Finally, finally, finally got to run a full TotC-25 on Hesston, and with a pretty elite and organized group of people. I know, I know; everyone has this on farm but I don’t get to raid as much anymore so this was a treat. We one-shot everything but Anub’Arak and only because the raid leader DC’ed and we all just sort of fell apart. What did Hesston get? Nada! Not one piece of hunter loot dropped, seriously. Not a one. And to top it off, all the other hunters were pretty geared and probably would have passed on anything that I needed. Oh RNG, how I loath thee.

I did however get a trophy so I may farm some badges this weekend to upgrade my legs without losing the juicy T9 2-piece bonus.

Some random thangs:

• Warrior just crested level 76 and I’m having a blast with him. Protection warrior leveling and tanking is so active, I can see why so many really good tanks put warriors on a pedestal. It also has made me realize how boring my paladin tank is. Back to healing for joo!

• I just got a promotion at work, which will change my schedule to having evenings free. Depending on how things go, I might faction transfer said warrior to Alliance (yeah, yeah, I know), and rejoin Summit as an arms/prot, if they could still use me once he hits 80 and I learn how to be awesome at him. We’ll have to see, but it would be a lot of fun. Even if I don’t go to Summit, the opportunity to jump into a new raiding guild and/or PuGs will be nice.
• Trying to decide what my next alt leveling experience will be. I am amazed at how fast I leveled the warrior, so the task seems less daunting now. Though I’ve been shying away from pure DPS classes, I really want to try a rogue since they always beat me on the damn meters. But, a shaman or priest would be fun too. Though that might wait for Cataclysm, because a goblin shaman is just going to rock.
• To get back to hunter stuff, Pike has some really good hunters 4 dummies advice. I’m amazed at how clueless people are about the hunter class, as is evidenced at some of the posts on the official forums.
• 3.2.2 notes: Not sure how I feel about them constantly gimping instances that aren’t hard in the first place. I realize they’re trying to open their content to more new players and make it less of an annoyance to players that have run an instance hundreds of times, but come on. At some point people just have to deal with things as they were designed. And no updated stuff for hunters, QQ (then again no nerfs either).

That’s all I’ve got. Hopefully get to jump into some raids this weekend and perhaps get Hesston his first shots at the Plagueworks/Crimson Halls. If so, I’ll write some huntery things about it and possible a vid or two.

Categories: hunters, raids
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I jumped into our 10-man ICC last night and recorded our Gunship Battle kill. This fight is strange to watch because it’s often difficult to tell if you’re winning. We had more ranged so I wasn’t tasked with merely killing rifleman, and got to run around like a maniac–my favorite thing.

Categories: raids, videos
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So, after only having healed one ICC fight in 25-man I managed to find myself in a 10-man ICC guild run. Their hunter was AFK so they spammed trade for a fill in. I stepped up and assured them I could hold my own in the DPS department (though I will admit I was a little worried since I still had an Ulduar ranged weapon). However once we got in, I realized my DPS was fine. The ArmorPen spec and gear I am using right now does really well. Problem is, if I continue to get upgrades there is less and less ArP on hunter gear. Will probably have to scale it back and respec if I get more ICC/T-10 gear.

Speaking of the ranged weapon, I finally got rid of the gun and picked up the Njordnar Bone Bow. Really happy about this as I’ve needed a new ranged for some time. Though I do lose some ArP, the overall DPS increase is worth it. Plus arrows aren’t as noisy as bullets.

We one-shot everything but Saurfang, which took a few tries and the victory left me dead at the end (as you can see above). However, after being through all of the fights on my hunter I can now offer some tips. Of course, other guilds/groups may switch it up but this is how I saw things. Also, I’m only going to look at this from the 10-man perspective, including loot, since that’s what I saw.

Lord Marrowgar

This fight is relatively easy for hunters: stay at range, pew pew, get people down from bone spikes, run run run from fire…repeat. OK, not that easy. Everyone can stack near Marrowgar’s ass (if you can call it that), but hunters still have to stay at range. The best place to be is behind the folks standing close. Keep up the DPS and about 5 seconds before Bone Spike Graveyard you should close in so that if it cast on you the melee are closer and can get you down. If someone else gets spiked, immediately change targets and get them down.

Fire is easy to avoid, and if you are at this level of raiding it should be a simple matter of paying attention and moving. During Bone Storm avoid the fire first and Marrowgar second. If you can, continue to DPS. Right before Bone Storm is about to end, I throw a Misdirection on the tank picking him up and start firing. Keep this up and he should go down fairly easy.

Loot you may want
• Linked Scourge Vertebrae – Nice belt, with two sockets and some hit in case you need it to cap out or shuffle your spec around.
• Bone Warden’s Splitter – Nice axe to dual wield, if you’re into that. I’ve seen a few hunters with one of these and Quel’Delar (1H version), which is awesome for an ArmP setup. Would like to do that, but will have to pass on this unless there are no rogues, enhancement shamans or DW DKs in the group.

Lady Deathwhisper

At first this fight seems chaotic, as there are a lot of adds to remember, odd kill orders and other factors to consider at all moments. It’s even more hectic on 25-man. However, once you get a rhythm down it is relatively easy.

The first thing to know is that there will be Death and Decays going out all during the fight. This is the standard “get out of stuff on floor” part of this fight; move out of it! In 10-man, only one wave of 3 adds spawn at a time; adherents and fanatics. I believe we were tasked with killing the adherents first, then fanatics. If one casts Dark Martyrdom, try and burn them down ASAP. If they explode, they come back as skeletons immune to one type of damage. If it is a Fanatic, casters need to burn it down, if it is an Adherent, physical DPS (YOU) need to burn it down. Whenever there aren’t any adds up, DPS Deathwhisper to get her mana shield down. Once it is down, phase 2 begins.

During phase 2, burn burn burn. Deathwhisper will continue with DnDs, so move out of them. There will also be some untargetable spirits roaming around. Try and kite them if they are beating on you.

Loot you may want:
• Njordnar Bone Bow – Great bow with hit and crit. However, if you’re running around with a ranged from 25-man TotC, this will not be for you.
• Handgrips of Frost and Sleet – Yes please! Two red sockets (though bonus is meh), ArP and a lot of hit.

Gunship Battle

To be honest, I’m not sure of all of the factors going on in this fight. Rocket packs, cannons and craziness; that’s what I saw happening. My job was to kill the rifleman on the other ship. If this is your task, stand at the edge (but don’t fall off!), and just burn them down as they appear. After I got the first wave down, there was never more than two up. If your DPS is good enough you should be able to handle them solo. Call out for another ranged to help out if necessary. However, if your DPS is super duper and you get all of them down, you can turn around and help out with adds on your ship. The other ship will be firing rockets at you too. It puts a little mark on the ground similar to Mimiron rockets, just move aside. They’re super simple to avoid.

Seriously, I wish I had more advice on this fight. I didn’t even realize we’d won for a few minutes. Apparently though it’s not that hard, but I would like to experience this from a healer/tank perspective.

Loot you may want:
• Pauldrons of Lost Hope – Nice shoulders in the T10 model. ArP, haste and two sockets; not bad if don’t plan on getting the actual T10 shoulders any time soon.
• Icecrown Rampart Bracers – A red socket, more hit and crit. I think Blizzard is making up for the loss of ArP with the sockets and putting hit on items instead. This way, the ArP aspect of gear is left up to you through gems. I like this, as it gives more flexibility with some gear.

Deathbringer Saurfang

Now here’s where things get fun for hunters. Now, I love just DPS’ing as much as the next hunter, but being tasked with handling a specific mechanic in a fight is far more interesting to me. This fight gives hunters the chance to bring out some of their abilities which may be a little rusty.

Every 30 seconds Saurfang will summon two Blood Beasts. These need to be pulled and kited toward you and through a set Frost Trap. I positioned a few yards in front of the teleporter and would place my Frost Trap a few yards away from the bottom of the stairs. When the Blood Beasts spawned, we had one tank stun one of them while I used Distracting Shot to pull the other through the trap. You and the other DPS should burn it down and then kill the other one. If it gets too close, kite away and/or have a Boomkin Typhoon it back. It is VERY important that they don’t hit you or anyone else, as it gives Saurfang stacks of Blood Power. Hopefully you can kill the beasts in less than 15 seconds and can get back on the boss as much as possible before the next wave.

This is a mana intensive fight for hunters since you are using more abilities than normal, plus there isn’t much of a break to go into AotV. You want to do max DPS on Saurfang and kill the beasts as fast as possible. My suggestion, using a mana potion or, if totally necessary, use a Potion of Speed and go into AotV on Saurfang after you kill a wave of beasts. It’s hard, but can be done.

And damn it all if you get Mark of the Fallen Champion, which is what happened to me on our winning attempt. This person takes tons of damage and if they die Saurfang heals for 5% of his health. It sucks, but luckily I was the only one that died and they made it through. The guild I was with was pretty damn good and coordinated. So good in fact I decided to join them as a substitute after the run. So Hesston is in a guild again, w00t! Krakattoa might join him as well.

Loot you may want:
• Hauberk of a Thousand Cuts – Better than Crusader’s Dragonscale Breastplate, but not by much. The increased AP makes up for the lack of Agility, but the crit loss is made up as well. OK, maybe it is better. The loss of ArP is kind of bad, but if you need it there are the three sockets. I’d ignore the bonus.
• Saurfang’s Cold-Forged Band – Yes please! A socketed ring with a lot of AP, haste and ArP. Uh, I’d like this to go please.

So that’s what I know. The first gate of ICC is both challenging and fun and has a lot of great stuff for hunters. Can’t wait to see what the second wing has, if I can get in there. Take care, good hunting.

Categories: 3.3, PvE, guild, hunters, raids
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So after not being part of a raiding guild, I finally, finally, finally got to do a full clear of 25-man TotC. I know, it’s content everyone else has been farming already and the new raid is out. But I still haven’t been all the way through, until now. A guild of that I know has skilled members was filling some spots in a guild run so I figured what the hell.

The group formed nice and smooth, everyone hopped in vent and away we went. Minus one wipe on Faction Champs, first four bosses went down without a hitch. The RL said that they didn’t plan on going after Anub’Arak unless the DPS was high enough on first four bosses. Interestingly enough, every piece of hunter loot that I could use dropped, it was amazing.

But oh, did I forget to mention? I was on my fracking druid healing!

That’s right, both trips to a full TotC clear have NOT been on my hunter. As you may recall, I main tanked a few weeks ago, something I did not think I was capable of right now. But yeah, this time I was druid healing. I totally dig my druid and had a blast, but I do want to see how my DPS compares to others in a raid. Hesston’s gun is getting rusty damn it.

On the positive side, we did go and decide to give Anub’Arak a shot. What kind of shot you ask? Well a mofo one-shot, that’s what. Not only that, everyone was alive. And not only that, check out the overall for the entire raid meter to your left. Now I don’t put too much stock in healing meters because they don’t take into account a lot of factors, but I’m still pretty proud of that shit. Hell, I only started druid healing not too long ago. And hey, I even got a new belt out of the deal, as well as met some cool people.

This was a good test to see if I can raid heal and if my gear is ready to move in that direction. I am thinking of trying to join a raiding guild to see ICC with, but as a healer and not on Hesston. This was and will always be a hunter blog, but for now I’ve just decided it is just too hard to get into a raiding guild as not only a pure DPS class, but one of the most hated on of the pure DPS classes.

Plus, hunter DPS’ing just isn’t that challenging anymore. I recently put together an Armor Penetration spec with Hesston. It’s ridiculous how easy it is considering that once you have all the pieces, you take a shot OUT of your rotation to do more DPS. What!?

Like I said, I still love huntering, but until Cataclysm comes out and I do the great goblin hunter adventure, this blog might focus less on being a hunter and more about the life of my alts and WoW in general (unless of course something changes and I can raid on Hesston, because I would do it in a second). We’ll have to wait and see.

Take care. Good hunting.

Categories: PvE, alts, raids, screenshots
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So I finally ran a full, 10-man Trial of Crusader PuG.

On my paladin.

As the main tank.

In the words of many a WoW player: “Lol whut?”

Seriously, this was a very strange position to be in. In fact, the other pally tank had never tanked the place completely either. The rest of the party were clearly pretty hardcore raiders so we managed to blow through it with only two wipes. Once because the other tank picked up the wrong worm and once because the Faction Champs just got out of control.

I can see how people can be so frustratingly burnt out on this place right now. The layout of the room sucks, things get in the way of your camera at almost all angles and the bosses just aren’t that exciting. I’m amazed people have lasted this long. And 3.3 couldn’t come soon enough I imagine.

I passed on the tank loot that dropped since that was the other tanks main spec and Minalias just likes to tank on the side.

Hesston still wants/needs some gear out of here, but that probably won’t be happening. Still, this was fun to go through as a tank and good to know Minalias has the chops to do it.

Categories: raids, weekends
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So the other night the guild needed to fill one of their raid spots on 25-man Yogg. I’m no longer raider status since I can’t commit the time, but can jump in from time to time. They’d been practicing on Yogg a lot and have a pretty good strategy down, but he still did not fall. Regardless of how many guilds have downed him, Yoggy is a bitch. However, I had a blast doing it because I haven’t gotten to raid with this bunch in a long time and it was loads of fun. Some roles have changed, for the better I think, and it will be fun to jump in when I can. Barring any serious fallouts or unforeseen circumstances, I’ll probably stick with Summit well through 3.3 and Cataclysm.

Last night they needed a similar fill-in spot for Trial of the Crusader, something I haven’t got to do yet. We downed Lord Jaraxxus, the Faction Champions and the Twin Val’kyrs. I must say that the Faction Champs fight is really fun for some reason, it’s like doing PvP without actually doing PvP. Sadly, two juicy pieces of hunter loot dropped, the Lupine Longstaff and Sabatons of Ruthless Judgement, but huge upgrades for little old Hesston. However, I wasn’t eligible because I haven’t been raiding. The sad part is that our other hunter passed and both went to offspecs. I understand it still helps the raid overall, but come on, throw a dwarf who will rarely get to raid a bone.

I did however snag the sweet helm from Onyxia over the weekend, though it clashes a bit. And through badges I got the ilevel 232 T9 gloves, giving me a two-piece bonus. Serpent sting crits is so badass, especially as an MM hunter because SS is always up.

OK, I promised myself that if I started blogging here again it would be less about simply gear, raids, WoW news, etc. People can get that anywhere. I’d like to try and write a little more about why we WoW and what it means to people. I mean, in reality it’s all just a repetition of the same thing. So why? I point this question at myself as well, but that’s a conversation for another post.

Toodles.

Categories: guild, raids
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AKA, Ignis 2: Electric Boogaloo

Seriously Blizz, now that’s just lazy. At least try and make a new model.

Categories: patches, raids
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Yeah, kinda late considering he’s on farm. But, I figured I’d been missing our XT fights since I started recording (we usually kill him second). Plus, this is also a good example of managing light/gravity bombs and adds. My group was getting tons of both, so it was kinda hilarious.

Last night was also the first raid I’ve run with the 3.1.3 hunter changes, as well as a slightly altered Marksman spec. No Silencing Shot (I hardly ever use it since we have other, faster interrupts), and no points in improved barrage (my raid crit is 50%+ as it is). Instead, I specced down into Aspect Mastery using endurance training as the filler because more HP is always a plus. Definitely a DPS increase, but mostly due to less time in AotV and more time pew pewing. However MM is still a mana-hungry spec and needs more work, unless that is the intention by Blizzazrd. I enjoy the playstyle of it a lot more than Survival right now so I’m sticking with it.

We also did Mimiron for the first time since his changes. Waaaay fricking easier; we one-shot the poor bastard. If you haven’t downed him yet, but we were always close, you can definitely get him now.

Hopefully I’ll get home in time for Freya tonight and a chance at my T8.5 legs, like some people.

Categories: hunters, raids, videos
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Just being goofy with some clips of our first serious attempt at Yogg-Saron on 10-man. Sure, some guilds have him on farm already but I have no shame in saying he (she? it?) is a tough fight. Phase two is, of course, the big pain in the ass. We’ll get it eventually, of that I have no doubt.

Categories: raids, videos
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This is just a quick video of one of our 10-man Thorim kills, from the perspective of going down the hall. We were sort of goofin’ so don’t mind the random ready check and several misplaced traps. Oh, and the song is a bit cliché too, but it’s the most appropriate.

Categories: raids, videos
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