targets so you can possibly do a nice ConcussiveSteadyCombo. Just a little tidbit of info there since I didn't know this till level 70. I'm such a noob...*cry*

Distracting Shot-It's not a shot that gets used very often but it has a place on my toolbar because it has situational usage. If there's a mob going for your healer or a clothie, use this to save their ass and they will praise you and offer to make you pancakes. Pancakes guranteed!

Multi-Shot-Even though this ability is just a simple multiple shot, I really like using this. However, you have to remember to watch crowd control before you use this move.

Scorpid Sting-This sting is one I rarely use whilst levelling. However, I imagine it could be handy for making things easier for a tank in an instance/raid. Bear it in mind that this doesn't stack with Faerie Fire though so if you have a Druid, you are probably better off using another sting.

Rapid Fire-Good old Rapid Fire. Speeds up your ranged attack speed as if your Hunter had been downing energy drinks or had decided to take some speed. Please note that Ninja says no to drugs and you should too. It also stacks with the Improved Aspect Of The Hawk talent too.

Flare-Well, this is a handy move for dealing with invisible and hidden mobs. While I like this move a fair bit, I find it personally a little bit awkward to have to aim and use when I know a Rogue's somewhere near me since by the time, I've aimed at the ground area I want to send the flare, I'm usually stunned and I know that I'm about to be Rogueraped. I'd prefer it if Flare just autocast at the area in front of me to avoid this issue.

Viper Sting-This is a very handy sting for using on someone or something with a mana bar. It drains their mana AND gives it to the Hunter who cast it. Useful for both instances and PvP when you need mana back since it's quite deadly to sit and have a quiet drink to yourself. Dont believe me? Try it and watch the other side thank you for being such a willing target.

Volley-Well, Volley used to be an uberamazing and overpowered AoE to use. Blizz saw that Hunters would mainly just use this over other moves however and did a reasonable nerf to bring it in line with other AoE moves from other classes. However, an undocumented change in 3.2 raised Volley's power up a bit more since it was a bit too weak after it's nerfing. It reminds me of Goldilocks and the Three Bears..."This Volley is too OP, this Volley is too weak...this Volley is just right!"

Steady Shot-Once you get this shot, it will become your main source of damage whilst levelling and if you're BM, it will continue to take this honour. Arcane Shot is still used and is better against well-armoured targets (due to magic damage) but generally, you'll find you go with Steady 9 times out of 10 because it's nicer on your mana. The only downside to SS is that you have a cast time with this move but that's understandable since the shot involves being "steady" and all that stoof.

Tranquilizing Shot-I love this move. It's a "chill pill" shot basically that removes an enrage effect and a magic effect which is very very handy. Don't be that Hunter who forgets to use this.

Kill Shot-This is similar to a Warrior's Execute move only it's at range. Comes in handy for both PvE (since a lot of raid bosses will stay under 20% for a little while) and PvP (Oh look, that Mage is trying to flee with low health). Make sure to yell BOOM HEADSHOT! every time you use it to finish something off.

Aimed Shot-And we're on to the talent spells. This move is a move that is mainly useful as an opening shot really and unlike how it used to be, you'll find that it now doesn't get much useage after the opening shot with regards to PvE (unless the mob can heal itself or be healed by another near to it and you need to refresh the healing debuff). However, this is a very very handy spell for PvP and I imagine it can irritate healers quite quickly.

Readiness-This ability used to be in the Survival tree but it decided to pack it's stuff up and move house and now it's in the Marks tree. It's handy for resetting nearly all the Hunter's abilities. The only one it doesn't reset is Bestial Wrath because that would have been too OP with it's lengthy duration that it used to have. However, BW got a recent nerf and only lasts 10 seconds but it does operate like a PvP trinket so it may still be a bit too OP for PvP which is a shame because having the ability to have Bestial Wrath on twice in PvE would be a handy dps increase for BM Hunters. Maybe Blizz could have it where this only refreshes the BW cooldown in PvE.

Trueshot Aura-Nice little handy permanent aura to increase the attack power of you and your party/raid members. Be aware that this does not stack with an Enhance Shammy's Unleashed Rage and a DK's Abomination's Might. I'd like to see Trueshot Aura get a bonus given to it for the Hunter to have incentive to spec into Trueshot (like how Enhance get expertise or DK's get Strength). I'd say 2-3% hit rating because it would fit in with the "Trueshot" idea. If not that, replace hit rating with Agility then.

Silencing Shot-Thanks to an added interrupt effect, Silencing became useful again to Hunters and is something that should be used against casters in both PvE and PvP. It's also handy for pulling casters as a Hunter since they will be forced to run towards you due to being silenced.

Chimera Shot-This move is awesome for several reasons. Firstly, it makes Scorpid Sting viable for the disarm effect (in PvE and PvP) which is groovy. Secondly, it makes Viper Sting more handy for mana regeneration. Finally, use the Glyph of Serpent Sting (which a raiding Hunter should really use) and it makes the Serpent Sting even more deadly. All in all, Chimera Shot is hot stuff and it makes for an excellent final talent for the Marks tree.

Bloody Shot-This is a new move I invented just now that I'd like to see. It would be a shot that all Hunters (regardless of spec) could use to make the target bleed for a period of time. This would help for offering synergy with other classes that benefit from bleed effects AND would make the Stampede ability useful for those Hunters who have a Rhino.

So there we go. You'll notice I didn't come up with a specific Marks related "new" ability. The reason why I didn't was because I felt they already had enough abilities in their talent tree really. 5 talent spells is quite a lot really and I don't think MM Hunters are specifically in dire need of an extra skill. Next post will be about Survival of course and then that's all three specs covered. Let's hope real life doesn't cause me to be as late with that post as I was with this one!

Are You Baking Your Best Cake?

2009-10-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

The title will make sense, you just have to scroll down to see why. I figured I'd do this post and then get back on to the Hunter related articles. So all you Hunter players, relax. The article will come soon. Honest! This article is going to take a look at when someone leaves a guild with their main but keeps an alt in there and I'll be giving my opinion on the question "Is it right to do this?" and I'll hopefully be seeing some comments answering this too. Let's get to the discussion part then.

I've seen it done before in a few guilds I've been in. A player chooses to leave with their main but keeps their alt or alts in that guild still. Sounds like a harmless thing to do right? I would disagree with that and here's why. Firstly, your main character is the one that you'll go on the most usually. While you may get bored of them and go on alts more, I imagine that you'll still go on that main for dailies and to do endgame fun which means you're removing the character you go on most from the guild but justifing it by saying you'll keep a character in the guild who you go on less. It's like you're no longer going to bake your best cake for them anymore but you'll bake your second best cake when you can find the time.

This leads on to my second point. Your main will probably be the one with the best gear and full professions (unless you're lazy like me) and therefore, be they a tanker, a healbot or a pewpewdps, they have a lot to contribute to the guild in comparison to your alt. By removing your main, it just seems like you're handicapping the guild a little but trying to soothe the blow by saying "No, wait! I've got my alt still guys!" and I don't think it's fair on the guild.

Finally, there's a very big issue with regards to alts that I see happen again and again. I'm not saying everyone does this but it happens frequently enough in my eyes to be a problem. Some players will find a guild with their main that they grow to love and enjoy. As a result, they will probably remove all their alts from the guild they had told "Guys, you still have my alts!" and move them to their new guild. While it seems like you're going back on your word there, it's understandable.

However, there are some people who use the guild to level up their alts and then they remove them. Personally, I think that's really unfair and nasty to the guild because a player is essentially just using that guild for their own means and then discarding them when they have no more use. Now, if you've read all of this article so far, you're probably feeling like I'm coming across as Mister One-Sided. Well, allow me to show you my ability to see the other side! POW!

I can understand why some people remove their mains. Perhaps they can't get into the raiding teams of the guild they're in with the main for whatever reasons or their friends have started a new guild and they want to help them but they don't want to totally abandon the guild so they leave an alt in it to help them still. I just think that the removal of a main from a guild can do a lot of harm to it and the player should consider this before going "Well, you have my alt still!" or something like that. But enough from me...I want to see what others think. So if you do read this, feel free to give your opinions in a comment.

Is it okay to leave a guild with your main with the reasoning that you still have an alt in that guild?
Is it the leaving that's important or the reasons behind the removal of a main?
Is it okay to use a guild to level your alts up to 80 and then move them across to the guild your main is in?

Mind The Gap

2009-10-09T06:25:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of guild drama recently in the guild I'm in with Ingredients. XXL had a major officer leave after she tried to arrange a Naxx run and only her and one other came online for it despite the fact people had signed up to do it. Thankfully, she came back but it raised an interesting point. How hard is the leap from a social guild to a raiding guild? And is it possible to be a "casual" raiding guild at all?

A social guild (in my eyes) is one that might do events or heroics but it's usually a guild that doesn't have a strict focus on endgame. It's there because either the people in it are all good real life friends/e-friends and wanna have a laugh or they focus on helping people do quests and possibly boosting but that territory would be more for a levelling guild. A raiding guild is one that does all the endgame stuff in terms of raids and progression and most social guilds probably wish to aim for this at some point or levelling guilds will become raiding guilds once everyone's high enough of course. But how easy is this to do?

Well, the first thing to look at is the people in the guild. If there's not a close bond between leader and officers, you probably aren't ready to raid. And you need to make sure to have the right number of healers and tanks and dps of course...but what happens if you can't seem to get them or they don't stay? Another thing to look at is the time and effort it will take to sort out both times for raiding and being ready for raids. It can be tricky to find a day and time that is best for everyone...what happens if you can't find that day and time? Also, people need to be aware of being prepared for a raid too. Flasks, potions, gear....everything has to be ready. It all becomes much more difficult when you see the things that need to be considered.

My other thing to ponder is this...can a raiding guild be classed as "casual" or not? Casual implies a loose and laidback approach instead of a weekly structure of days and times to raid. The guild would just set a day and time and see what happens. Is that casual or bad organisation though? Is a raiding guild unable to be "casual"? I know that I'm using a lot of rhetorical questions here but I think it's a big thing for a guild to try and make the step up to raiding and it's on my mind because XXL is trying to make this step. I'd like to see what my readers think though.

1. Do you think there's a big gap between a non-raiding and a raiding guild? If yes, why?
2. What are the most important things for a guild to do or have when making the leap?
3. What is a "casual raiding guild" to you? Is there such a thing?

BM Rule Number One: Never Treat Your Pets Like You Would A Sims Character!

2009-10-05T01:10:00.000-07:00

The title says it all really. I don't know about the rest of you but all I did on Sims was find ways to kill them and once I got bored of that, never played any more. Tis a good thing that I care about my pets more then. But wait, you didn't come here to read me comparing Hunter Pets to Sims people now did you? I didn't think so.

Due to some recent guild drama yesterday, I've got a couple of articles coming up related to the challenges of trying to be a raiding guild and asking whether it's okay to leave an alt in a guild when you leave it with your main. But before all that, I wanted to get to one of these Hunter articles again since I've neglected them and I think they'll start going all emo on me at this rate and threaten to self-harm if I don't show them attention. So here's an article on Beast Mastery, the spec I use the most and enjoy the most.

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Beast Mastery links well with the Draenei and their starting zone questing. Your character hits 10 and realises that now's a good time to get himself a pet since you realise that you're gonna need a pet to survive if you decide to explore the rest of the world. Draenei are a caring race by nature and some of them would care deeply for their pets and be BM.

Dwarf-Perhaps it's a mix of bias (with Shinyspoon) and the opening trailer for original WOW but my favourite pick for an Ally BM Hunter is a Dwarf. It's not an easy choice to make though. Dwarf BM Hunters would be the types who would pick a pet they feel is formidable and grow to respect and care for the pet.

Human-It's not hard to understand why a Human would be good at BM. In real life, you get those humanoids who love their animals and dote on them. WOW would be no different for these people.

Night Elf-I view Nelf Hunters as being "Ranger" type hunters. Therefore, a BM Nelf has most likely grown attached to their pet because it's their main companion and possibly their bestest friend when they go wandering through the lands.

Worgen-It's interesting to consider a BM Worgen Huntard. It will be a human who is cursed to turn into a beast leading a beast. Will the beast side connect more with the pet on a feral level? Perhaps the Worgen Hunter becomes "packleader" to the pet when in Worgen form. I feel sorry for a Worgen's pet...it might get confused when it's master keeps changing.

Horde

Belf-A BM Belfy is interesting in my head because I imagine it to be a hunter who has some sort of an exotic pet like a Dragonhawk. I think that they would be attached to the pet for a mixture of care and vanity and I imagine that they are the ones who would make sure their pet always looks fabulous on the Horde side.

Goblin-A Goblin BM Hunter is interesting too. When I make my Goblin Hunter, I think he'll have BM as one of his two specs because he'll be a Hunter who values having a pet to keep him alive and therefore, it will be worthwhile buying the food to keep the pets he has happy. I imagine BM Goblins start off getting a pet for convenience and become attached to them over time.

Orc-An Orc BM Hunter isn't my favourite choice though they can happily be one of course. I imagine them to be the type who would pick an honourable pet or one who can prove itself well in battle or already has done so against the Orc Hunter.

Tauren-Out of all the Hunters, I reckon Taurens will be the ones who will be the most mystical about hunting and being a Hunter. A Tauren BM Hunter would have chosen pets because they probably sensed that it had a noble spirit and are one of the Hunters most likely to view a pet as an equal. This is my favourite choice for a Horde BM Hunter.

Troll-Similar to Orcs really...I have nothing against them but I'd prefer a Tauren or a Belf or a Goblin. It might just be me but I think that Alliance Hunter races all lean more towards BM and Marksmanship whereas Horde Hunter races lean more towards Survival and Marks.

Undead-There is only one way I can see a BM Undead Hunter working and that's if they use Undead skin pets to show that just because they are undead, it doesn't mean they aren't useful. It might be a personal thing and all. Otherwise, I don't see BM working at all for the Undead. I mean, it involves CARING about the pet much more then the other two trees and the Forsaken LACK emotion. It's a major thing about them. And I'm not even going into the wants-to-kill-all-the-living stuff.

Abilities

Aspect Of The Monkey-The first aspect a Hunter gets to enjoy. Best used if you get stuck in melee with something. However, as you get higher, you should find that it will be easier to avoid having to get into a melee situation. Will be replaced by Dragonhawk at 74.

Aspect Of The Hawk-Got Mana? Then use this aspect to do more ranged damage. You'll find yourself mainly using this aspect unless you're in dire need of mana (Viper) or someone's got a bit too close for comfort (Monkey). Will be replaced by Dragonhawk at 74. I'm a parrot!

Call Pet-Is your pet there? Did they die? If no, use this and stop being that hunter who doesn't have their pet out with them!

Dismiss Pet-I rarely use this because it makes me feel guilty. If you're worried about jumping down and your pet running around and causing a trail of mobs to come, just tell it to stay and go away from the pet and it will despawn anyway without making them grumpy.

Feed Pet-While pet talents will make pets happy and reduce the need to feed them, it's always important to feed to keep them happy so they do more damage. Also, I like the new animation for this ability. It's the little things in life that make me happy.

Revive Pet-If your pet dies, revive it asap. Simple as that really.

Tame Beast-The key spell to getting pets. Make sure to use a combo of Concussive Shot and Frost Trap and you should be able to tame a beast easy enough.

Mend Pet-Simple...use this and your pet will stay alive for longer. Don't and it will die. Also, Glyph of Mending is a handy one to pick up for levelling Hunters. I'm not sure how useful it would be for a raiding BM Hunter but I imagine it has the potential to be handy.

Eagle Eye-Works just like a Shaman's Far Sight spell. Perhaps the two spells are twins who happened to have a falling out over how nature should be viewed.

Eyes Of The Beast-Now, I know this could be used for scouting purposes...but I honestly have only ever used this spell to make my pet jump around me and others nearby to my location. Should be renamed "Eyes Of The Disco Beast" really.

Scare Beast-Useful in PvE if you get swarmed by beasts and can be used on another Hunter's pet, druids in Cat/Bear forms and Shamans if you catch them in Ghost Wolf in PvP.

Aspect Of The Cheetah-Useful if you wanna get somewhere quick and you won't have the risk of combat. I used it a lot back when you didn't get a mount till 40. As a side note, it bugs me that it doesn't improve swimming speed. Is it too much to ask for a swim speed increase when it comes with the Daze disadvantage?

Aspect Of The Viper-I love this aspect. Who needs drinks when you have Viper eh? Just use it when you're low on mana to get mana back then switch back to Dragonhawk and let rip again.

Beast Lore-The most powerful trick in a Hunter's arsenal...IT WILL CONSUME YOUR SOUL! Okay, not really. Think of it as a Pokedex for WOW.

Aspect Of The Beast-This is only really useful for Battlegrounds when you wish to be really good at hide and seek. However, I do use this a fair bit sometimes cause I like to melee with Shiny whilst questing to help raise weapon skills and cause I like to get stuck in every so often for fun.

Aspect Of The Pack-Generally only useful if you wipe in an instance and wanna get everyone back to where you wiped quick or for helping lowbie friends get to flight paths faster. However, it does have the chance to shine in the fight with Anub'Rekhan in Naxx and there may be other situations like that. I can't say I know all the boss fights raid wise yet after all.

Aspect Of The Wild-If you, your group or your raid need some nature resistance, stick this on and flex. Otherwise, ignore this Aspect and don't let the fact it says "Wild" fool you into thinking it's an uberaspect.

Kill Command-We're finally into the more useful BM spells! Not that Feed Pet or Aspects aren't useful but this was the first BM-orientated spell that felt like I did something useful with my pet that wasn't feeding it, healing it or making sure it isn't running off to hump other pets. Anyway, I find it's best to either use this with Bestial Wrath or wait for a proc from the Cobra Strikes talent if you have it.

Aspect Of The Dragonhawk-I'm all for making things easier on my toolbars. This Aspect does that. Once you hit 74, use this and don't worry about all that switching between being a Monkey and being a Hawk.

Master's Call-Even though you should have plenty of reasons to keep your pet alive anyway, this is another one. You can use this to remove your pet and yourself or another person out of roots and movement impairing effects.

Call Stabled Pet-This is a very handy spell indeed. There have been complaints that it's a lvl 80 spell but I believe this is done because of the fact that if you shift to a different spec via Dual Spec, the cooldown is gone. So you can essentially change pets on the go at any point as long as you have Dual Spec. However, since you can get Dual Spec at 40, I see no reason why this shouldn't be of use at 40.

Intimidation-A handy spell to do a stun on an enemy/player. It currently does it on the next attack but if the patch 3.3. notes are correct, it will do it automatically as long as the pet is in melee range. This is a buff for both PvE and PvP.

Bestial Wrath-This recently had a makeover and left some Hunter players confused. Is it a nerf? Is it a buff? Is it a plane? I've spent some time looking at this before deciding that it's more nerfy. The 10% dps buff that they handed to us isn't really enough to make BM Hunters feel they are equal to Surv/MM Hunters and it's a heavy hit for PvP BM Hunters. I think 10 seconds was too harsh a nerf and I'd like Blizz to move it up to 12 seconds duration or possibly even 15. 10 seconds is too short for my liking...even if they've increased the mana cost reduction to 50% and all.

Master's Summon-This is my suggestion for a new BM only move. Let a BM Hunter be able to summon a second pet from the stable for a period of time. You'd be able to highlight a pet in your stable and that one would be the one summoned. This pet would appear beside you for a minute or two and fight alongside you and your current pet but you aren't able to control the second pet you summon in terms of their focus moves since I think that's a bit too much. This would really give BM Hunters a way to access dps for PvE scenarios. Also, it won't unbalance PvP too much now we have the Avoidance changes coming up for 3.3 which means pets can be AoE'ed swiftly by other players.

And there we have it. Bit of a lengthy article, I know...but I don't really want to split it up into two parts. Apologies if it feels too longz! Anyway, I haven't decided the order yet but the next article will either be the Marks Hunter one or the one about the challenges a guild faces when it tries to become a raiding guild. Watch this space!

(Well, don't watch this particular space since this article's been published already. You're better off looking at the space above this post since that's where the next one will appear.)

Wipes: We'll Need A Clean Up On Aisle TOC!

2009-09-29T20:54:00.000-07:00

Wiping in WOW is never fun. Actually, I can't think of any time in real life where wiping is fun unless you're a cleaning freak or something. But on WOW, a wipe is never fun. Repeated wiping is even worse. I know what you're thinking now...why is Ninja going on about this? It's obvious. Well, I'm going to tell you about my recent experiences and then look to see if the wiping did me more good than harm. Now, gather around, it's time to tell you a story.

XXL (my guild) have decided to work their way towards raiding and therefore, heroics seem like a great idea to gear up (with badges and whatnot) as well as Trial Of The Champion. Three days ago, we were fine and we did Heroic Utgarde Keep, Nexus and Gundrak. We struggled a little with the Rhino boss at the end but generally, the runs were fine and I healed my first heroic by healing for Nexus! However, the next two days would be painful. Let me explain why.

Day One started off well by blitzing through Heroic UK in no time at all. I also got to heal it so yay for more healing experience. After that, we went to go do Heroic Gundrak and it all went horribly wrong. We just kept on dying at Slad'ran. For some reason, even though we had a better tank this time round, we just couldn't do Slad at all unlike the day before. The group had three of us from the day before and we were just amazingly puzzled at how we'd done this boss yesterday fine yet today, he was a horrible snake-infested monster. We called it a day and looked to tomorrow hoping it would be better. It wasn't.

Day Two was meant to be a day of Trial farming. It was only Normal difficulty so I figured it would all be fine even though Anun (our tank) didn't have much tank experience and his gear wasn't too brilliant. I didn't mind cause we all need to learn and it was a guild run (so a nice and supportive group). We did Faction Champs and Eadric fine and then it came to the Black Knight. The first two goes, we just couldn't get past Phase Two. Next two, we got to Phase Three but wiped without getting him down loads. Final try, we got him down to low health but couldn't seal the deal. With morale already low from the Gundrak failing, I think it was safe to say this dealt a crushing blow to us.

And that's my story but the article doesn't end here. I didn't do this just so I could tell you my woes. I could come up with logical reasons why we failed (gear, experience, tactics etc...) but I'm not going to go into that. Instead, I found that while wiping regularly was very depressing, it also helped me by making me determined to learn what went wrong, to look up boss tactics again and to memorise things. It made me want to improve and become a better player. So in the end, it might have cost me a lot of confidence (and gold...I'd hate to think what the tank repair bills were like) but it also gave me some more motivation and drive to do better and succeed. Wiping actually may have done some good for me and for all the other guild folk who went on the heroic runs with me.

Do you think wiping regularly can do some good? Or is it merely highlighting how bad a group are? Does it show you that you need to gear up or does it show you that you suck as a player? What are your thoughts on wiping?

Hit Cap? Is That Some Sort Of Headwear?

2009-09-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

Well, now Mr. Ingredients has been 80 for a while and my guild is looking towards Heroics and raiding, I've realised I need to work on my gear to actually do something useful. And as I did this, I realised I encountered a new confusing world...how do I increase my dps? How do I reach the hit cap? How do I make sure I'm good enough to heal?

I looked up things on other blogs and on websites like Wowhead to help me but I still felt a little bit overwhelmed. Thankfully, I asked a WOW playing friend and they helped me get to grips with it. So now, it's just a case of getting the right gear and enchants really. However, I was still somewhat taken aback by how I felt when I first knew I'd have to improve everything since my dps was too low when I checked Recount on a heroic training dummy.

I managed to feel like a total "noob" again. It reminded me of my novice days when I wandered around Mulgore for the first time and everything was shiny new and exciting and a bit scary too. However, I have a question for anyone who reads this article.

Do you feel there's enough advice and info out there for fresh 80's who are trying to make the leap into heroics/raiding?

And that's this post done. It was a short one, I know...but that's because I didn't want a lengthy rant on my own personal stupidity/confusion. Feel free to leave comments telling me I'm a novice or giving me tips!

WTB Summary: Shaman Stuff

2009-09-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while...I've been a bit of a busybee recently. But never fear, a blog post is here! Today, I'm introducting "WTB Summary". If you see this in the title, it means that it will be a post that gathers everything up of the lengthy posts I made with regards to changes I'd like to see or ideas I suggested and makes them clearly visible for you here.

That way, you are more likely to go "Nice idea!" or "That's the worst thing I've ever heard, noob" or if you're lazy/feel the posts were too long, this makes it easier for you. I'm too nice to my readers. The first "WTB Summary" will be focused on the Shaman posts I've made. Time to do the summary magic then.

Elemental

Totem of Wrath-Put a temp buff on the party and the debuff on the enemies for a period of time that lasts even when you change to another fire totem.
Thunderstorm-Gives the enemies it hits a "Charged" debuff so they take more damage from Bolts and Chain Light or puts a "Charged" buff on the Shaman to increase lightning spell damage for 10 secs.
Earthquake-AoE to target the ground in front of the Shaman or area of Shaman's choice and reduces hit chance of all enemies on the ground by 10%.

Enhancement

Rockbiter Weapon-Remove it from the game.
Feral Spirit-Baseline spell to be given to all Shamans. However, the healing aspect they currently have when they hit enemies would be an Enhance tree talent.
Totem Strike-Shaman summons a totem pole to strike the enemy with. Could be done by sacrificing all four current totems and it could do more damage with the Earth Shock debuff on the enemy.

Restoration

Spirit Link-Distributes damage evenly between two targets. Only has 3 charges and once one of the linked duo loses the charges, the link is gone.

Totems

Earthbind Totem-Snare removal becomes standard. No longer an Enhance Shaman only thing.
Stoneclaw Totem-Forces players to attack the totem or at the very least, target it first to give the Shaman a tiny bit of breathing room.
Fire Nova Totem-Add a bit of Fire DoT damage at the end to those caught in the explosion.
Sentry Totem-We no longer auto-switch to Sentry's view and the totem comes with stealth detection too. If it's not too OP, have a "Spotted!" debuff when the Sentry detects someone that lowers movement speed by 10%.
Water Elemental Totem-Summons a water elemental that summons a pool of water which increases the healing allies recieve by 10% whilst on that pool. Could heal them over time instead of increase healing recieved.
Air Elemental Totem-Summons an air elemental that does good single-target dps melee damage. Could come with an air related knockback ability.
Earthgrab Totem-An AoE snare totem. Anyone near the totem gets trapped in roots for a couple of seconds.
Brainwash Totem-Controls an enemy for a period of time and forces them to fight their allies. However, it also heals them at the same time which renders it useless for 1 on 1 fights.

And there's the Shaman summary. If you have any thoughts/views, make a comment! I hope that the readers find "WTB Summary" useful!

Belated Blizzcon Info Post: Better Late Than Never.

2009-09-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

In case the title didn't give it away, this is a post I had intended on doing before my revision for resits and my laptop dying and going back to Notts and finding no Tinternet at my Uni house and enjoying the fun of a break-up and saving orphans from burning buildings and anything else ya can think of. All it's going to do is give my opinions on what we know so far. Let's see what I've got to say then.

Level cap to 85: When I first read this in the "spoiler", I was hoping it was wrong because 5 levels just feels really small. I enjoy questing and levelling just as much as I enjoy the other parts of WOW. However, I can see why Blizz did it and they have that Path Of The Titans system to try and make characters seem different. It's still a bit of a shame that there will be no new talents or anything and we're only getting 5 extra points. Personally, I love the feeling of getting the bottom talent and Cataclysm won't provide me with that. No "Yay, I finally have Feral Spirit/Beastial Wrath!" moments for moi. Generally though, I'm fine with 85 and I'll see if they make the levelling better since it's only 5 levels instead of 10.

Goblin and Worgen: I'm happy with the two races that Blizz gave each side. Worgen finally give the Ally a beast-race which makes things interesting and the Horde get Goblins so now they have a midget race to rival the Gnomes. From what I've seen of the levelling zones, I favour Gilneas over Lost Isles but I'll just have to wait and see how fun the questing is there.

Deathwing as the Big Bad: Great move from Blizz to bring Deathwing back and to use him as the reason for the world being changed. I'm looking forward to seeing what the pre-event will be for Cataclysm and if it will involve Deathwing in some way. I have to admit that while the Lich King is a great bad guy to face, Deathwing looks much more intimidating based on the artwork I've seen of him.

Flying mounts in Azeroth: Well, this will make travelling around easier. We don't know if it will require "unlocking" or not yet...they might want you to explore the new zones on foot before you get to soar over them. Hopefully, they'll be used all over Azeroth and not only in certain areas/zones. However, this could lead to a lot of ganking issues since high levels could just fly over and make a low level person's life hell.

Underwater mounts: Erm, cool I guess? I can't say I've been dying to have an underwater mount but I'll see what mounts we get that will make our underwater travel better.

Old world being changed: We don't know how much is being changed but we can hope that every zone gets cleaned up in terms of questing. However, those that we do know about are getting pretty big changes. The one I'm most interested in is the Barrens change. I hated questing there after I'd done it twice with my Tauren Shaman and my Orc Warr. With the split, it will make it a much more bearable zone and hopefully, keep it interesting since I did enjoy Barrens questing the first time round. Also, it's interesting to see that it will change regardless of whether you buy the expansion or not. I guess it's time to start taking screenshots right?

New zones being added: On top of all the changes to current zones, we are lucky enough to still get new ones too! The place I most want to visit is Hyjal. I'm psyched to see Ragnaros make a return and to finally see Malfurion make his appearance. The only thing I'm unsure of is...how has he returned? I figured he was still stuck in the Emerald Dream. And if he has returned properly, does that mean he'll be leader of Darnassus one day? I hope there's some sort of interaction between him and Tyrande at some point while questing in Hyjal too. Otherwise, he's basically come back and not even bothered to contact her. That's just cold and Tyrande should dump him and find a better man. Girl power!

Archaeology: This profession sounds like an interesting secondary profession. Combine it with the Path Of The Titans concept and I'm really interested to see how this turns out. Hopefully, when we get more info on it and all that, I can make a blog post looking at this profession. Until then, I can't really say much else.

New forms for Troll and Worgen: Now, I had heard that the Troll/Worgen druids would be getting new forms and I had hoped that it would be new forms of everything. However, so far, it seems like they are only getting new Moonkin forms. There may also be an epic travel form for Druids to enjoy too but only time will tell. I still hope Trolls/Worgen get new forms to replace Bear and Cat but at least they get something.

Hunters use Focus now: Well, I'm happy they use something that makes more sense. Mana bugged me because Hunters are not magic users/casters. However, this raises a lot of questions too. Will it be exactly like a Rogue's energy bar? How will shot rotations work? Is this the pony that Ghostcrawler promised us? Also, ammo will be an equippable item. Bye bye, consumables.

Paladin mounts and Shaman totems: The Tauren and the Draenei are getting sexy Pala mounts! This is good because horses are not really a Tauren's ideal mount. Draenei look okay on a horse but I'm all for them getting something else. I'm glad to see that Shamans will be getting race-themed totems. Now, your Shaman will seem a little bit more unique to other Shaman when you plant those totems down.

Soul Shard revamp: Warlocks are finally getting a big revamp and this will really help to make Warlockies feel different to Mages. From what I can tell, Shards will feel much more useful and this will make the Warlock class feel more interesting in general.

Mastery stat: Blizz's way of trying to make the talent trees feel more unique. You put points in a tree, you get a passive bonus. Pretty simple really and it's a good way of getting rid of talents that already do that which will free points up to go into other talents. I'm quite interested in this because it should mean talent trees are better.

PvP: Battleground PvP'ers have rated Battlegrounds to look forward to which is great cause I quite enjoy BG's. There will also be a new Battle for Gilneas and a new Wintergrasp-like zone so things are looking pretty groovy for PvPer's. On a personal note, I'm happy that the old PvP ranks are making an apperance again.

Guilds: There's a lot to look forward to that is Guild related. There's Guild levelling to give talents to be of use like reduced repair costs or a mass ressurection. There's Guild profs which lets members share purchased plans with one another. Finally, there's even a Looking For Guild interface to make finding a guild easier. This should be handy for my alts that are guildless.

Garrosh becoming Warchief: This info comes from a "spoiler" we had ages ago that turned out to be right about everything else. Therefore, there's a good chance of this happening which could be supported by the fact that the Horde take a fair bit of land in the upcoming expansion which shows aggressiveness that resembles a Horde that would be leaded by Garrosh. Now, it could just be that Thrall has decided to take the fight to them and that's good for those who complain that "Thrall is too soft/slow to act" but personally, I think it's more likely to be Garrosh related. If it is and he is Warchief, I have mixed feelings about this and I'll see how Blizz handle it.

Cairne's death: Another "spoiler" related bit. If this is true, I'll be very very saddened. Cairne was one of my fav WC3 characters and Blizz haven't really bothered to use him so far. I don't want the first big Cairne related event to be his death. I'd rather see him doing something awesome. But if he does die...how the hell will the Tauren stay with the Horde? It's been suggested that Cairne will be made to look like a traitor but I can't see everyone going "Oh well, must be true. Let's kill him then." and that's that. I can't see Thrall accepting Cairne as a traitor and if it's true that Garrosh kills Cairne, I can't see how Thrall or Cairne's son will accept that either. I'm hopeful that this is untrue but we'll wait and see.

And there's everything, I believe. There's a lot of info that we got and most of it's positive. The only downsides are ones that came from the "spoiler" we got ages ago before Blizzcon. While that does mean there's a chance of them being wrong, the rest of that "spoiler" was correct and therefore, we can't totally rule it out.

Here's a couple of questions for anyone who reads this: What are you most excited about Cataclysm wise? What are you least excited about?

Aspect Of The Pet Tamer

2009-09-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I was going to do a Blizzcon related post...but then my laptop seemed to die and I haven't got internet access really yet back at my uni house. That's why this has been a little stale and in that time, I found out two things. One...I missed the Tinternet greatly till right now where I have it at my fingertips and yet I have nothing to really do on it! Two...I'm not really in the mood to do a Blizzcon post currently due to various events in life and all that stuff. I will probably do one later on since I will have very little to do this week. However, for now, I am skipping to the Hunter post.

This post is going to look at the pets I have already or that I want to have and why. It's nothing complex really, it's just a bit of fun for me to relax and not have to think. I've done too much of that recently really. Let's put the real life drama to one side and focus on the pets.

Shinyspoon

My Dwarf Hunter. I have all the pets I want with him right now. Time to list those below. I'll also list the skins of each animal below the info paragraphs to show you what colours they are in case you want to know that.

Spork-Spork is Shiny's bear pet and I've had him since Loch Modan. He's my number one choice for a companion for Dwarves and is the main pet I'm using for levelling right now. I'll never get rid of Spork and if I could, I'd use him more. As a side note, he also seems to have done many entertaining glitches like teleporting, staying online and saving my friend whilst I disconnected, self-rezzing, saving a Horde player when I didn't direct Spork to do so and he even seemed to just self-heal once. Spork is a bear god...Hail Spork!

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_elderblackbear.html

Salami-Named after that lovely tasty meat, Salami was tamed in Dustwallow Marsh after I decided that I'd need a non-Exotic dps pet if I switched from BM to Survival with Shiny and so I set my sights on this lovely red raptor (which is the colour that gave him his name too) after checking the various colours on Petopia. A Raptor pet would have probably looked better with my Troll Huntard but I figured that it looked fine with my Dwarf and I didn't want 3 dps pets with my Troll.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_bloodfenraptor.html

Fluffy-My first Exotic pet that I tamed. I remember the excitement of finally getting the chance to tame Exotics and I knew that I always wanted to tame the Kurken ever since I had done the Draenei starting zone quests with my Drae Paladin. Once I tamed it, I was happy because it was the coolest looking thing ever to me. I wouldn't mind using Fluffy in instances if I was able to be BM spec and all.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_thekurken.html

Helicopter-While I do like the Bloc Party song that this pet shares a name with, I named it this just cause I thought it was funny to name a flying thing after a flying vechile. This pet is going to be my PvP pet fo sho...but I also enjoyed tinkering about with him in Outland and watching Carrion Feeder (pet talent) in action. I had a blue one from Winterspring but I decided that the ones from Shadowmoon looked cooler so I tamed one of those instead at 68.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_vilewingchimaera.html

Megazord-The final pet to add to my Shiny team. I really wanted one of these since Wrath and I was gutted to see the Stampede change which turned them from funky knockbackers to bleed effect increasers which gave them much more situation usage. However, with the way I arranged Mega's talents, he's useful for dealing with Elite mobs/group quests really. And yes, he is named after the Megazord from the original Power Ranger series. It's Stampedin' Time!

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_woolyrhinobull.html

Uglyunicorn

Let's take a look at my lowbie Troll. He's a mix of pets I own and pets I plan on owning.

Lag-This turtle walks really really quickly....it's not at all laggy. However, Lag is still a better name than most of the others I had for this pet since Speedy is too obvious and I didn't have a huge urge to name it after any of the Ninja Turtles. I had a crab at first with Ugly but I want that with my Goblin so I'm having a Turtle now as my only tank pet since my friend has a Croc and we'll be questing together on our Huntards.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_lakesnapper.html

Fernando-Now, I wasn't going to have a saber cat. I saw too many and was not a fan. However, the lions and tigers were a different story. After having a look on Petopia, I decided to get the Echeyakee lion as a pet since you can only get that skin via him or another spawned pet at level 60. It was a wise choice and he'll probably be Ugly's main companion in the same way Spork is Shiny's.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_echeyakee.html

Taser-I don't have Taser yet but I will tame myself a Wind Serpent from Wailing Caverns at some point. I had a Wind Serp called Taser with Shiny at one point but I decided not to have it anymore so I was happy that Ugly could have him because it suits a Troll really well. I named it Taser for a very simple reason. Wind Serpents electrocute things. Tasers electrocute things. Not really rocket science now, is it? I will probably upgrade to the black and white one (76-77 Elite) from Zul'Drak once Ugly's high enough.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_deviatestinglash.html
http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_scionofquetzlun.html

Wolf-This is where we get on to the ones whose names I am yet to decide. However, I will possibly have two different wolf skins. For OL, I shall get myself a Warhound from Hellfire Ramps for the funky armoured wolf mob. After that, I may have a Blighthound from Zul'Drak. However, I'm not sure if I will change or keep the Warhound skin.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_shatteredhandwarhound.html
http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_vargulblighthound.html

Bird Of Prey-This will probably be my PvP pet. However, I have yet to really decide what skin I'll have or anything. I'm currently deciding between the Emerald Skytalons in Dragonblight and the Hawk Matriarchs from Howling Fjord. However, I'm hopeful that whichever one I choose, it serves me well in battlegrounds.

http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_emeraldskytalon.html
http://www.wow-petopia.com/html/mobs/mob_fjordhawkmatriarch.html

Goblin Hunter

Finally, we come to the Goblin Hunter who I do not have a name for as of yet. This will be a quick list to name the pets I am considering for him currently.

Crab
Worm
Spirit Beast (Skoll mainly)
Cat (Tiger/Leopard/Panther)
Silithid
Hyena
Devilsaur

There we go...a post on my Hunter characters that has a focus on both the pets I do own and the ones I'd like to own. This post was mainly a bit of harmless fun for me and I hope it was pleasant enough for you to read too.

Feel free to give any opinions in the comment sections about this post/the Goblin Hunter list of pets. Hopefully, I'll feel more in the mood to write so I can do that Blizzcon post that's been put on hold far too much. Keep your eyes peeled for the next post!

Ninja's Petting Zoo: Please Don't Feed The Trolls!

2009-08-27T22:34:00.000-07:00

My first hunter-related post. It's about time I did something other then Shamans eh? This post is going to look at pets in general and what my favourite pairings are e.g Orc Huntards and Wolf pets. Don't mistake Hunter pets for those vanity pet companions you can get...a Hunter pet is an important part of the Hunter class and to be a Hunter, you must keep your pet alive and happy and always remember that a Hunter is all about being a pair. Let's have a look at what pets there are out there.

The Cunning Pets-These are Utility pets as such...I think of them as a "bag of tricks". They are best for PvP but can be used in instances too.

Bat-Nice 2 sec stun for PvP purposes. In my opinion, more useful than a Ravager. Looks best when paired with an Undead Hunter.
Bird Of Prey-The Disarm skill they have is handy against melee classes. The "eagles" look best with Human Hunters while the "owls" look best when by the side of Nelf Hunters.
Chimaera-If you're BM, this pet is the best PvP pet in my eyes. Looks best when paired with a Dwarf Hunter.
Dragonhawk-Their loss of an AoE attack has meant I don't rate these much anymore. Best pairing would be a Belf Hunter and a Dragonhawk.
Nether Ray-Nice pet for dealing with casters but I'm not a huge fan of them. Best paired with either a Belf or a Draenei.
Ravager-They used to be top notch for BC but sadly, they're ex-dps kings now and not too high on my list. Best to pair one with a Draenei Hunter.
Serpent-This is a pretty snazzy pet for PvP and you could have a nice Viper Sting-Poison Spit combo. Best to pair a Serpent with a Troll Hunter.
Silithid-The other Exotic pet...I just think Chimaera's beat them generally. I also didn't like their ADD nature. Best paired with a Nelf or a Tauren Hunter.
Spider-One of the better choices for Cunning. I also think the Outland/Northrend spideys look awesome. Best to pair one with a Worgen Hunter.
Sporebat-Well, this pet gets a very cool AoE debuff that can be handy for pretty much everything. Best pairing would be with a Belf Hunter.
Wind Serpent-One of my favourite Cunning pets look-wise. It also does nice dps for a Cunning pet too. Best pair would be a Serp and a Troll Hunter.

The Ferocity Pets-These are your dps pets and will probably see the most usage in instances/raids but some are useful for PvP too.

Carrion Bird-I don't really like these look-wise until Outland nor do I find their ability brilliant. Best paired with a Tauren Hunter.
Cat-The pet that you'll see the majority of Hunters using. The "lion" Cat pets are best paired with Orcs and the "tiger" pets are best paired with Nelfs.
Core Hound-One of the Exotics and a pretty useful one too. One of my favourite pets in general. Best paired up with a Worgen hunter.
Devilsaur-One of the best dps pets around providing you're BM. It's best to pair this T-Rex thang with a Troll or a Dwarf.
Hyena-Tendon Rip is a very useful skill for PvP and PvE. I think the best pairing would be a Goblin Hunter and a Hyena.
Moth-It's a shame you can't feed these cloth eh? Moths have a pretty handy ability and all but I could only see a Belf Hunter using these. Every other one would be an amusing pairing.
Raptor-If you're not BM, a Raptor is one of the best choices for dps. The best pairing is a Troll and a Raptor...no-brainer right?
Spirit Beast-Ah, the pets that are hard to find and get for yourself. The only one I'd want is Skoll. Skoll is more suited for an Orc while the other two are best paired with Nelfs.
Tallstrider-Well, Dust Cloud has situational use but I'm not overly keen on these as a pet. It's best to pair them up with a Tauren Hunter.
Wasp-They have a handy Fairie Fire type ability and I reckon they'd be good for PvP. Best to pair up with a Belf or a Human (kinda ironic cause most humans hate wasps in real life).
Wolf-One of the best Ferocity pets around to use (especially if you're not BM). As for pairing, it's a no-brainer...best to pair these up with an Orc.

The Tenacity Pets-These are your tank pets and they will be mainly used for soloing and for dealing with Elite mobs when talented for it.

Bear-Swipe's a pretty handy ability for a Tenacity pet and with Wrath, Bears became a good choice. Best to pair a Bear up with a Dwarf Hunter.
Boar-These used to be tied with Cats for popularity. However, nowadays...they are not so popular. Bless them. It's best to pair a Boar with an Orc or a Troll.
Crab-Their Pin ability is pretty handy and these are a great choice for a tank pet. Best choice for a pair? Goblin Hunter and Crab.
Crocolisk-Bad Attitude is a pretty handy skill. Combine it with Thunderstomp and your Croc is an aggro keeping machine. Best to pair it with an Orc Hunter.
Gorilla-No longer do they reign top as a "Gorilladin". Their Pummel makes them useful against casters but they aren't as great anymore. Best to pair it with a Human.
Rhino-I was sad to see Stampede changed from knockback to what it is now so they're less useful really. Best to pair it with a Dwarf.
Scorpid-I was really enjoying this pet until they nerfed this pet and made it rather useless. Best to pair it with a Troll.
Turtle-Once all Tenacity pets got Thunderstomp, Turtles became very useful cause they can reduce damage and now, they can get aggro easier. Best to pair with a Tauren.
Warp Stalker-Warp's a pretty cool spell really...it's Nightcrawler in a lizard form. With regards to pairs, best to pair this up with a Draenei.
Worm-Acid Spit is a pretty nice ability so if you're BM, this is worth considering as a good pet. Best to pair this up with a Worgen Hunter.

And there's the overview done. You'll notice that I've mentioned Worgen, Goblin, Human and Undead. This is because I can imagine certain pets going really well with those races even though they aren't out yet. I may have to update this if we get given any new pets for Cataclysm. I hope we do. Anyways, next up will be a Blizzcon related post then a post about my Huntard pets and why I have them.

I will end this post by giving some entertaining crab-related links.

CRAB DEMON!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mHKHKR8x6A

Barnaby, kill all the beggars in Ogrimmar!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHOKTVc1gC0&feature=channel_page

I like to pinch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKyY6TIKpuw

Krabby is Full Of Win.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U6hxNuzhaY

Resto Shamans Bring People Closer Together...For Chain Healing.

2009-08-25T00:27:00.000-07:00

My title is the truth...only Resto Shamans bring us closer together. Resto Druids are happy to let us drift apart because they can just show off their HoT skills. Therefore, Resto Shamans are better because they do not promote anti-social behaviour! Don't worry, I still love you, Resto Druids. And with the new Shaman combos being announced, I think I'll post my views on them in here and go back and slot them in the Enhance and Element Shaman blog posts I did too. So you're getting one blog post and two updated ones, you lucky readers! Anyway, let's take a look at the Resto Shaman.

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Resto Draenei Shamans works great for me. I always see Draenei as the race most likely to want to help others by healing them or keeping them alive and caring the most about if an ally dies or not. Therefore, Resto works well for them and I imagine the Draenei Shaman is happy when his group succeeds and no one dies around him due to his healing.

Dwarf-This is my least favourite spec for Dwarf Shamans. It's not that I think they're heartless and won't want to heal others and keep them alive (if I thought that, I wouldn't approve of Dwarf Priests after all). I just feel a Dwarf Shaman is more likely to want to use the Elements to attack with and Resto doesn't let him/her do that.

Horde

Goblin-Hmm, Goblins and Resto. I think it might work well but I imagine that the only reason a Goblin would heal others would be because he profits from it in some way if they are kept alive be it the chance of new loot, mooneh or simply because without them, the goblin dies. If I grow to enjoy the concept of Goblin Shamans more, I may consider this the next best spec after Enhance.

Orc-My least favourite of the Horde options when it comes to the Resto tree. I've made the Orc Shaman-Dwarf Shaman comparison before and that still stands when I look at Resto. Therefore, just look at what I said for Dwarves and that's what I'd say for Orc Shaman too.

Tauren-Tauren Shaman and the Resto tree are a great match for one another. The Tauren are all about protecting their allies and loyalty and standing by their fellow Hordies. Therefore, Resto lets them keep their allies alive which will give the Tauren Shaman a lot of personal satisfaction.

Troll-My favourite Horde choice if we're looking at Resto Shamans. To me, the Darkspear trolls Shaman wise would be fairly laid back and would be more inclined to standing back away from the fight instead of getting up close and personal so they are ideal for Elemental or Resto. I also think that the Trolls are one of the races most likely to enjoy healing their allies so when you put the two together, Resto fits them perfectly.

Abilities

Healing Wave-Us Shamans get to start off with our big one healing spell wise from the exciting level 1. This is the big single-target heal but you have to be aware that as the ranks get higher, cast time increases from 1.5 to 3.0 seconds. As a result of the lengthy casting time, it's best to start casting before the person you're targetting takes damage if you're expecting a hefty hit to come their way or to do it while the target is taking some damage but has a lot of health since while you're taking your time (3 seconds can be a long time!), that target is still getting hurt.

Ancestral Spirit-Pretty simple spell. Has an ally/friend died? Yes. Are you in combat? No. Well, be awesome and rez them then. And wait for them to thank you and tell you how awesome you truly are.

Cure Toxins-It was nice of Blizzard to combine Cure Poison and Cure Disease into this. Makes life much simpler really...now, I don't have to think about which toolbar key to press/click when I see a Disease or a Poison appear. I just use this spell and everything's a-okay. As a side note, if you're expecting a lot of diseases and/or poisons, you're better off saving mana by putting Cleansing Totem down.

Water Shield-Oh, Water Shield. How those water orbs make my day. This is the shield of choice for both Resto and Elemental Shamans thanks to the mana regen factor. If you've got Improved Shields (Enhance talent) and Improved Water Shield (Resto talent), it makes this shield a SUPER SHIELD! Also, I recommend getting the Water Mastery glyph...30% extra passive mana regen is a nice little bonus fo sho.

Lesser Healing Wave-Consider this your quick-fire healing spell. It's speedy but it's not good for your mana to just spam this. However, if you get the Glyph of LHW, you might find that you'll be better off for tank healing instead of raid healing. It's nice to see a bit of versatility given to us after BC made us well-known for Chain-Heal-spam-faces.

Earthliving Weapon-Not too much to say about this really...it's awesome if you're healing. If you're not, don't waste your time using this when there's Windfury or Flametongue sitting there waiting to be picked.

Reincarnation-Ah, the "shaman aggro dump"....I'm kidding, do not kill yourself to get rid of aggro. If you do, people will laugh at you. Anyway, this spell is awesome and it's main use is wipe recovery. You just have to love a self-rezzer who can then rez everyone else. Just be careful where you die otherwise your Reincarnation will be wasted. As a personal side note, I love when in PvP, someone kills you and they have only a tiny bit of health left and you use this and get your payback. Revenge is my Shaman's middle name....no really, he's called Ingredients Revenge Deathmoo.

Totemic Recall-Whilst levelling my Draenei Shaman, I've come to realise how much I love having this spell. You get this at level 30 and you'll be a better Shaman for it. Throw your totem foursome down to do their buff thing. Then when you're done, use this spell to "recycle" your totems and get some mana back. It also saves the environment too by not leaving your totems around to ruin the environment!

Chain Heal-This is a trademark Resto spell right here. Anytime you get some AoE damage, you zap your allies with this. I'd also recommend getting the glyph since that means you can heal 4 targets with this instead of 3 and that makes this spell even more glorious then it already is. And it's already pretty glorious. Anyway, point is....use this when you need to heal two or more people and make sure to get the glyph.

Tidal Force-I admittedly don't use this spell as much as I should do. It's pretty handy for increasing crit chance and healing in a tight spot but it's not perfect. In fact, some Resto Shaman complain that it's not as good as it could be because 20 seconds isn't a big enough window of opportunity and they find they only use 2 out of the 3 charges that's on offer to them. However, while it's not perfect, it's still a handy spell. Note to self, start using it more.

Nature's Swiftness-This spell is gold for Resto and Elemental Shamans. The spells it's best to use in combo with this spell would be Chain Heal or Healing Wave Resto wise. As for Elementals, take your pick from Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning.

Cleanse Spirit-Think of this as Cure Toxins only bigger, better and much more cooler. It's like having the Fonz instead of Richie on your toolbar.

Earth Shield-Stick this shield on yourself or someone else (usually the tank) and watch as they get healed every time they get attacked by the enemy. Your enemy heals them through their violence and you can sit back and be a little bit more relaxed about things.

Riptide-Last of the Resto tree talent spells...it's an instant heal with an added built in HoT. Fancy stuff really. I'm just glad that we finally got a HoT of some sort since HoT's are always handy for making healing easier. With the Tidal Waves talent, Riptide becomes handy for not only boosting Chain Heal but it also gives LHW a boost too. All in all, Riptide is fab.

Spirit Link-I was disappointed to see this spell go but I understand why it did. It caused Blizz a lot of problems and issues...and we got the handy Riptide so it wasn't all bad. However, a part of me would love to have this spell back..but how would it work without being overpowered? Well, I took some thinking time and this is what I came up with. Have Spirit Link only work on two targets (3 is too overpowered, I think) and it distributes damage between the two. However, it only has 3 charges (on both of the targets) and a lengthy cooldown so it can be broken by attacking either one of the Linked duo till all 3 charges are gone. Now, if that still seems too unfair, make it so that the Shaman links themself to the other target which will put the Shaman at a fair bit of risk. I think either version of SL would work out great and it doesn't seem too bad in my head. Hopefully, we'll see it make it's apperance some day in WOW.

And there you have it...my post on Resto Shamans. That's all three Shaman specs covered now. I can breathe a sigh of relief since I finally got round to finishing the Shaman specs after I constantly got sidetracked with posts about other things all the time. So you might be wondering...what's coming up next? Well, it will be one of two things. It will either be a blog post looking at all the Blizzcon info we got (which may actually come in two parts depending on the size) or a blog post looking at those things Hunters love...pets!

Either way, I hope you've enjoyed this post and the other two Shaman spec posts. If you haven't, feel free to tell me you found it boring/pointless in the comments okay? If enough people say it, I might just forget the spec related posts so feel free to leave your views in the comments section. So with all that written, I'll end the post with a Shaman related quote from the WC3 Shaman unit.

"You ever get hit by lightning where the sun don't shine?"

Generic Race & Class Ranking List Post. Every WOW Blog Needs One Right?

2009-08-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

With the confirmation of Goblins and Worgen, I figured I'd update this post to include them in the Races List so my old blog post on this has been deleted. Since this is merely an update of a blog post, I don't consider this a "proper" blog post and therefore, the Resto Shaman one will be coming later today/tomorrow depending on when I find some spare time from revision and all. Also, as a pre-warning, I imagine I'll do an "update" race and class rank list post every time a new class or new races are announced so I'd expect to update this every time we get a new expansion. Anyway, here's the updated post.

RACES

Time to rank the races first. This is based more on their looks and their culture than other things like racial traits.

Tauren-Ah, the cows. The Tauren have always been awesome to me. Perhaps I have a slight bias because my first character was a Tauren Shaman...but I think it's mainly cause I really like their culture and their nomadic ways. Plus, I always used to love having Tauren in WC3. I loved their totem pole weapons. The Tauren are my favourites easily.

Gnome-Now, these were not always my favourite Ally race. That used to be either the Dwarves or the Draenei. However, over time, the Gnomes have really won me over. I enjoy their curious nature and I really hope that one day, the Gnomes get to retake Gnomeregan! Or...they could just build themselves a new city. Give them a bit of scrap and a week and we'll have a new capital city.

Orc-The greenies are my second favourite Hordey race. Sure, they have a bit of a naughty history (though the history is fascinating too) but Thrall is awesome and the Orcs are a formidable and admirable race and the "New Horde" Orcs are not like the old ones which were clearly evil with a capital E.

Dwarf-The dwarves are ace. They like to explore and they like to drink and they're pluckly fighters. What's not to like eh? Good things come in small packages...and that's why Gnome and Dwarves are my favourites on the Alliance.

Goblins-Well, I've always liked the Goblins for their profit-orientated ways. They have the Gnome's curiosity only instead of doing it just because they can, they do it because they can AND because it should give them lots of money! Also, you gotta admire the Gobling Sappers and all. Those green midgets are CRAZY!

Undead-The fun lovers of the Horde race. Only replace fun-lovers with can't-feel-fun-anymore-so-they-hate-the-living-and-are-lovers-of-plagues. *Breathe*...that was a bit of a mouthful. There's always an interesting recurring theme with the Undead and backstabbing the Horde at some point.

Night Elf-How the mighty have fallen. I used to really enjoy the Nelf side on WC3. Everything about them was fascinating to me. However, now...I've grown to enjoy them less than some of the other races. I think this is partially because most Nelfs that you see are men RP'ing female Nelfs just so they have some "eye candy". Whatever floats your boat...

Worgen-Well, Blizz clearly read my list, saw that Humans were last and went "Well...what about if they could TURN INTO WOLVES EH?" and that's how we got Worgen. Now, I know I'm gonna love these for two reasons. Firstly, they come from Gilneas, a place I've always found fascinating when I read about it and Blizz made me happy by making it finally explorable in Cataclysm. Secondly, I think it will be really interesting to play as one and try to keep hold of your humanity.

Troll-I'm slowly liking trolls more and more as I level up troll alts. However, there's one disappointing thing about the trolls. While I love their laid back attitude and the way they are, they need a better place to call "home" than the flimsy little village they currently have in Durotar. I really hope that they go and take over Echo Isles (since phasing could allow this to happen so high levels see this while low levels can still quest there).

Draenei-And we're on to the space goats. I used to love these blue guys but my best friend has managed to put me off of these a fair bit by spamming their /laugh and sounding like an overemotional woman describing their new-born baby when he describes the "squiddie widdies". Also, I find their love for the Light both admirable and dull because they always go on about the Light and the Naaru. They're the Jehovah's Witnesses of WOW.

Blood Elf-I really enjoyed the Belfs in WC3: Frozen Throne. However, they have also fallen down in my ranking due to WOW. Part of this is similar to the Nelf issue....most Belfs are females played by males so they have some "hot" pixels to fap over. Personally, I think that it's much easier to just use the Internet to find some porn but oh well. However, if you chose a female Belf for reasons outside of "something to look at", I salute you. I also am not overly keen on their mana addict nature. Go to rehab or something.

Human-These are last for a very simple reason. They are the most dull race that you can play as. After all, they resemble us. We don't really need to go to a fantasy MMO to go and RP as humans surely? It kinda takes away from the "fantasy" part. However, to the credit of the humans, they are a tenacious race that has managed to bounce back from every major war. A bit like real life humans then.

CLASSES

Time to rank the classes now. I don't hate any of the classes or anything but I naturally have a list in my head still to rank the classes.

Shaman-Easily my favourite class. Again, I know there's some bias cause my first character/main is a Shaman but I've just connected well with the class. I love the totems and the lore behind the totem quests (apart from that lame Air Totem quest for Horde where you just get it handed to you.). I enjoy the spells and I've enjoyed playing as Enhance greatly. I've also enjoyed the times I've tinkered around and played as Elemental or the times I've healed with Resto (though I really need to get more healing experience under my belt).

Hunter-Oh, how I love Hunters due to their pets. My second highest character is a Hunter and he's my Ally main. I love my BM spec and I'm really connected to my pets...I hate it when Spork (my pet bear) dies. I get guilt over his death and beg him for forgiveness (which he always does....pets are awesome). The traps and ranged attacks are a nice bonus too of course. I need to try out Survival at some point really (I'll do so when I can afford Dual Spec).

Warrior-The Warrior class takes third place. I've not tried Arms yet really but I enjoy my Fury Warrior a lot. Punching things is awesome (doesn't take a lot to please me). I also enjoy tanking with my Warr too and I hope to do more of that as I get higher. I enjoy the options given to me via my stances and I like that when a Warr has a shield, it feels like something that's really useful. I mean, just look at all the Shield related abilities a Warrior gets. I also admit that I'm a sucker for Titan's Grip and I look forward to the day that my Orc Warr has that talent.

Mage-Mages are the most enjoyable caster class to me by far. They are the most challenging and at times, you have to really be on the ball with them (particularly when you get swarmed). With their vast range of spells, I really enjoy levelling my Mage. Nothing like a good AoE or two to teach mobs a lesson. Turing mobs into sheep always makes me giggle a little too. Again, doesn't take much to please me.

Druid-Ah, one of the true "I can do everything" classes. Heal, tank, dps...they can do it all. What makes them interesting is their forms of course. Patch 3.2 will be making the bear and cat forms all pretty and stuff so that's a nice added bonus but my favourite form so far is my Moonkin form. I really enjoy being a Boomkin at the moment but I imagine when I level my Feral druid up, I'll enjoy the others just as much. One downside to the class is that it takes a lot of levels to really get used to it...I found that I struggled a fair bit for the first 20-30 levels but nowadays, I can really get my Druid groove on now that he's in the 40's.

Priest-First and foremost, I love Mind Control. It's one of my favourite spells EVAR. I just use it all the time for fun. I also really enjoy Priest healing and Shadow Priesting. I've only got major experience with a Shadow Priest but I've healed in a few instances and I find Priest healing to be really easy (it's as easy as Druid healing which can only be a good thing). The Priest used to be one of my least favourite classes but it's steadily climbed up to become one of my favourites. Now give me a minute while I go and Mind Control something *evil laugh*

Death Knight-Now, I know that DK's get a lot of hate for being "too OP" or "too easy to use". I agree that they can be easy to use though as nerfs keep coming each patch, the Death Knight becomes less OP and less easier to use. I love the DK starting quests and I really enjoy playing as a DK. Unholy is a lot of fun and Frost is no slouch either. As a side note, Death Grip always makes me grin. You'll notice the recurring "easily pleased" theme by now.

Warlock-I remember when Locks used to be a pain in the ass PvP wise. Nowadays, they aren't so bad. I really like the lore behind Warlocks and they get a ton of Lock-specific quests too. I also like how their demons are merely minions and can be sacrificed easily. I don't feel guilty when my Warlock minion dies, I just feel irritated at it cause it's left me to fend for myself. The only reason why the Warlock class isn't higher is mainly cause of how easy it is to play as one. I find it really easy to kill things and really hard to die so it can be boring to level my Lock.

Paladin-On to the Paladin class. Now, I like the lore behind Paladins a lot. However, gameplay wise, I find them to be much more dull then the other classes. I'm glad Ret Palas have finally become something besides LOLRET but Palas are now getting targetted as OP cause of their current state. I really want to level my Belf Pala up so I can try out tanking as a Pala. If I enjoy that, Paladin might go up higher on my list cause I find Retribution to be fun but a bit dull cause it's so easy to breeze through mobs now.

Rogue-Last but not least,Rogues. I really enjoy being stealthy and pickpocketing or using the Subt tree to pwn with Ambush. I'm also levelling a Combat Rog alongside my Subt one so I will see how that differs. I do enjoy the Rogue class but I find them a bit dull to play as and they are lower then the other classes because every other class has better lore. However, I've still got love for my stealthy friends!

So there you have it. There's my two lists. Now...a question for anyone who reads this.

What would be your race/class lists and why?

Is That A Tasty Combo Or Does It Need More Ketchup?

2009-08-22T02:09:00.000-07:00

It looks like a Blizzcon related post will come first in le blog. Sorry, Mr. Resto Shaman Post.

Now...I'm gonna wait till Blizzcon is over before I give a post looking at everything about the new expansion. Depending on how much info we get, it might even have to be split into two posts. However, I decided to get this post out the way first. What I'm going to do is look at all the new race/class combinations that we're getting in the next expansion and seeing whether it works or not in my head. So...let's see which ones are a Meat Feast Pizza (aka very tasty.If you're a vegan/vegetarian, you're probably shaking your head right now) and which ones are weaksauce.

Current Races

Belf Warrior-I understand why people want these. After all, every other race can be Warriors so why shouldn't the Belfs? Well, I don't view the Belfs as angry enough for Fury spec so I imagine they'll be similar to Nelfs in my eyes and only really viable for Protection or Arms from a character perspective. At first, I frowned upon Belfs as warriors but then I remembered spell breakers and demon hunters and I gave these a thumbs up.

Dwarf Mage-There's a lot of Mages coming our way in the expansion. Dwarf mages are fine to me...they were in the WOW beta and there are Dark Iron mages in the game. I don't think it's too much of a leap for some Ironforge dwarves to be interested in arcane magic and therefore, start learning it from their Gnome friends or their Human buddies.

Dwarf Shaman-Some people seem to have trouble accepting this one but I don't know why. Just go and look at the Wildhammer clan and you'll see that there are dwarf shamanz there. I presume the Ironforge dwarves will learn shaman ways from the Wildhammer and I hope it works like that instead of a cheap "learnt it from the Draenei" trick.

Gnome Priest-This makes me very happy cause Gnomes were the only race to lack a healer and I've never understood why they didn't have one cause they could just easily learn it off the Stormwind gang in the same way the Dwarves did. The Horde best watch out for ALL GNOME RAIDS OF MINIATURE DEATH AND TINY DOOM!

Human Hunter-Well, this isn't too hard to understand. In real life, humans love to have pets and look after them so I don't see why they can't be like that in WOW too. I'm glad the WOW Humans won't be able to do what some real life ones do....dress their pets up in horrible clothes that leaves the pet looking like it wants to kill itself.

Nelf Mage-This one has been causing debates. I understand why since the Nelfs have rejected Arcane magic from their society. The best way for it to work would be if the Nelf Mages all stem from the Highbourne that are located in Dire Maul since they would happily be all Magey. Otherwise, it relies on Nelf society accepting arcane magic again or some Nelfs accepting it but having to be tucked away and hidden like warlocks in other cities.

Orc Mage-Now, I was surprised to see this one. I didn't really see a huge need for Orc Mages. Now, I'm following the logic that's been given on forums and a Wow.com article on Orc Mages which suggests that Orc Mages have come about because they have decided to show some restraint/use less dangerous magic. I can see the thinking behind it but I'm not a fan of it and I don't view these as necessary so it's the first "no" class combo to me.

Tauren Paladin-At first, I didn't get why Tauren got these or Priests. However, with the new quest hinting to Tauren worshipping the Sun, it makes more sense to me so I'm happy to accept Tauren Palas. Expect to see a lot of "original" names like "Holycow" or "Holymoo" or names of that nature.

Tauren Priest-I can accept that via Sun worship, Priests are a viable option to the Tauren and therefore, I have no problem with it lorewise and all. However, personally speaking...I just don't see the Tauren as Priests. I can visualise them happily as Paladins but I can't say the same thing when I picture a Tauren Priest. It's not a "no" combo though because they make perfect sense due to the Sun worship that helps Palas to fit lore wise too...I just can't see Tauren as Priests characteristic wise ranting on about the Sun(Light) to everyone else as such.

Troll Druid-I'm happy to accept that Trolls can be druids via their worship of their own animal gods and therefore, I don't have any issues with this. It would be groovy for them to get different tanking/dps forms to the Tauren/Nelf druids and all but I understand that thinking like that could just be a big ball of wishful thinking.

Undead Hunter-Out of all the current race combos, this one is my least favourite of them all. I've seen the arguments that the Undead can learn how to be Hunters through their leader cause she's an awesome Ranger but people seem to be forgetting that Rangers are Marksmanship Huntards without the pet. However, putting that aside, my major gripe with this is that Hunters are meant to love and care for their pets. The Forsaken don't have emotions so they won't really love and care about any animals...even if it's their own partner in combat and they can't just view their pets as minions because that isn't the Hunter way. This is a big big big "no" choice for me.

Expansion Races

Goblin

DK-This is fine to me since I'm sure Goblins died somewhere along the way for Arthas to nab them for himself.
Hunter-This is fine and it will be interesting because the majority of Goblin Hunters will be focused on hunting for profit, I imagine.
Rogue-This is fine and works well since Goblin rogues could simply consider themselves to be mercenaries for hire and get the moonehs that way.
Warrior-This is fine since the Bruiser NPCS you see in the Goblin ports aren't too far off Warriors and Goblins are tough little things.
Mage-Hmm, I can see it to a degree but it's a bit hard imagining Goblins keeping a keen interest in learning magic. However, it works well enough.
Warlock-I can imagine this easier than Mages which sounds silly cause usually, Locks used to be Mages/Shamans. It works fine and that's what matters.

Shaman-And we come on to the Goblin "no" combo. I don't see it at all. How can a Goblin Shaman work exactly? I get that they could theoretically learn the Shaman ways from the other Horde races but I just can't picture any Goblin's wanting to learn how to be them. I mean, it requires patience and respect for the elements and other things. I doubt the profit-orientated Goblins can meet those requirements...the only way they can be Shamans in my head is if they somehow pay the elements to let them use them. Since that can't happen realistically, it's a big big big "no" combo.

Worgen

DK-It's fine. I imagine that Arthas killed some Worgen along the way while he was also killing Goblins.
Mage-It's fine since the Gilneas Worgen are humans after all who just happen to turn into werewolves because they're lucky like that.
Priest-It's fine because they are humans that turn into wolves and all. It would be interesting to see how a Worgen priest's faith would be considering they are cursed.
Warlock-It's fine because of the humans into wolves thing that keeps cropping up in my answers and you're probably bored of it by now.
Warrior-It's fine. See above if you need to know one reason why but the other is because their wolf form is just begging to kick some ass Warrior style.
Hunter-It's fine and all to have this. However, it will be a bit strange to see a werewolf running around with a pet of some sort. I wonder if the pet would get confused.
Rogue-It's sort of fine. I mean, it's not bad or anything. It's just a bit strange to have a Worgen size rogue really.

Druid-I know the Ally need one extra druid to make it fair...but Worgen? Really? I mean, I don't see it personally. I understand that they could theoretically learn it from the Nelf allies that seem to come and help them/invite them into the alliance (based on what I saw in a trailer). However, based on that logic, why can't the Stormwind humans learn how to be druids? I know you could argue that the Stormwind humans don't care too much about nature but I don't see why the Gilneas Worgen would either. This is a big big big "no" combo from me currently.

Out of the lot on the menu, there's only 4 weaksauce combos. The rest are tasty or go down okay with some alcohol. So let us eat, drink and be merry until the next blog post. Cheers!

Enhance Your Shaman's Stamina! Get A Bigger Mace! Drive the DPS Meters Wild!

2009-08-17T23:45:00.001-07:00

My blog title is inspired by those irritating pop-up's/online ads that are all related to enlarging your penis and making it a MONSTER or a GIANT or a LEAN MEAN GRILLING MACHINE! I figured I'd just explain it on the off chance that someone reading this didn't get the blog title. However, I know that everyone who reads this blog has both a wonderful sense of humour and an amazing intellect so of course, you got it straight away. What was this blog post about again? Oh yeah, Enhancement. I guess I should stop wasting time buttering my audience up and get on with the show.

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Like I said before (in the Elemental Shaman post), I favour the Elemental and the Resto specs when it comes to Draenei. However, this doesn't mean I dislike Enhancement because the Draenei have the right physical build and the mental ability that it requires to channel the Elements and unleash them on the enemy in the form of something like Stormstrike. They suit all three specs...I just wouldn't have an Enhance Draenei Shaman.

Dwarf-Now, here's an Ally race perfect for the Enhance Shaman. I imagine a Dwarf Shaman will happily get stuck in (like the Orcs) and smack things really hard. As a result of this, Dwarf Shaman would be my favourite race for Enhancement.

Horde

Goblin-Well, putting the whole not-too-fond-of-Goblin-Shaman stoof aside...after a lot of thinking over it, I can see Goblins as Enhance Shaman. The Gnome Bruiser NPC's are pretty plucky and brave and I imagine a Goblin Shaman to be pretty similar only they can call upon the Elements to help too.

Orc-Now, Orcs are happy to get stuck in and therefore, Enhancement works well because it lets the Orc Shaman do that. However, I imagine that an Orc Shaman would have to be careful when fighting and smacking things because they wouldn't wanna lose themselves to rage so in my head, Orc Shamans would need to have a lot of self-control when choosing to go down the dual-wield path.

Tauren-This would be my favourite Horde race for Enhancement Shamans. They have the natual ability to patiently wait for the right moment to come along before letting rip with a powerful strike because it's in their nature to be patient and only use rage when necessary. Add on their physical prowess/ability and their and you can see why I reckon they're the best for Enhancement.

Troll-And now, we come on to the race I favour the least when it comes to the Enhance spec. I just don't view Trolls as being as physically strong/tough as the Orcs and the Taurens and they're a tiny bit on the scrawny side when you hold the three races in comparison. They have the mental ability and the patience, I just don't think they have enough physical oomph behind them to be as deadly as Orcs or Tauren when it comes to smacking things.

Abilities

Rockbiter Weapon-I know that in the good old vanilla days, you could use this enchant to help to get threat easier and as a result, Shamans could tank instances. And even in early BC, it gave Shamans a lot of extra dps and all. But sadly, times change and this talent has become an old fogey that Blizz shoved into an old folks home and left us to discuss the "good times" Rockbiter used to give us. Basically, it's used for levels 1-10 but after that, best to switch to Flame or Frost and accept that you'll never use Rockbiter again. Personally, I just want Blizzard to remove this from the game.

Lightning Shield-The Enhancement Shaman's shield of choice. With Static Shock (Enhance talent), it goes up to 9 charges and has a 6% chance of hitting the enemy with a charge when you melee. Add the LS glyph and the Improved Shields talent (Enhance again) and this shield packs a punch. A part of me would like to see LS castable on others (like in WC3) but with the Druid spell Thorns around, there isn't much point.

Flametongue Weapon-This is the weapon enchant all Shamans will use until level 30 unless healing an instance. After 30, Enhance Shamans ditch Flametongue for Windfury on their main weapons (they'll have Flametongue on their offhand for Lava Lash) while Elemental/Resto remain faithful to Flametongue due to it's spell damage buff.

Ghost Wolf-Now, when I was levelling my Shaman, mounts were unavailable until level 40 so I got to enjoy 20 levels with Ghost Wolf. Nowadays, you only get to enjoy 4 levels of Ghost Wolf travelling before you can get a mount. However, Ghost Wolf still gets to enjoy being used in PvP. Also, the best thing you can do as a Shaman is /dance in Ghost Wolf form. If you've yet to see this, go and do it with your Shaman or go and find a Shaman and ask them to do it for you. Go now! I'll wait for you to come back and we can carry on.

Frostbrand Weapon-The PvP enchant. If you're gonna PvP, this is usually the best one to have and it's a musthave if you have two points in Frozen Power from the Enhancement tree.

Water Breathing-If you're doing a lot of underwater quests, use this to make it easier. It's a shame that unlike Warlocks, we have to use a glyph slot to make this spell useable without reagents but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Far Sight-Well, here's a gimmick spell that I've yet to use much of. However, I imagine it could be used for things like Arathi Basin to check other bases. The cool thing about this spell is that you can Far Sight chain. If you learn how to do it right, it lets you explore in ways that no other class can. This spell proves that Shamans are actually vouyeristic stalkers.

Water Walking-Between the self-rezzing and this spell, it's not hard to understand the "Jesus was a Shaman" logic. Now, I'm a bit disappointed that DK's get this spell too (only it affects the group and it doesn't cost them anything in the form of reagents so it's much better) since before that, Shamans were unique in their water walking ways. However, what's done is done. Make sure to glyph up and get the Water Walking glyph.

Astral Recall-Now, this is a spell I love. Even though hearthstone wait times have been cut in half (down from 1 hour to 30 minutes), Shamans can still be happy in the knowledge that this spell lets us hearth every 15 minutes. The lazy side of me worships this spell.

Windfury Weapon-This is the DPS King enchant for Enhancement Shaman and it will be the one that will keep your main hand weapon warm at night. Always stick it on the main hand weapon and let Windfury do the rest.

Bloodlust/Heroism-This spell is often said to be the spell that can gurantee a raid spot for a Shaman. Now, I don't think it's THAT awesome but it is still very very very awesome. The strange thing is that you get a 10 minute Sated debuff yet the spell itself only has a five min cooldown. I believe that this was done to stop multiple Blood/Hero usage or something like that. And one last thing...this spell is awesome. Just thought I'd remind you so you don't forget it.

Stormstrike-One of the Enhance talent tree spells and one of two melee attack moves. Stormstrike is great because you get to hit things hard with some electrical force behind it. The added nature damage bonus buff that you get afterwards is the tasty icing on the very tasty cake.

Lava Lash-I was happy to see this move added in Patch 3.0.2 because it made the rotation of an Enhance Shaman a little bit more interesting. Also, it gave the Enhance tree a second melee attack move which is important because that's what the Enhance tree is all about...smacking things with the elements boosting your smacking. Stick flametongue on your offhand and Lava Lash anyone who stands in your way.

Shamanistic Rage-While it did have the mana regain element halved to 15%, it also had it's cooldown cut in half which is excellent. It means that you can have the buff up more often so you'll take 30% less damage more often in raids. Combine this with the stamina buff Shamans got in the recent patch and it boosts an Enhance Shaman's odds of living and makes them feel less squishy too.

Feral Spirit-Last but definitly not least...it's the spirit wolf spell! Now, these wolves are a life saver. I literally call one Life and the other Saver...that's how many times they've bailed me out of a sticky situation. I love them and I thank Blizz greatly for giving Enhance Shamans the talent. However, I would much rather see Feral Spirit be made a base spell so that all Shamans could use the wolves. Remove their healing-the-Shaman-every-time-they-hit-the-enemy aspect and make that a talent in the Enhance tree. That way, Resto Shamans won't be too OP with healing wolves and both Resto and Elemental can enjoy the power of the wolves too.

Totem Strike-This is my idea for a third instant attack because I think the Enhance Shaman could do with one more and then that will do. What I want the attack to be is basically where the Shaman summons a totem pole (the giant thing Cairne Bloodhoof holds or what the Tauren units from WC3 would hold) from thin air or it could be made up of four totems (since it's easy to drop a foursome thanks to the latest patch) and the Shaman then attacks with this totem pole once. It doesn't need to be anything fancy, just an extra attack to jazz things up a bit. If possible, it could do more damage if the Earth Shock debuff is on the enemy. This way, we get to see hardcore totem pole action which is something that I'm sure we all need to truly enjoy WOW.

And there you go...that's my Enhance Shaman done. Next to come will be a Resto Shaman post, a Hunter related post that will look at what pets I have or wish to have with my Huntards and a Blizzcon related post. I'm not sure as to which order they'll be in cause I've got to revise for my resits so I don't fail and all that. All I can say is...watch this space!

Ding Dong, The Levelling Is Dead!

2009-08-15T07:51:00.000-07:00

Expect a lot of Wizard of Oz references...I don't know why, I'm just in the mood to do them after I wrote my blog title. Anyway, this post is here to let you know that I've walked the Yellow Brick Road and made it to the Emerald City. If you didn't get the metaphor, I finally got to level 80! Ding-a-ling time! And just like Dorothy in Emerald City, it's an exciting and nervous place to be at. I guess I'll have to get some Courage and start to gear up properly.

Okay, time to write about my feelings at dinging 80 for the first time. Like I said above, it comes with both excitement and nervousness and I'll explain why. Let's start with the excitement angle. It's good and fun and exciting because I know I'm one step closer to raiding and the endgame content and doing Heroics once I gear up. I'm glad that I managed to get to level 80 (all those who powerlevel are scoffing at me right now for feeling like it's an accomplishment) and it should be an exciting challenge to do all these instances to gear up and then to try and tackle the raids head on. This Scarecrow has a Brain now and he's excited at getting to use it and hopefully, he'll get to do so with his current guild.

However, there is a part of me that's acting like the Cowardly Lion. I mean...endgame is a bit of a scary thing and I could just horribly suck at raiding really. I know that it's about learning the ropes and all but what if I can't seem to do so? I'm also a bit worried about my laptop since it's not that great (I still love you though, Laptoppy) and at times, it can lag so that might be an issue. And finally, I might be expected to heal rather than dps. I've had a bit of practice heal-wise since I healed a bit of HoL last night (we wiped on Ionar once and the mage was a bit impatient/fearful that we'd wipe more when we came to Loken so he swapped to his priesty and I got to be dps after) and I healed a 4-man group for Nexus (we did fine till Keristrasza and then we just wiped a lot) but it's not really given me that much confidence yet so I need to work on that loads more.

Hopefully, as time goes on, I'll get some Heart and I won't be as nervous about the endgame. I imagine that if XXL (the guild I'm in) are supportive, that will alleviate worries too. Generally though, I'm excited to be level 80 finally with a character and I want to get out there and start slaying every Wicked Witch and winged monkey out there so I can get shiny gear. Now, close your eyes, tap your heels together three times and repeat after me.

"There's no place like endgame."

Onyxia 2: Bigger, Badder And More Whelp-ier!

2009-08-12T18:37:00.000-07:00

News just in....Onyxia will be making a return in Patch 3.2.2. I thought this was an elaborate joke at first till I realised that today isn't April Fool's Day. In fact, we're quite far off from April. So I'm going to take this as truth. And before I get into the Onyxia stuff, I just want to say to any picky people out there...I know "Whelp-ier" isn't a real term but it worked well and it made me giggle so there!

Anyway, ignoring all the obvious "setback" jokes that always get used when a boss makes a second appearance, Blizzard are rebooting Onyxia for their 5-year anniversary. It's going to be a permanent update of course with the usual 10 and 25 man modes. The gear itself will apparantly share models with the Tier 2 gear you used to get from Onyxia. Now...some people would think that Blizz are just being cheap by recyling Tier 2 gear and that they are just recycling old content. First, they bring back Naxx. Now, they bring back Onyxia. However, I like to think of it as a lovely present to all the WOW players out there and I shall explain why.

For those who actually raided against Onyxia and remember it well, this has a nostalgic feel to it all. Sure, you'll know the strategies and what to do against Onyxia...but I bet you'll still love facing Onyxia because it reminds you of "the good old days" which is something that older WOW players like to bring up time and time again. For those of us who haven't raided Onyxia (like myself), this gives us a chance to experience old content but in a challenging way. I'm glad that I'll get to face Onyxia the hard way (assuming that I'll enjoy raiding since I've yet to do serious raiding). However, this isn't pleasing everyone...there are some people out there who enjoy raiding at level 60 only (there's even guilds based around this idea too. Those crazy people!) and they feel that this is Blizzard forcing them to get expansions to enjoy this raid. Now, I see their point but personally, I'm still for it. I don't think there's a large enough number of people doing the level 60 raiding stuff and I feel that it's a shame to leave Onyxia loitering around trying to tell herself that she's still fearsome and powerful whilst she suffers yet another solo run.

So there's only one thing left to ponder over....is this a one-off or should we expect more old content to be updated? Now, I'm not taking this as a sign that they'll suddenly go and revamp everything and I'm just appreciating it for the fun little present that it is. However, if it works out well enough...it does show that there is potential for them to bring back some older raids to let us experience them since a lot of WOW players are ones that didn't get to experience the vanilla content beforehand. I'd love to take part in something like a heroic SM Cathedral run but I understand that it would take Blizz a lot of time and effort. I don't think they'll do any more revamping but I acknowledge that there's the possibility that they will.

And there's my thoughts on the 5-year anniversary gift. Personally, I think Blizzard are giving us a very tasty cake and I'm going to be there at the party with my cutlery happily watching as they serve it. I hope that those who read this will do the same instead of trying to find reasons to dislike the cake.

Onyxia party hats for everyone!

Putting the MENTAL in Elemental.

2009-08-11T09:09:00.001-07:00

Oh, Blizzard...I'm keeping my eye on you, you sneaky devils. I go away on holiday (camping in Wales) and I come back to find that 3.2 has made it's apperance! However, while I could make a 3.2-related post, I shall actually bring out a Shaman-related post like I've been saying I will for some time now. So no more distractions...here is a post that will look at Elemental Shamans!

Now, let me start with a warning. If you're looking for an expert post about rotations or the gear to get or the best spec EVER or how to do sexy uber amazing faceraping DPS...this is not the post for you. However, this post will give my viewpoint on the best race for an Elemental Shaman, the spells that come under the Elemental spellbook tab and you might even see my own ideas show up. However, bear in mind that it's all opinion opinion opinion and I'm not trying to be a Shaman guru. I just want to entertain myself and anyone else who reads this. So let's actually get to the Shaman stuff!

Races

Alliance

Draenei-Well, obviously I don't have a vast choice of race (thought it's up to two now with Cataclysm and all which is groovy) for the Alliance in terms of Shamans. However, I personally think Draenei's suit Elemental and Resto the most so I'm all for the spacegoats hurling lightning. This would be my preferred choice for an Ally Elemental Shaman.

Dwarf-Now...I compare Dwarf Shaman to Orc Shaman since that's how I imagine them to be. As a result, I see Dwarf Shaman best as Enhance or Elemental. While I think Enhance is the best spec for a Dwarfy Shaman, I would still be happy to see them zapping enemies with Chain Lightning or Thunderstorming enemies away from them.

Horde

Goblin-Well...I admit I'm not a huge fan of Goblins being Shaman but the idea of it is growing on me. However, it took me a while to think of what specs are best for them. With regards to Elemental, I think it works okay but this is my least favourite spec for Goblin Shamans. However, this could change when I see them in action or I know more lore-wise or I grow to like the Goblin Shaman more which would turn Goblins into the first "all-rounder" Shaman race for me.

Orc-This is my favourite Horde race for Elemental Shamans. Maybe I just spent too much time as Thrall on Warcraft 3...but to me, Orcs are the Shamans who are most in touch with the elements and they are the ones I love to see firing bolts left, right and centre.

Tauren-While I love the Tauren Shaman, I don't like Elemental for them so much. I know that they have the capabilities within them to be all PEWPEW with bolts but it's just not as cool to me as it is to see Orcs or Trolls firing lava and lightning. It's just my personal preference to leave the Elemental stuff to the other Horde Shaman.

Troll-While Orcs are my first choice, Trolls also look pretty funky using bolts and bursts. And I reckon Boltthrower is the perfect name for a Troll Elementalsham too...just throwing that out there. Kudos to those who know of the band name and therefore, get the joke.

Abilities

Lightning Bolt-This spell will be your bestest fwend. Don't fall out with it now because you don't get Lava Burst until level 75 so you need to have to learn to spam this spell. This is why Elemental Shamans are sometimes viewed as "turrets"...only these turrets can heal themselves, come back a second time and walk on water.

Earth Shock-Ah, Earth Shock has recently had a fancy 3.2 attack-speed reduction makeover which is pretty handy since Wind Shear already has interruption covered. However, Earth Shock tends to be more suited to the Enhance Shaman crowd. Elemental Shamans prefer to have Flame Shock as their friendly mascot.

Flame Shock-FS is the spell that went from C-list to A-list celebrity thanks to Lava Burst and the Glyph you get for Flame Shock. Get the Glyph and be a very happy Elemental bunny.

Purge-Purge is a very useful spell that has both PvP and PvE uses. However, you have to be careful in case the enemy has put on useless buffs as a Purge defense. Now, I understand that it can't have the movement speed reduce it had in WC3...but I'm curious as to why it isn't allowed to do damage to summoned units still.

Wind Shear-Renamed from Wind Shock for some reason (perhaps Wind Shock scared little kids or they just wanted to distance it from the Shocks. Nah, definitly too scary.) but it's now more useful then it was before because it doesn't share a cooldown with the Shock spells.

Frost Shock-FROST SHOCK! Now that's out of the way...this is the shock to use for PvP really or if you want to slow down a retreating mob. Otherwise, it just sits there with envy eyes aimed at Earth Shock and Flame Shock.

Call Of The Elements-One of three fancy new spells to go with that shiny totem bar gadget Shamans got in the latest patch. This button is my "Enhance Totem Gang" button and I'm just glad Blizzard finally gave us the ability to put a totem foursome down in one big swoosh.

Chain Lightning-Ah, Chain Lightning. It's the zap one, get two (three if glyphed) free deal. Total bargain! It's best to use when you want to AoE zap a few mobs because it's too mana costly to use it on just one single target. If you're going for PvP, I suggest getting the glyph. However, if you're a PvE type then there's probably better glyphs out there for you.

Call Of The Ancestors-This button is my "Resto Totem Gang" button. And once again, I thank Blizzard for saving us Shamans some time. Shamans, salute Patch 3.2!

Call Of The Spirits-Now, this button will probably be my "PvP Gang" button but since I don't PvP often, this button will probably be lonely for a while. Aww, I see a sob story coming soon..."The Tragic Story of the COTS Button."

Lava Burst-Lava Burst strolls in at level 75, taps the Elemental Shaman on the shoulder and gives them another buddy to use besides Lightning Bolt. Get the Glyph of Lava and the FS glyph and you'll soon be dancing with your Lav Burst and your Light Bolt in a rotation of love. I'm really glad that Elemental Shamans have something else to use besides Lightningspamz.

Hex-Ah, the spell to turn your enemy into Kermit's long lost cousin. I believe this was Blizz's way of soothing Shamans after they wouldn't be invited to places cause all they would get is "Sorry, need CC." Never fear, Hex is here! Okay...I wouldn't hail it as a champion spell but it's a nice breathing room spell. It has a lengthy cooldown of course but that's probably cause it doesn't heal the enemy (like Polymorph) and because it won't auto-break on damage. Hex mainly gets a big thumbs up for me cause I can go "I have CC!"

Elemental Mastery-Now, we come on to the talent tree spells. EM is a beautiful talent really. Instant cast LBolt, Lav Bur or CL? Yes please. Oh...and a 15% increase in crit for 15 seconds too? Double yes please!

Totem Of Wrath-Now...this talent has me undecided. On the one hand, it's clearly superior to Flametongue and you'll want this up to help you and others in your party/raid. But the downside is that you can't have any other fire totems up and that could make a dent into your dps since you don't have a lovely Sentry totem beside you firing away. I think that the best solution would be for ToW to put up a buff on the party/raid for a period of time and that lets the Shaman switch to another flame totem after to not have to sacrifice too much flame totem dps.

Thunderstorm-If you've seen the "Thunderfuck" vids, you'll know how you can have lots of fun with this spell in PvP. But does it have any use in PvE? Well, the mana recovery part is useful for PvE but you have to be careful with the knockback element. You don't want to pull more mobs with a mis-timed knockback after all. Now, my one small change to make it a little bit better for PVE would be to either make it give the Shaman a small dps buff for 10 seconds odd or make it so that it leaves all the mobs/players it hits with a "Charged" debuff or something that increases the damage they will take from CL or Light Bolt.

Earthquake-Now, there's a part of me that wants this spell in WOW because it's the Far Seer's ultimate move from WC3 and I used to enjoy doing it. But I also think it would be a handy Elemental only spell so my intentions are good. However, it took me a while to think of what a spell like this could offer. It can't destroy buildings of course (I pondered whether it could destroy siege weaponry but that seemed a bit OP) and I don't think an AoE movement debuff is that interesting. However, inspiriation hit me and I reckon that Earthquake should be an AoE that targets the ground in front of the Shaman or an area of ground of the Shaman's choosing and reduces the hit chance of all enemies located on the shaking ground by 10% or something like that. To balance this, it would have a reasonable cooldown and you can just get off the affected area too. This would force ranged attackers to move before they start firing again and I just think it gives the Elemental Shaman a nice Earth related spell.

Now, I know I could go into glyphs and the talent spec I would use but I don't think that's necessary right now. I can look at specs and glyphs in future posts after all. Instead, I'm gonna focus on the classes and the spells that they'd use in each spell tab for now and see if I can come up with ways to improve current spells or conjure up new ideas. I find that it's more interesting that way since I like to give my opinion on things and I don't feel I'm experienced enough yet to be acting like a Shamaster. See what I did there? Genius, I know. So, next up will be an Enhance Shaman related post followed by a Restoration Shaman one which will both follow a similar format to this one.

Hope you enjoyed reading this and stay tuned for the next blog post!

Alts ASSEMBLE!!!

2009-07-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

That Shaman post will come, I assure you. I'm just working out whether I want to look at each spec in turn or if I want a general overlook at the spells of Shamans. I shall reach a decision within the next couple of days. However, I figured I'd do a post to let people know about all my characters. And if you got the reference in my blog title, +10 cool points for you!

This will be a quick blog post that will tell you about my 20 characters. In case you wonder why I have so many, I shall explain quickly. I wanted one of each class to try them all out and I made sure I had one of each race. I then decided I wanted to double that to two of each race and class because that way, I can tinker about with the talent specs between two characters of the same class and it won't cost me as much gold this way. Plus, I enjoy having so many cause I don't get as bored since I can just switch it up whenever I feel like. And there's a part of me that likes inventing backstories for all these characters so the more I have, the more I get to RP. I just have to find a RP server that I think I'll enjoy...but that leads into a whole new topic.

And some may consider this a sign of altitis but I don't consider myself an altaholic since an altaholic usually chooses to not level any characters too high or they can't stick to a character. I can stick to a character, I just like some choice to avoid boredom and this lets me go at my own pace so I can enjoy the game. Plus, I like having all this characters cause it lets me know how each class works which helps in PvE and PvP (and when I write stuff in this blog so I don't sound like a total noobatron).

So...here are my characters with their levels and their planned dual specs (except Ing because he actually has Dual Spec). Alts...ASSEMBLE!!!

Khadgar

Ingredients=77 Tauren Enhance/Resto Shaman
Shinyspoon=67 Dwarf BM/Surv Hunter
Megalolz=62 Gnome Unh DPS/Unh Tank DK
Eyeoftheorc=47 Fury/Prot Orc Warrior
Censored=41 Subt/Unsure Human Rogue
Walktalkheal=40 Shadow/Holy Troll Priest
Zoofriendly=14 Feral DPS/Feral Tank Tauren Druid
Vivalaviagra=12 Elemental/Resto Draenei Shaman
Kissthebeard=10 Discipline/Unsure Dwarf Priest
Yogibogeybox=7 Combat/Assass Undead Rogue

Alonsus

Originality=58 Frost Tank/Blood DPS Orc DK
Purplepill=47 Balance/Resto Nelf Druid
Aluminium=40 Frost/Arcane Belf Mage
Namegoeshere=38 Ret/Prot Draenei Pala
Fleshbag=37 Demon/Afflict Undead Warlock
Uglyunicorn=16 Marks/Unsure Troll Hunter
Xylophone=12 Destruct/Unsure Human Warlock
Blamethenoob=10 Prot/Holy Belf Pala
Dodecahedron=7 Prot/Arms Nelf Warr
Query=5 Fire/Arcane Gnome Mage

And there they are. I'll post updates now and again when the list has changed drastically. Just figured I'd let people know about my characters.

Totems Are A Shaman's Best Friend (Part 2)

2009-07-17T02:06:00.001-07:00

Welcome back to the second half of our exciting two-parter! Just in case this is the first article that someone reads on this blog, please note that there is a Part One (in case the Part 2 didn't give it away) so go read that and then come back to this. That's how two-parters work. With that said (well, typed)...let's get straight back into the juicy totem discussion action.

WATER

Healing Stream Totem-Ah, the AoE healer totem. It may not seem like much but the healing can add up and really help in situations where everyone is taking damage. Use this if you're in a melee heavy party/group or if you know everyone will be feeling some pain.

Mana Spring Totem-This is my favourite Water Totem. It's an "unsung hero" who just sits back and steadily helps out with mana restoration. However, if you've got a Pala and they use Greater Blessing of Wisdom, this hero has to retire because they won't stack. If this is the case, use Healing Stream and tell Mana Spring that it will always have a special place in your heart.

Cleansing Totem-I was very happy when they combined the Poison Cleansing and the Disease Cleansing totems into this. Now I can be efficient (lazy) and just put this baby down instead of having to focus on which Cleansing totem I'm putting down. So if you know you'll be having to deal with a lot of poison/disease, put this down and save yourself the effort of having to cleanse your allies one at a time.

Fire Resistance Totem-Well, let's see. Do you need Fire resistance? If the answer is yes, put this down. If the answer is no, use another Water totem. Pretty simple. I think Fire Resistance and Frost Resistance should swap places though since Frost Resistance feels like a Water totem to me and Fire Resistance works as a Fire totem too (it is in the name after all...FIRE Resistance).

AIR

Windfury Totem-This went through a nice makeover and now offers melee haste to your party. If your party is melee-orientated, put this down and watch them all speed up like they're overdosing on Relentless (energy drink for those sad souls who have never tried it). However, unless you have two points in Improved Windfury Totem (Enhance talent), a DK can overwrite this easily if they have Improved Icy Talons so be aware of that.

Grounding Totem-This totem is a kinky submissive. It loves pain and will happily take the next spell cast at you or your party (as long as it's not an AoE spell...that would be far too easy). This is brilliant for both PvE and PvP. However, I must confess that I always forget to use it. I humbly apologise, Grounding Totem. I never meant to neglect you. Can we put this behind us and have make-up sex now?

Wrath Of Air Totem-If you're with a bunch of casters, put this down for the spell haste and watch every other caster look at you and proclaim you a god! Okay, not really...a shaman can dream though.

Nature Resistance Totem-Nature resistance in a totem form. However, it doesn't stack with a Druid's Mark of the Wild and a Hunter's Aspect of the Wild.

Sentry Totem-This totem is often jokingly hailed as THE totem of totems. However, it's really only useful as a camera to take screenshots of yourself. It's a pocket camera totem! Okay, I'm being a tiny bit unfair...it can also help in PvP battle grounds by serving as a scout. And it can help with the "Higher Learning" achievement too. However, it's still gonna be that totem that sits around going "Please, use me....please? Anyone? PLEASE! I just want to feel LOVED!" before crying to itself. So now I'll give my opinion on what Blizz could do to make this totem useful because I don't want to see it removed. First and foremost, change it so that if I put it down, I don't auto-switch to Sentry Totem. I get that Sentry Totem wants my attention but does it have to steal my view too? Attention-Hog Sentry Totem needs a change so that when you put it down, it doesn't auto-switch. But moving on from that issue and going with the "sentry" theme, I'd like the totem to have stealth detection and be stealthed itself. I think those two are must-haves. However, if it wouldn't be too greedy, I'd also like for there to be a debuff called "Spotted!" when an enemy player walks past the Sentry Totem that lowers their movement speed by 10% or something. There's my ideas for Sentry Totem...let's hope it gets some love from Blizz at some point.

ELEMENTALS & IDEAS

Time for the final part of the totem-related article...I'm going to suggest some ideas for "new" totems below that I've seen other mobs use. Also, you'll find the Elemental totems here cause I wanted to group them all together so that's why the Earth and Fire Elemental totems are making an appearance here instead of in Part One. Let's start with the Elemental totems.

Earth Elemental Totem-Ah, good old Rocky. I generally use him as an "Uh-oh!" totem if I get swarmed and I feel like I need some help. The Earth Elemental serves as a tanking elemental really so don't expect him to do some funky damage. He's there to take mobs off you in a tight spot and as long as you keep Rocky and yourself alive via healing, you'll survive pretty easily. However, Rocky's not so good at tanking Elite mobs sadly...I found that out the hard way.

Fire Elemental Totem-Speaking of damage...say hello to the Fire Elemental Totem. Hothead loves to do AoE damage (while his mana bar allows him to do it) and he's very useful for clearing up a group of mobs. However, don't expect him to be able to survive if he comes under attack...he's fragile like a baby.

Water Elemental Totem-Now we come on to the first of my hypothetical elemental totems...trying to decide on this has been tricky. I mean, you don't want it to be a Mage Water Elemental rip-off and a healing elemental would be more interesting and fits the Water totem theme. However, it can't be too powerful otherwise Shaman healers might push ahead. With all this in mind, my idea is for the Water Elemental to summon a pool of water that will increase healing done to allies by 10% while they stand on this pool. I know it's situational and requires your party to stand on a certain spot when some boss fights require mobility but I felt the pool idea was cool and it doesn't seem too over-powered to me so it won't get other healer classes to start complaining. If it's not enough, then the pool could heal allies over time instead of increasing the healing they'll recieve. However, that sounds like a Healing Stream Totem knockoff idea.

Air Elemental Totem-We have a tanking elemental, an AoE elemental and a healing elemental. What's lacking is a single target dps elemental...and that's where the Air Elemental comes in. I reckon the Air Elemental could simply do reasonably powerful melee attacks. It would be better if the melee attacks also had a knockback effect to send enemies back/interrupt them but that might be too powerful. As long as the Elemental did good single-target dps smackdowns, I think the Air Elemental Totem would be a fine addition to the totem arsenal.

Now the elementals are out of the way, time to finish with comments on a couple of totems that I know other mobs have which would be cool to have.

Earthgrab Totem-This is the one I'd love to see given to Shamans. It would simply be an AoE snare involving roots. It's a Druid's Entangling Roots spell on a larger scale but with a reasonable handicap to make up for the AoE snare effect. I think it's a nice way to get some breathing space in PvP (or in a "Uh-oh" moment in PvE) and it's not too overpowered cause all you have to do is destroy the totem to break free. It's simply a stalling technique.

Brain Wash Totem-Used by Mr. Jin'do the Hexxer, I remember fighting him and a part of me wishing my Shaman had a totem like that. It won't have as much health as Jin'do's totem of course but it would be rather groovy if Shamans had a totem that would control an enemy that's in range and make them fight others. In return, it could heal them so that if it lost control, you've just helped the enemy out and it won't be useful in 1 on 1 scenarios cause all you'll do is heal them. While the loss of control for the enemy who's being targeted might be a pain, I imagine it's on the same level of annoying as when you're feared a lot or having to put up with a Rogue who's stunlocking. And the key reason why this isn't unfair in my eyes is because someone else only has to come along and destroy the totem to free the brainwashed enemy and it won't be used 1 on 1 for reasons above.

So...that's this article pretty much done. It gave you my opinions, a few tips and a few ideas for making current totems better and introducing "new" totems that I think would be cool. If you take one thing away from this...let it be this. Sentry Totem wants your love. So remember, the next time you see a Sentry Totem, give it a big hug.

Totems Are A Shaman's Best Friend (Part 1)

2009-07-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

Dogs may be a man's best friend but when it comes to shamans, totems are a Shaman's best buddy. Whether it's to add a bit more dps, to boost a party with some buffs (providing they aren't overwrited and are in range but let's not get too picky) or to save your life when you get swarmed (I'm looking at you, Earth Elemental Totem), totems are fun gadgets for the Shaman class. James Bond would love for Q to hand him a totem. Spy talk aside, this post is going to take a look at all the totems and give my views on them. I will also be adding some ideas for extra totems at the bottom since there's a couple that I think could work well. By the way, I've not really theorycrafted ideas or thought about them greatly in the grand scheme of things so things may seem over-powered or may not balance too well. Ah well...It's TOTEM TIME! (yes, that's a Power Rangers pun.)

EARTH

Earthbind Totem-This totem's come a long way thanks to some changes in talent trees. On it's own, it's a useful escape tool if you need a quick getaway and it can have situational uses. With Earthen Power (Enhance talent), it's a handy snare removal and with Storm, Earth and Fire (Element talent), it's a nice 5 second root. However, I'm disappointed that the root and snare removal only come with talents. I'd like to see the snare removal become standard and the root part will be dealt with for the Earthgrab Totem idea that will be in Part Two.

Stoneskin Totem-I was happy when this got it's change to an armour increase rather then the melee reduction so that it became useful. Don't bother putting it down if you're with a Pala who has Improved Devotion Aura since the two don't stack up. However, with the vast supply of DK's around with their Horn Of Winter, you may find that this one is the one that gets used more with a DK in your party.

Stoneclaw Totem-I like to usually use this totem in a combo with Fire Nova to give FN enough time to go boom. However, it's become a pretty useful PvP totem with it's ability to shield other totems which costs enemies time when they want to get your totems as long as you cast them in the right order to get the totem shielding. If you PvP, make sure to get the Glyph to give yourself a shield too. One thing I'd like to see is the totem forcefully making enemies target the totem instead of your shaman when it taunts. I know that it seems like a bad idea cause it makes it easier for your totem to be destroyed and leaves the others vulnerable BUT I feel it would be a nice way to avoid a killing blow by forcing others to focus on Stoneclaw. Also, that's how the totem should work in my head-it should be forceful when it taunts.

Strength Of Earth Totem-This totem is great for boosting the melee monkeys in your party or raid. However, if there's a DK around with Horn of Winter, it's probably best to use another Earth totem unless you have put 3 points into Enhancing Totems (Enhance talent). If you've done that, tell the DK to take a hike because this town isn't big enough for the both of you (buff wise...DK's and Shamans are still fine to work together in the same town)

Tremor Totem-Useful if you're up against a boss with Fear/Sleep capabilities or fighting a class that likes to use Fear. Otherwise, nothing else to really say about the totem. If unsure about when to use Tremor Totem over Grounding Totem, remember that Grounding has a cooldown while Tremor does not.

FIRE

Searing Totem-This totem is my little sidekick. I call him Comet. Now, Magma Totem has the potential to do better single-target dps BUT I prefer to use Comet cause it's much cheaper mana-wise. I guess I'm just a cheapskate really.

Fire Nova Totem-Tick...tick...boom! That's what Nova does. As I said above, I like to put Stoneclaw down first then this to avoid Fire Nova being pwned since it generates aggro when you put it down. If you want a triple whammy, go with Magma Totem afterwards. Now, I personally think that a nice touch for this Totem would be that those who are caught in the explosion wind up with some DoT fire damage. That would give the boom a nice after-effect in my opinion.

Magma Totem-A charming AoE damage totem. If you are fighting a group, use this and enjoy when your enemies are extra crispy. While I still prefer Comet with single targets, another thing of note is that Magma doesn't generate threat whereas Comet does so use this if you're in a threat sensitive situation.

Frost Resistance Totem-Simple really...if you need frost resistance, put this up. Otherwise, ignore it. I find it weird that the Fire Resistance and Frost Resistance totems are where they are though.

Flametongue Totem-I'm glad this changed from what it used to be. I never used it for the fire damage stuff it offered before they changed it to boost spellpower. If you're in a group that's mainly casters or healers, put this baby down. However, if there's another Shaman and they are Elemental and you are not, don't bother. You'll only cry when you realise your Flametongue is inferior to his Totem Of Wrath.

While I could type the rest out now, I wanted to have a break to make it easier to read and therefore, easier to digest. I'm so thoughtful! And for those of you who are observant, I'm sure you'll be there going "Wait...where's Totem of Wrath eh? EH?" Well, I've not put it here cause it will come up when I do my post on Elemental Shamans so bear with me. This will also be why Mana Tide Totem will not make an apperance in Part Two. So don't be too disappointed when it's not there.

Part Two will bring us the Water totems, the Air totems, the Elemental totems (Earth, Fire and my ideas for Water and Air) and finally, a couple of new totems I'd like to be added. So stay tuned, folks! Part Two will be here after the adverts!

Look, This (Insert MMO Here) Is The WOW-Killer!

2009-07-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't forgotten about making a Shaman-related post, that will be coming in a day or two. However, I felt inspired to write this one after watching a couple of Aion videos and seeing all the Youtuber comments from people. Now, I know that Youtube isn't the best place to go since most of the comments there are either trolltastic, stupid with a capital S or pointless spam BUT I think the general theme behind the comments is important. I mean...is it fair to want WOW to die? Should it end? Has it lost it's appeal? And is it fair to keep calling other games the "WOW-killer?"

Let's start off with looking at the new game to come along and be hailed as the one to kill WOW. Aion Online. Now, I've not played it (the videos/info looks interesting) so it could have the potential to take a lot of WOW players away. After all, it's been four years now for some players and a lot of them tend to complain that it's getting boring or that the game isn't as fun now thanks to changes and patches and all that stoof. Although when I look at players complain about it being boring, I'm often amused by how they still play cause of their WOW friends or cause they have nothing else to do. I mean...can't people just get another PC game to play that doesn't involve subscription fees or get those friends on MSN/Facebook/something that isn't WOW? I know that I play WOW at times cause it's something fun to do but the key thing is...when I do play it, I enjoy it. If it was really that boring, I'd stop. Isn't that the whole point of games?

Getting back to Aion, I can't say if it's better or not since I've not personally played the beta. However, there's a lot of buzz around the "Aion vs WOW" topic. You only have to Google those words to see what I mean. Now, don't get me wrong. I think competition is healthy and good for MMO games. But at the same time, is it fair to constantly put pressure on other MMO's by labelling them WOW-killers? It might be good publicity at first...but from what I've seen of previous MMO's, the hype tends to hurt them in the long run. I mean, I remember when Age Of Conan and WAR were both being hailed as the ones to kick the king off of it's throne and yet if you look at them now....they haven't done that. Neither did Guild Wars or other MMO's. I know it's natural to root for "underdogs" or other MMORPG's to knock WOW off it's top spot but I just find it silly how people are willing to quickly see another MMO and go "HAIL OUR NEW GOD!" as such. And I wonder if it hurts those other MMO's once they are released and are out for a while.

However, one thing I find disappointing (and a tiny bit irritating) is how people are so quick to attack WOW and want to see it die or fall. I mean...even if you didn't enjoy it now, you did at some point. So why hurl abuse and hate at it? I know that long-term players could turn round and go "Well, you wasn't there for "vanilla WOW" or most of BC where "raids were actually good and a Raid wasn't just a raid, it was harder then a Jigsaw trap (Saw reference) and took real work!" And they would be right to say I wasn't there then. However, I still think that if it's changed and you dislike the new changes, you shouldn't wish for WOW to fall because you don't like how it changed. I mean, I loved Pokemon Gold (I know this seems a bit of a childish reference but it's relevant. Honest!) but I didn't really enjoy the latest Pokemon game when I had a quick go on it. Doesn't mean I wish the Pokemon franchise will fail. It probably will do at some point cause interest fades over time but that's natural. In the same way that WOW will eventually die out due to old age. So I think that even if you stopped playing/don't feel it's the same WOW you enjoyed, you should still respect WOW and not want it to fall. That ruins it for those of us who haven't played it for very long or who still enjoy it and think the changes are fine/great.

Now, one other thing is that some people would say that I'm a "WOW fanboy" because I don't want it to fail or end. However, I'd disagree. I don't spend all my time on WOW and I don't worship the game. I just find that it's a game I enjoy playing. I don't see why people have to set out to knock the game at every turn. I mean, there's all that business with WOW apparantly going down to 5 million subscriptions due to the current China situation and people are going "HA! TAKE THAT!" and stuff and they're LOL'ing at "fanboys". Again, I don't see why that's necessary. There were important MMO's before WOW and there will be important ones after it too. People aren't necessarily rabid fanboys just because they still enjoy the game or cause they doubt that others will knock WOW off it's top spot. After all, most games so far haven't been able to beat WOW away from it's throne.

Aion might do that, it might not. Star Wars: The Old Republic might do that, it might not. I don't really mind either way. What I mind is two things. The first thing that bothers me is how it seems like any other RPG that gets some interest or hype is labelled as a WOW killer and is always compared to WOW. I understand that WOW did set a benchmark and was revolutionary BUT we don't have to keep comparing every other MMORPG to WOW. It irks me in the same way we always have to compare RPG's to FF7. It's like RPG gamers are stuck in the past all the time. The second thing that bothers me is the hate that WOW gets. It's okay to have gotten bored with it and moved on (if you haven't and you're bored, you should move on.) It's okay to have not liked the latest expansion or some changes that Blizz made along the way (be it PvE or PvP). It's okay to voice criticism over WOW. However, I personally think it's not okay to constantly wish for WOW's downfall.

Other people might disagree with me and that's fine. I just wanted to voice my opinion cause I feel sorry for Blizzard at times since they can never seem to please anyone and they have a lot of people constantly attacking them/World Of Warcraft. I also get sick of seeing "WOW-killer" articles. Sorry if it seemed rant-like, I just felt the urge to write and it all came out. It was like I was on Jerry Springer or something. I hope it wasn't boring to read and I shall end this lengthy post by asking direct questions to anyone who reads this post.

Do you think there are any MMO's that are out/coming out which will really challenge WOW or do you think it's always about the hype?
Do you think WOW should end anytime soon?
Do you think WOW gets unfairly attacked or do you think it's justified due to their number one spot/the current state of the game?
Do you think that pancakes are the best breakfast EVER?

The Man Behind The Silly Name

2009-07-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. My first post of my first blog. I've got a "blog" as such on a forum I go on a fair bit but this is the first time that I've set one up on a site with the specific intent to try and post in a regular fashion. So I count this as the first. And it's a bit strange...as I type this, I find myself worrying a little over what people will think of me as they read this. And yet, there's a very good chance I'll never have anyone read this so it's pointless to worry. However, if I do have people reading this post (be it after I've posted this recently or in the future where you've stumbled upon this blog and decided you like something about it and me) then I'd like to say thanks. Even if I told you to come here/self-advertised, it's still groovy to have people reading this. But at the end of the day, if I never get anyone else besides me reading this, that's fine. This is for my entertainment/pleasure since I like to be creative and I like to write.

With the introduction paragraph out the way, it's time to move on to the main substance of this post. I'm going to be doing two things-telling you information about moi and explaining what this blog sets out to do. As a basic warning though...this blog will be about the MMORPG called World Of Warcraft (or WOW as I'll refer to it as from now on.) If you don't know about the game (which would be suprising...it's a pretty well-known game) or you dont like World Of Warcraft, there's no point in reading the rest of this post or this blog. I just wanted to make that clear before I move on. Let's start with the info sharing first though let's be reasonable-I'm not exactly going to be handing out my address, full name, financial details and all that stuff. So for all those who want to steal my identity, best to move on to another blog. Now, stuff about me.

The name's Tom. I live in England and I'm a mixture of sarcasm, random and anti-socialness. In case you haven't guessed, my online alias is "Ninjaoctopus".I don't know when in my life but at some point when I was younger, I imagined that an octopus ninja would be the coolest thing EVAR. My logic was sound too since 8 swords will always beat two (unless you're fighting a combination of Zoro and Killerbee). I've just reached 20 so I'm now out of the teen years and into the adult ones. I'm currently at university and I'm studying Psychology with Criminology. As I type this, I'm in the first year and hoping I passed the exams to get to the next year. However, if I haven't and you read this, don't laugh too much now okay?

Now, the reason why I bring up the uni stuff is because when it was term time, I found I never got much chance to play WOW whereas currently, I'm playing it much more cause as I write this, I'm enjoying the summer holiday. Yeah, I know...we get too much time off. Heard it before. However, even with oodles of free time (since with our current recession, it's hard to get a job right now), I still class myself as a "casual" player. I hold my hands up high and I admit it and I do so in a proud way. That means that I acknowledge that I don't know tons about WOW and if I put myself on the knowledge spectrum, I'd probably be in the middle or more towards the end entitled "Not very much". I haven't done any serious raiding yet, I've only PvP'ed to get a PvP mount (so I only know AV, WG and AB), I've not bothered to level professions yet (they bore me...they might be necessary and all but they really really bore me) and my highest character is only lvl 75. He's soon to be 76 though! I know what you're thinking...if I don't have a vast supply of WOW knowledge and I haven't experienced everything the game offers...why am I writing a blog?

Well, one simple answer. For fun. I'm hoping that I'll enjoy the freedom of writing stuff on this blog and I have a silly hope that someday, I'll have readers who will enjoy reading what I write. Now, the blog doesn't really have a focus that's set in stone. However, my rough idea for it is to look at suggesting changing spells or abilities or the introduction of new spells and abilities for all the classes. I don't want to focus on just one class because I'm an altaholic. It's a crippling addiction but that's what I suffer with. I'll also write up some experiences now and again like a questline I enjoyed or an instance I had fun in or a negative time one day involving a ninja, a need roll and me growling at the laptop screen. Now...this means that people are more then welcome to come here and tell me that I'm wrong if they wish to do so. But just bear this in mind. I didn't say I had all the answers and I'm freely admitting that I'm average when it comes to knowing WOW.

Hopefully...this gives you some insight into why I'm writing this. Therefore, you'll accept that this blog is just a bit of fun that aims to be interesting to read. If you do enjoy what I post, please go ahead and comment or if you like any ideas I have, say so. If you think they are stupid, please say so too but try and be a bit constructive? "YOU SUCK, GO FAIL AT LIFE TOO" isn't a good example of being constructive. Now...I don't have a solid structure yet but here's the rough outline for the blog. I'll post weekly and at first, it's going to look at Shamans and Hunters because they are the classes I have the most experience with so far. As I level the other alts up, I'll look at them too. However, things may crop up to get in the way of that like complimenting some of the Wrath quests or talking about finally being 80 if I get there anytime soon. So just remember three simple things about this blog. It's going to be laidback, it's going to try to be interesting and it's going to look at both what's in WOW and what could possibly be improved in regards to the classes. I know that Blizzard have a hard life balancing things but I'll just be offering my own simple slightly significant stance on it all. Check out the alliteration there!

So I think that covers everything. I can tick my "Intro post" box off my list and be happy with that. As you may have noticed, I've tried to space things out as well as I can do with paragraphs but I have a tendency to ramble and I may go off on tangents. If that bothers you, I can't do much about it. It's how I am in real life and it's how I am when I write blogs since I don't want to make this feel like a chore by having a fixed structure and planning my posts in detail. If anyone reads this first post, I hope you enjoy reading it and that you'll look forward to the next post. Unless you dislike Shamans a lot...best to wait a while then.

Take it easy

Ninjaoctopus