Today I decided to check out my old City of Heroes account since its a free weekend and as I pound the crap out of baddies with my scrapper, R. Reckless, trying to remember what does what I got to thinking about the things I used to do before I had WoW and what I miss about them. I've been a fan of role playing games since I first got into gaming and for a long time my experience was limited to turn based console RPGs from japan and they still hold the top spot in my heart but they are not alone in my nerd love. Before my friends ever talked me into playing an MMO in college I was first nudged into table top role playing. I think I probably miss that the most.
WoW is great for the friends I have made since I started playing but there is something I miss about the openess of the story and the way the players affect the ever changing story. There is cannon and rules of course but you dont have to stick to them and I liked that. My first table top experience was with Vampire and a good friend of mine really thought I would like trying it out. He was right of course and I fell in love with it all the minute I picked up the dice and rolled my first ever vampire with all her mind controlling glory and though I struggled with being put in a leadership position once i got used to having to think how my character would respond rather than how I would I really got into it all.
From there I got with more friends that liked to RP the superhero vision from Wihite Wolf called Abberant and part of me probably loved that more than Vampire. Abberant was very unforgiving as basically everybody you come in contact with is just like you, a super human freak of nature with some very flawed thoughts that usually lead to a whoever strikes first lives atmosphere to most of our outings. For example I happened to role a character that was very selfless the first time I played and as bad ass as she was we got in a fight and our leader was on the verge of being crushed. Now this guy could teleport to safety and all us playing knew this but he never told our ingame selves that little fact and as such I had to have my person react the way she would without knowing. One roll of the dice later he teleports and me and the big guy I chose to fight throwing super charged haymakers and him hitting me first. I dropped like a brick and they left me for dead. Its the split second fights like that that I loved about that game.
I tried D&D after that surprisingly and though I love my hunter without a doubt, I was all about the rogues in that game. I think i only played another class once the whole time I played. From there I started going to conventions and even tried my hand at LARPing (yes I did live action before don't judge me) and eventually got talked into playing City of Heroes for a year because of how much I loved playing Abberant.
I love and miss my table top games and the sound of the dice as we drank beer and laughed at critical failure rolls. You haven't truly geeked out till you have a medusa critically fail 2 rolls straight and end up cutting off a snake and having another bite her, or have an orge fail and drop the tree he is trying to crush you with and smash his buddy into ogre paste, or my personal favorite have a vampire freak himself out on a resist nightmare roll and piss himself kicking out the back door of an SUV before running 2 miles away shreeking like a little girl. That last one was know for staking a baby outside his club might I add.
I miss all this and though I am happy to a point it brough me to my warcraft bliss I truly long for the days of critical fails and "your alignment wouldn't do that" arguements as we wait for pizza. One day i want that back but until then I will settle for lore chatter in guild and wondering what Blizzard will give me next to lust after.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Heal or Kill
So since 3.1 came out I have been up to a bit of fun. Edy has been doing her Edy best to let Snuggles feast on as many hides as she can be it raiding, dailies, or teaching a dk that some of us DO still play BM specced. Ty, on the other hand, has been plunged head first into healing and its been quite the ride for her.
Since my runs of the reg 80 stuff my guild has seen fit to push me along the fast track of healing. I am asked to heal my first herioc by another tank in training and step foot for the first time as heals in heroic Gun Drak. We started out rocky again with me being a little too close when poison nova went off so I hit the ground like a drunk frat boy on a sunday morning and we wipe pretty fast. That out of the way everything went nice and smooth till the last boss when he decided non-shall pass and raped up royally. We got through that night because my friend was with us on his dk and went frost after the tank dropped which was just long enough to down him though the second time we did this run we had to call it after about 5 wipes just cause I couldn't keep up with the armor reduction that he puts on the tank and he would drop before I could get any sort of big heal or LoH off. I will get use to it in time I just need more practice and I have 2 great healers to which I am padawan and I know can give me tips on these types of things.
Last big test was an OS 10 man run where it started out with just me and our fearless GM healing and due to what I think was a glitch we wiped about 3 times on the first drake (I say glitch because the dps that went in the portal was hit so hard with the portal aoe they dropped as soon as they zoned and that didnt happen when I ran OS earlier that week on Edy). We get in a PUG druid to help but it might as well have just been me and Ru still because mostly the guy just overhealed the hell out of our MT and just kinda left raid healing in the air. In fact 3 drake I was pretty much solo healing the raid in the portal because the druid apparently thought the MT was way more important that the dps killing the drake even though it was apparent that he WASN'T going to drop. All in all it was a huge confidence boost to be able to keep up with real healers in that and definately made me happy.
On Edy's end I am still observing where I stand in a raid environment as a beast mastery hunter in a survival is king world. What I see as my answer is "pretty damn well". I haven't really had anybody try and preach to me the evils of BM in raiding since that lovely fellow of a lock in that Maly run but I still see people that swear by SV for raiding and I seen the numbers that "should" happen when you play SV. Armed with the knowledge of these numbers and a better concept of sv rotation I decided to give it another shot. I try it on the dummy and all works like its suppose to and I am indeed out dpsing my BM spec so I decide to give it a shot in H Oculus. Surprise, surprise same result as when I was in Maly. Damage was way sub-par to my BM damage and again I switch, leave my meter alone and just watch my dps catch the others in the run with just a few pulls. Sunday sealed the deal for me when my boyfriend asks me to run 25 Naxx with his guild and there is an SV hunter in much better gear than my own and I am not far behind him in the damage. So your girl stayed true to her BM tree and in turn Blizzard has worked out some of the kinks for her and she is onces again in a stable place. Is the spec perfect? No and Blizz is still working on some of the issues with pets and hunter mechanics in general. It is a set up from that depression BM entered with 3.0.8. That right there is all I need.
Since my runs of the reg 80 stuff my guild has seen fit to push me along the fast track of healing. I am asked to heal my first herioc by another tank in training and step foot for the first time as heals in heroic Gun Drak. We started out rocky again with me being a little too close when poison nova went off so I hit the ground like a drunk frat boy on a sunday morning and we wipe pretty fast. That out of the way everything went nice and smooth till the last boss when he decided non-shall pass and raped up royally. We got through that night because my friend was with us on his dk and went frost after the tank dropped which was just long enough to down him though the second time we did this run we had to call it after about 5 wipes just cause I couldn't keep up with the armor reduction that he puts on the tank and he would drop before I could get any sort of big heal or LoH off. I will get use to it in time I just need more practice and I have 2 great healers to which I am padawan and I know can give me tips on these types of things.
Last big test was an OS 10 man run where it started out with just me and our fearless GM healing and due to what I think was a glitch we wiped about 3 times on the first drake (I say glitch because the dps that went in the portal was hit so hard with the portal aoe they dropped as soon as they zoned and that didnt happen when I ran OS earlier that week on Edy). We get in a PUG druid to help but it might as well have just been me and Ru still because mostly the guy just overhealed the hell out of our MT and just kinda left raid healing in the air. In fact 3 drake I was pretty much solo healing the raid in the portal because the druid apparently thought the MT was way more important that the dps killing the drake even though it was apparent that he WASN'T going to drop. All in all it was a huge confidence boost to be able to keep up with real healers in that and definately made me happy.
On Edy's end I am still observing where I stand in a raid environment as a beast mastery hunter in a survival is king world. What I see as my answer is "pretty damn well". I haven't really had anybody try and preach to me the evils of BM in raiding since that lovely fellow of a lock in that Maly run but I still see people that swear by SV for raiding and I seen the numbers that "should" happen when you play SV. Armed with the knowledge of these numbers and a better concept of sv rotation I decided to give it another shot. I try it on the dummy and all works like its suppose to and I am indeed out dpsing my BM spec so I decide to give it a shot in H Oculus. Surprise, surprise same result as when I was in Maly. Damage was way sub-par to my BM damage and again I switch, leave my meter alone and just watch my dps catch the others in the run with just a few pulls. Sunday sealed the deal for me when my boyfriend asks me to run 25 Naxx with his guild and there is an SV hunter in much better gear than my own and I am not far behind him in the damage. So your girl stayed true to her BM tree and in turn Blizzard has worked out some of the kinks for her and she is onces again in a stable place. Is the spec perfect? No and Blizz is still working on some of the issues with pets and hunter mechanics in general. It is a set up from that depression BM entered with 3.0.8. That right there is all I need.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tell Me Of A Story
Ok I haven't posted in a bit cause I have been a little busy with WoW life itself but yesterday I read an interesting article at WoW Insider about with Varian Wrynn is Right in his continued hatred of all Horde. Though I found it a bit biased it was a well written article and I do agree with why it justifies Varian's hate. That wasn't what I found interesting however. I was intrigued by the political tone of the article as well as the fire it seemed to have lit under many a Horde and Alliance supporter alike and how black and white people seem to want to make the issue of lore. Yes, yes I know old habits die hard. Horde was bad for so long people just cant see our softer side. I also know Alliance is all holy rolly righteous with their deeds whether they be good or bad that its kinda hard to not see yourself as good verse everything that is not us. Its how the sides are written but there is much more depth there to see.
Horde is not "bad". We are messed up in numerous ways but not bad by any means. Horde is a bunch of black sheeps nobody wants. Orcs are still blood thirsty but they are a warrior race and old habits die hard. Not every orc can be as willing to let go of being a displaced warrior peoples that has a lot of bagage to deal what with whole "demons controlled my peoples" thing and all that brought with it. Trolls are kicked around alot and even the trolls of the Horde don't get along with their other cousins too much and are constantly having people (yes even my blood elves) kick them out of their homes. The Forsaken are probably the most aptly named of the Horde bcause of all they have been through. I mean really how would you feel if you where enslaved by the lich king in undead servatude, break free only to have your friends and loved ones start hunting you down no different than the very creatures that made you and then have nothing left to turn to but yourselves and alot of shady dealings to just survive. Not to mention what effect being dead have on one's mental state to begin with. Then there is my beloved Blood Elves that have been kicked out for thinking they where better and getting addicted to magic by their night elven cousins. Being fortunate enough to not turn into nagas (yes we are vain) surviving the illnesses that come with not being immortal anymore, finding a new home and having to fight trolls (yeah sorta sorry about that nothing personal) to keep it, team up with the alliance for a while then they leave us on our own to fend for ourselves, have our leader build us up then take the power for himself leaving those of us that wouldn't be bought by the power to try and rebuild YET again. Oh and did I mention we still have that pesky magic addiction?
All that said I wont claim we are saints by any means. Hell the most peaceful looking of all of us are Taurens and they have splinter factions of their own looming in the darkness. That said I think thats part of what drew me into this game. I like the grey areas. I live for the little things like the "yes I know this happened but this is why it happened and what the other side did". I love flaws in my stories cause it makes it interesting to me. If I wanted this is good faction and this is the bad one I would go back to city of heroes/villians.
Now I am Horde because I like how disfunctional we are. That to me is more interesting that when I spend time on the alliance side trying to convince myself that we are the law and how we see it is how it is. Thats not saying that the Alliance isn't without its flaws I just haven't paid as much attention to it (but probably will now this has peaked my interest) just pointing out the shades of gray I have noted in the time I have played.
Anyway back to the whole Varian thing. I thought it was interest people felt he needed to be defended in the first place. I personally think the guy is a hot head but that doesn't make him all wrong either. Its the finger pointing and the use of "horde/alliance appologizers" in the article and in the responses. Appologize for what? For the way the game was written? For the things Blizzard has personally written in that SHOW said areas of gray? Are we appologizing because we really can't make a black and white issue of such a thing? I dunno I just find appologizer to be a poor choice of word. And now that I have managed to lose my train of thought on the subject I think it would be worth while to maybe take time and examine both sides in the lore with more depth for myself and kinda note it here from time to time. I wouldn't hold my breath on it but its a thought.
Horde is not "bad". We are messed up in numerous ways but not bad by any means. Horde is a bunch of black sheeps nobody wants. Orcs are still blood thirsty but they are a warrior race and old habits die hard. Not every orc can be as willing to let go of being a displaced warrior peoples that has a lot of bagage to deal what with whole "demons controlled my peoples" thing and all that brought with it. Trolls are kicked around alot and even the trolls of the Horde don't get along with their other cousins too much and are constantly having people (yes even my blood elves) kick them out of their homes. The Forsaken are probably the most aptly named of the Horde bcause of all they have been through. I mean really how would you feel if you where enslaved by the lich king in undead servatude, break free only to have your friends and loved ones start hunting you down no different than the very creatures that made you and then have nothing left to turn to but yourselves and alot of shady dealings to just survive. Not to mention what effect being dead have on one's mental state to begin with. Then there is my beloved Blood Elves that have been kicked out for thinking they where better and getting addicted to magic by their night elven cousins. Being fortunate enough to not turn into nagas (yes we are vain) surviving the illnesses that come with not being immortal anymore, finding a new home and having to fight trolls (yeah sorta sorry about that nothing personal) to keep it, team up with the alliance for a while then they leave us on our own to fend for ourselves, have our leader build us up then take the power for himself leaving those of us that wouldn't be bought by the power to try and rebuild YET again. Oh and did I mention we still have that pesky magic addiction?
All that said I wont claim we are saints by any means. Hell the most peaceful looking of all of us are Taurens and they have splinter factions of their own looming in the darkness. That said I think thats part of what drew me into this game. I like the grey areas. I live for the little things like the "yes I know this happened but this is why it happened and what the other side did". I love flaws in my stories cause it makes it interesting to me. If I wanted this is good faction and this is the bad one I would go back to city of heroes/villians.
Now I am Horde because I like how disfunctional we are. That to me is more interesting that when I spend time on the alliance side trying to convince myself that we are the law and how we see it is how it is. Thats not saying that the Alliance isn't without its flaws I just haven't paid as much attention to it (but probably will now this has peaked my interest) just pointing out the shades of gray I have noted in the time I have played.
Anyway back to the whole Varian thing. I thought it was interest people felt he needed to be defended in the first place. I personally think the guy is a hot head but that doesn't make him all wrong either. Its the finger pointing and the use of "horde/alliance appologizers" in the article and in the responses. Appologize for what? For the way the game was written? For the things Blizzard has personally written in that SHOW said areas of gray? Are we appologizing because we really can't make a black and white issue of such a thing? I dunno I just find appologizer to be a poor choice of word. And now that I have managed to lose my train of thought on the subject I think it would be worth while to maybe take time and examine both sides in the lore with more depth for myself and kinda note it here from time to time. I wouldn't hold my breath on it but its a thought.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Tap Kills, Kills I Tap
I have the strangest urge to see if the guys are feeling a little frisky tonight.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Don't Worry Lil' Boy Snuggles Doesn't Bite.....Well Not The People that Feed Him That Is
Ok I am now the famed Edyion of Silvermoon as I have just completed my first city run for the ever so demanding Argent Tournament. Not that I am not used to quest givers sending me off to do their dirty work for them but at least the Argent folks and my own blood elven brethern found it in their hearts to recognize me with titles and money and a good ol' "thank you Edy for being our whipping girl you dun good". And as excited as I was to earn that title (you gotta be exalted with said city you represent and looky there already up and done that) the ever so kind Argent people decided to give me my own pet.
They failed to tell me he would be a child but lemons into lemon-aid I suppose.
But by god if he isn't a cute lil' devil.So here is what I have figured. The Argent Tournament is nothing but a cleaver ploy to get greedy...I mean patriotic players to come and fly their banners colors and get rid of most of the badies in the area then when all is said and done they ship an orphan off with that kind soul. One less mouth to feed and the new champion is left confused but somewhat honored.
I was in party with my boyfriend when I told him I had somehow been slipped a small child, to which he promptly responded "its not mine" and I rebutted "Hell I dont even think its mine looking at it". He did however see fit to name our "son" Link and I am doing my best to teach him the ways of his new job (also called "feed mama's pets and walk them cause she doesn't want to") though the poor kid does seem a little afraid of Snuggles but I am positive they will work it out as long as he remembers not to look Snuggs in the eye when he is in the middle of a cat lick and not to follow him around when he is trolling for druid kitties. As soon as he gets the hang of walking Gir and Enma at night I think we will get along just fine. And I promise to do minimal tramatizing to the poor boy we I can avoid it.
Oh Argent Crusade you know not what you have done.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Isn't That Interesting
Well the last two days I have had the opportunity to actively use dual spec and I must say its shown me something interesting. Yes, it's still buggy but it simply clears my pet points on Edy so that's something I can deal with and with Ty I have yet to have any issues arise.
Starting with Ty, I've gotten to heal two instances with some guildies and my boyfriend for some practice and I think I'm starting to get the hang of healing a bit better. We did Culling of Stratholme and Utgarde Pinnacle today and both went very well. Only one real wipe happened when Meathook decided I was his special friend and he wanted to keep me in place with his chains so I couldn't keep up at all with the healing but other than that nothing else went too wrong. Had a few "fugde!" moments but I managed to heal through them and general I think it went well and I will love healing with Ty at this rate.
Edy on the other hand had a rather interesting night of discovery in my second venture into Maly's house. I noticed something odd the other day when I set up my second spec for SV but I didn't think too much about it. I dont know a thing about SV dps so I figured I just didnt have much of a rotation to see the dps that supposed to be there. I tried once in Naxx to use SV and had the exact same low dps problem so again I chalked it up to not really knowing the spec. Last night proved there was an issue however. From the first time I went in EoE I knew dpsing as a BM hunter was gonna be a problem just because I am so dependant on my pet and that is not really a very pet friendly fight so I decided what better place to open up SV and see what its got for me than a fight I have to dps more on my own. So I did and I was almost shocked by how bad I did. Even not knowing a good rotation I should have done alot better dps than 1.6k in that fight but 1.6k is exactly what I got and my damage was laughable. So one wipe down I say bump that and switch back to BM and summon Gaz and her space lazer so my pet has some range on it. At this point there was a little down time since one of our healers was in a foul mood and decided to opt out to calm himself and one of the warlocks takes an interest in me being in bm mode:
Him: Bm is bad you should be SV fo sho.
Me: I was in SV that last fight. I only got 1.6k dps that whole time so I am switching.
Him: But BM is bad... (pause) in your gear you should do way more in SV than you can in BM.
Me: Thats nice but it wasn't working so lets see how this works. I dont know SV very well anyway.
Him: Whats to know? Black Arrow, serpent sting, explosive shot, steady shot, multi shot rinse repeat
Me: Yes thats what I was basically doing so now I am gonna try this and see how it goes I know I can do my part of the dps in BM
At this point he leaves me be for the next five minutes then decides "she is a retard i am all knowing and as such will embarasse her infront of all present" and calls me out in vent on it. I just smile and nod. This dude is from a guild I have run with before and in general dont like because they are know it alls so I just wait for us to start. So we do and we wipe before second phase because we just dont have the right heals for it. And after I bring it up again in raid chat.
Me: See I did 2.1k just in that little span and 2xs the damage.
Him: indeed you did....odd...
(silience)
We called it after that because they had been there a while I was asked to come help dps and over all it went well its just some of us didnt know the fight so 3rd phase killed us the first wipe i was in and we just didnt have the heals for the 2nd attempt. And as much as I dislike people imposing "you are stupid this is how it is done" on people its just as nice to shut them up by showing them you might not know what you think you know. There are probably many reasons sv isnt working for me. One is I dont know how to be a SV hunter but even so that wouldn't explain the crap dps numbers. Doesnt matter at much though even with my lack of knowledge of the shots I do have a basic understanding of rotation so it still should have been resonable. Two dual spec is buggy there could be something wrong with it making it not recognize everything I have set up or ranks or something cause I have every skill purchased to level. Three, it might be the nerf to explosive shot hit just as hard as I was expecting it to and thats why it is doing so poorly. Time will tell
Starting with Ty, I've gotten to heal two instances with some guildies and my boyfriend for some practice and I think I'm starting to get the hang of healing a bit better. We did Culling of Stratholme and Utgarde Pinnacle today and both went very well. Only one real wipe happened when Meathook decided I was his special friend and he wanted to keep me in place with his chains so I couldn't keep up at all with the healing but other than that nothing else went too wrong. Had a few "fugde!" moments but I managed to heal through them and general I think it went well and I will love healing with Ty at this rate.
Edy on the other hand had a rather interesting night of discovery in my second venture into Maly's house. I noticed something odd the other day when I set up my second spec for SV but I didn't think too much about it. I dont know a thing about SV dps so I figured I just didnt have much of a rotation to see the dps that supposed to be there. I tried once in Naxx to use SV and had the exact same low dps problem so again I chalked it up to not really knowing the spec. Last night proved there was an issue however. From the first time I went in EoE I knew dpsing as a BM hunter was gonna be a problem just because I am so dependant on my pet and that is not really a very pet friendly fight so I decided what better place to open up SV and see what its got for me than a fight I have to dps more on my own. So I did and I was almost shocked by how bad I did. Even not knowing a good rotation I should have done alot better dps than 1.6k in that fight but 1.6k is exactly what I got and my damage was laughable. So one wipe down I say bump that and switch back to BM and summon Gaz and her space lazer so my pet has some range on it. At this point there was a little down time since one of our healers was in a foul mood and decided to opt out to calm himself and one of the warlocks takes an interest in me being in bm mode:
Him: Bm is bad you should be SV fo sho.
Me: I was in SV that last fight. I only got 1.6k dps that whole time so I am switching.
Him: But BM is bad... (pause) in your gear you should do way more in SV than you can in BM.
Me: Thats nice but it wasn't working so lets see how this works. I dont know SV very well anyway.
Him: Whats to know? Black Arrow, serpent sting, explosive shot, steady shot, multi shot rinse repeat
Me: Yes thats what I was basically doing so now I am gonna try this and see how it goes I know I can do my part of the dps in BM
At this point he leaves me be for the next five minutes then decides "she is a retard i am all knowing and as such will embarasse her infront of all present" and calls me out in vent on it. I just smile and nod. This dude is from a guild I have run with before and in general dont like because they are know it alls so I just wait for us to start. So we do and we wipe before second phase because we just dont have the right heals for it. And after I bring it up again in raid chat.
Me: See I did 2.1k just in that little span and 2xs the damage.
Him: indeed you did....odd...
(silience)
We called it after that because they had been there a while I was asked to come help dps and over all it went well its just some of us didnt know the fight so 3rd phase killed us the first wipe i was in and we just didnt have the heals for the 2nd attempt. And as much as I dislike people imposing "you are stupid this is how it is done" on people its just as nice to shut them up by showing them you might not know what you think you know. There are probably many reasons sv isnt working for me. One is I dont know how to be a SV hunter but even so that wouldn't explain the crap dps numbers. Doesnt matter at much though even with my lack of knowledge of the shots I do have a basic understanding of rotation so it still should have been resonable. Two dual spec is buggy there could be something wrong with it making it not recognize everything I have set up or ranks or something cause I have every skill purchased to level. Three, it might be the nerf to explosive shot hit just as hard as I was expecting it to and thats why it is doing so poorly. Time will tell
Friday, April 17, 2009
Trust
Ok now that I most mentally awake and a little less pissy (still pissy but thats my natural state) I was sitting here thinking about something as I watched Project Lore and thought about me and a few guildies start into achievements in heroics last night as well as my Naxx run this week. Something clicked with me as something that is partly missing from WoW of late and thats the trust factor.
Now is there anything in paticular I want to address which trust in WoW? Not really this is more of an observation. Trust amongst people you run with is something that just happens as you keep playing with them whether it be pvp or pve. The more you are with a player the more you learn how they react to certain things. I mentioned this before in my "why I am BM" post in reference to my tanks and healers in guild. They have been running with me almost as long as I have been playing this game and it shows cause in the never fail oh crap moment I already know how they will react and vice versa. This makes communication much easier and its also easier to deal with new guys to the guild or pug memebers cause in general no matter what happens at least we dont have to worry about what the people we trust will do as we will all adjust accordingly. Now moving outside of the guild we get into PUG land and in general there is no trust in that vast barren wasteland. You could get a seasoned pro that is well aware of how to handle themselves in a group situation, or you could get the lone gunner that is determed to one man everything (even seen a healer do this before) and ignore the rest of the party and then my favorite the guy that you would swear brought his account or stole a friend's cause he has no damn idea what anything does on his toon or in the run. Trust is still a factor in said situation whether you realize it or not.
If you are in a group you have a certain amount of expectation of how your group memebers are to behave. Mind you, its not like we go in a PUG expecting people that are the top of the top but you do expect say a hunter (can your comments on huntards I've heard and seen them all) to lets say understand his pet is not tank and can kill you all so he should be in control of said pet, or another example, a DK on dps should know better than to be death gripping a tanks pull if the tank didnt tell them too and of course he shouldnt be in frost presense if he isnt the tank. Little things about a class you should have learned by now. This might be asking too much though so a player may have to adjust accordingly to deal with this and if you are in a group with other compitant players they will "trust" you to at least have the since to do the same and not add to the problem at least. Its not on the same level as say what I have built with my M.A.S. family but it is there wheither you notice it or not and its very clear when there are issues with trust in a PUG member as well as sometimes someone that was doing well decides to save the day and start doing the exact same thing as the person causing the problem. Runs like that really make you apreciate that trust with people you know a lot more I can tell ya.
Now getting back to my Naxx run I have developed a similar trust core with another guild I have pugged with a few times in the past. Now being a hunter I automatically get the short end of the trust stick as many before me have burned bridges for the class long before I ever picked up a bow so we I am brought into a PUG I am very much on my toes and hopefully on my A-game so there isnt an issue with them ever having a reason to point a finger at the "huntard". So running with this particular was a bit stressful the first time. I was asked to by a guildie (who was dced not long after leaving me to fend alone) and I had never been in Naxx old world or new then I was asked to do all the hunt-tanking things first go cause the original hunter had to leave. I apparently did well enough to gain their trust as well because scene then they have actively asked me to run various things and openly back my skills. Its a nice feeling to make that kind of empression on people you dont know that well.
Now gaining trust is not an easy mission to do. For instance as I told you before my play style is built on flexiblity so I can help keep the healer safe from stray mobs /adds in fights until a tank can get to them or I can kill or kite the thing to the tank. That is incredibly hard to do with a running healer especially when the healer runs away from me and the tank in panic. I had a priest in my guild at one point and this was a huge problem with me and him. Priest X squishy + running away fromt he people that can save him = dead. I tried to build up that trust with him but it never quite gelled unfortunately though he was starting to get used to it before he parted ways with us but to his defense he didn't have any experience prior to 80 of instance healing really so he was still learning everything as opposed to Eus and Ruhtra which had other members with an understanding of hunter play similar to myself, in fact I learned from them in the first place.
One last thing I wanna say about trust goes back to the guild I run Naxx with. They have a druid healer and I have grown to trust him to be my partner in my hunt-tanking parts like kiting the adds on Gluth and tanking the back on the 4 horsemen. I know unless everything else has gone to hell I will not die and he knows when I am kiting there will never be a zombie on him longer than it takes me to target and pull it off. Its a nice relationship and I really saw how much I trusted him when we had to switch healers for one of the many wipes on the horsemen we had this time. We only had 2 heals, both trees, and a shammy trying to off heal in the front and it was not working and once the other tree got in the back with me I saw why. He was a good healer and all but when the pressure was on he just couldnt keep up and actually gave up healing the back killing us both and wiping the group. I dont think I would ever want to have a situation where he was solo healing myself and himself again for that and i was more than pleased when he refused to go back to the back with me again and I got my favorite tree back again. I dunno it just interesting to sit and think about how you trust people in a video game you have never met before in general. Maybe I just pay too much attention to human interaction :).
Now is there anything in paticular I want to address which trust in WoW? Not really this is more of an observation. Trust amongst people you run with is something that just happens as you keep playing with them whether it be pvp or pve. The more you are with a player the more you learn how they react to certain things. I mentioned this before in my "why I am BM" post in reference to my tanks and healers in guild. They have been running with me almost as long as I have been playing this game and it shows cause in the never fail oh crap moment I already know how they will react and vice versa. This makes communication much easier and its also easier to deal with new guys to the guild or pug memebers cause in general no matter what happens at least we dont have to worry about what the people we trust will do as we will all adjust accordingly. Now moving outside of the guild we get into PUG land and in general there is no trust in that vast barren wasteland. You could get a seasoned pro that is well aware of how to handle themselves in a group situation, or you could get the lone gunner that is determed to one man everything (even seen a healer do this before) and ignore the rest of the party and then my favorite the guy that you would swear brought his account or stole a friend's cause he has no damn idea what anything does on his toon or in the run. Trust is still a factor in said situation whether you realize it or not.
If you are in a group you have a certain amount of expectation of how your group memebers are to behave. Mind you, its not like we go in a PUG expecting people that are the top of the top but you do expect say a hunter (can your comments on huntards I've heard and seen them all) to lets say understand his pet is not tank and can kill you all so he should be in control of said pet, or another example, a DK on dps should know better than to be death gripping a tanks pull if the tank didnt tell them too and of course he shouldnt be in frost presense if he isnt the tank. Little things about a class you should have learned by now. This might be asking too much though so a player may have to adjust accordingly to deal with this and if you are in a group with other compitant players they will "trust" you to at least have the since to do the same and not add to the problem at least. Its not on the same level as say what I have built with my M.A.S. family but it is there wheither you notice it or not and its very clear when there are issues with trust in a PUG member as well as sometimes someone that was doing well decides to save the day and start doing the exact same thing as the person causing the problem. Runs like that really make you apreciate that trust with people you know a lot more I can tell ya.
Now getting back to my Naxx run I have developed a similar trust core with another guild I have pugged with a few times in the past. Now being a hunter I automatically get the short end of the trust stick as many before me have burned bridges for the class long before I ever picked up a bow so we I am brought into a PUG I am very much on my toes and hopefully on my A-game so there isnt an issue with them ever having a reason to point a finger at the "huntard". So running with this particular was a bit stressful the first time. I was asked to by a guildie (who was dced not long after leaving me to fend alone) and I had never been in Naxx old world or new then I was asked to do all the hunt-tanking things first go cause the original hunter had to leave. I apparently did well enough to gain their trust as well because scene then they have actively asked me to run various things and openly back my skills. Its a nice feeling to make that kind of empression on people you dont know that well.
Now gaining trust is not an easy mission to do. For instance as I told you before my play style is built on flexiblity so I can help keep the healer safe from stray mobs /adds in fights until a tank can get to them or I can kill or kite the thing to the tank. That is incredibly hard to do with a running healer especially when the healer runs away from me and the tank in panic. I had a priest in my guild at one point and this was a huge problem with me and him. Priest X squishy + running away fromt he people that can save him = dead. I tried to build up that trust with him but it never quite gelled unfortunately though he was starting to get used to it before he parted ways with us but to his defense he didn't have any experience prior to 80 of instance healing really so he was still learning everything as opposed to Eus and Ruhtra which had other members with an understanding of hunter play similar to myself, in fact I learned from them in the first place.
One last thing I wanna say about trust goes back to the guild I run Naxx with. They have a druid healer and I have grown to trust him to be my partner in my hunt-tanking parts like kiting the adds on Gluth and tanking the back on the 4 horsemen. I know unless everything else has gone to hell I will not die and he knows when I am kiting there will never be a zombie on him longer than it takes me to target and pull it off. Its a nice relationship and I really saw how much I trusted him when we had to switch healers for one of the many wipes on the horsemen we had this time. We only had 2 heals, both trees, and a shammy trying to off heal in the front and it was not working and once the other tree got in the back with me I saw why. He was a good healer and all but when the pressure was on he just couldnt keep up and actually gave up healing the back killing us both and wiping the group. I dont think I would ever want to have a situation where he was solo healing myself and himself again for that and i was more than pleased when he refused to go back to the back with me again and I got my favorite tree back again. I dunno it just interesting to sit and think about how you trust people in a video game you have never met before in general. Maybe I just pay too much attention to human interaction :).
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Blizzard We Have a Problem
Well I was gonna post this yesterday....and I would have. I ran into a problem however. Naxxramas decided it liked me and my raid. It wouldn't let us go. FOR HOURS. I must have set a record for continuous volley at somewhere around a hour and 30 mins. Nothing like lagging out when you have full on aggro with a horseman on a trash pull. Oh by the way, this happened to us about 4 times. Gotta love patches.
All bitching aside (I have to stop now I or I will start grumbling about that damn sword that refuses to drop for me) 3.1 has brought me some happiness. Dual spec has arived and Ty has gone ret/holy and I can't wait to start learning. Edy has the Argent Tournament to keep her busy as I countinue to feed her need for mounts and pets. I feel refreshed for now. Its not all roses however. The Naxx thing wasn't really that big a deal to me honestly. Instance lock-up are just a fact of life for WoW life after a patch and I must admit with all that this patch has brought with it. Add-ons authors where on the ball and have updated everything in a very timely manner which I will admit blows my mind (specially with all the ungrateful users that seem to think the people have nothing better to do that be bitched at cause the didn't have a fix the very minute the patch hits) and i had all mine I use working in a matter of an hour. My main gripe is that dual spec really doesn't work for a hunter too well. Yes we can ds and I have it however the problem that is killing me and preventing me from actually using my ds is that my pets dont work as well. I have to go through a lot of hell to get my pet's spec to match mine. Most of the time the spec wont change like it is suppose to when I say go from BM to SV. Well what is suppose to happen is say Snuggles is out his spec would change with mine too. That doesnt happen. I switch several not suppose to do that things happen at random. ONCE it worked right. The very first time I used it. After that I have had my pet lose all his points when i switched (which i prefer of the things that have happened) and had the talent points carry from one spec to the other which in turn WIPES all my pet spells and makes me have to go all the way to a city with a pet trainer and respec my damn pet. I mean come on why has it got to be that hard to do a simple dual spec switch????
Now what is it I can do about this? Well first off I could just use that nifty new spell I just got, call stable, and just have a pet I specifically wanna use for my off spec. Oh wait, that has a frickin 30 minute cooldown. Hmm so since I set up my DS so in a fight when I cant really depend on my pet I have an out I would basically be stuck for 30 minutes in one spec while others dance from spec to spec on the fly. I call BULL. So here is what I do. I stay BM and wait a month (hopefully just weeks) for Blizzard to say "hmm we might wanna fix this" so I can affectively switch my specs or I just keep looking for another way to make it work for me. Oh well I still have the tournament.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Crazy Tasty Creepy
Ok today will be a post out of the norm for what I have intended Code Red to be about, but as the server is still down and I waiting to get into the great 3.1 goodness I have found myself with some free time. Now as usual when I find myself unable to get my WoW fix I fall back into what is one of my original drugs, horror movies.
I have done a few drafts of this post. Most were long rants of why I have a problem with American horror of late but I decided against that. So instead of going with the usual bitching I figured I might as well plug a few movies that stand out amongst the steaming piles of crap and even more crappy/gimmicky remakes:
Repo! A Genetic Opera
Not purely horror if you are looking for a scare but tops my list of must see just because its so amazing. I mean come on any movie that can make Paris Hilton look like a GOOD actress has to have something going for it. Its a rock opera along the lines of those from 70s cult fame and its done by the guys that brought is the original Saw movies. Yes is a musical and what not but its got your gore its got your story its got the good period. Watch it. Then judge.
Bruiser
This is the film that George Ramero made before Land of the Dead and being a fan of his work I checked it out. Movie focuses on a man who's life is basically a lie and everyone he is close to walks on him like a doormat till one morning he wakes up and there is a white mask-like face where his used to be. From there he decides he has some "accounts" to settle. Reminded me a little of American Psycho but not really. Thats just the only movie I can think of that comes close to how this feels. Its weird and entertaining so I recommend giving it a shot.
The Burrowers
You know honestly I was kinda surprised I liked this one. I don't really like westerns and I am not thrilled when my horror gets western on it but this one was pretty good. Its not a movie to look for jumps and is more of a drama with some beasties thrown in with a good spattering of "well thats just messed up" on top. Story revolves around this settlement in the west and they are attacked by what they think is idians and a search party is sent out to find the missing women and children from the families that where attacked. As they search men start being picked off in the night without a trace. The only clues are strange holes and stories from the indians of "Burrowers".
From Within
This one was shown in last year's Hororfest and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the more interesting horror movies I have seen in a few years. In this one we have a small bible belt type town where a rash of suicides has begun to plague these God fearing people and whispers are beginning to spead. Whispers of a dark dark sin that has been commited.
Yeah I am not that great at the whole synopses thing but I definetely wanted to give a shot for these movies. Award worthy? No....well Repo is but the others not so much. I just think they are worth spreading the word about incase there are other horror buffs like me with some time to kill. Who knows I might do this again if I find something else I feel is worth the time.
I have done a few drafts of this post. Most were long rants of why I have a problem with American horror of late but I decided against that. So instead of going with the usual bitching I figured I might as well plug a few movies that stand out amongst the steaming piles of crap and even more crappy/gimmicky remakes:
Repo! A Genetic Opera
Not purely horror if you are looking for a scare but tops my list of must see just because its so amazing. I mean come on any movie that can make Paris Hilton look like a GOOD actress has to have something going for it. Its a rock opera along the lines of those from 70s cult fame and its done by the guys that brought is the original Saw movies. Yes is a musical and what not but its got your gore its got your story its got the good period. Watch it. Then judge.
Bruiser
This is the film that George Ramero made before Land of the Dead and being a fan of his work I checked it out. Movie focuses on a man who's life is basically a lie and everyone he is close to walks on him like a doormat till one morning he wakes up and there is a white mask-like face where his used to be. From there he decides he has some "accounts" to settle. Reminded me a little of American Psycho but not really. Thats just the only movie I can think of that comes close to how this feels. Its weird and entertaining so I recommend giving it a shot.
The Burrowers
You know honestly I was kinda surprised I liked this one. I don't really like westerns and I am not thrilled when my horror gets western on it but this one was pretty good. Its not a movie to look for jumps and is more of a drama with some beasties thrown in with a good spattering of "well thats just messed up" on top. Story revolves around this settlement in the west and they are attacked by what they think is idians and a search party is sent out to find the missing women and children from the families that where attacked. As they search men start being picked off in the night without a trace. The only clues are strange holes and stories from the indians of "Burrowers".
From Within
This one was shown in last year's Hororfest and I'll be damned if it wasn't one of the more interesting horror movies I have seen in a few years. In this one we have a small bible belt type town where a rash of suicides has begun to plague these God fearing people and whispers are beginning to spead. Whispers of a dark dark sin that has been commited.
Yeah I am not that great at the whole synopses thing but I definetely wanted to give a shot for these movies. Award worthy? No....well Repo is but the others not so much. I just think they are worth spreading the word about incase there are other horror buffs like me with some time to kill. Who knows I might do this again if I find something else I feel is worth the time.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Code Red: What It Is and Why You Have Been Warned
Ok so after looking over some older posts and thinking about it I have realized I have made a great omission dear reader. I never told you exactly "what" a Code Red is and why I felt the need to name my blog after it. No, it has nothing to do with Mountain Dew though I have been known to drink a code red dew from time to time, no its not medical related, and originally it actually had nothing to do with M.A.S. itself though they may believe otherwise :).
What "Code Red" refers to is an inside joke between me and my partner in crime in Daggerspine and my favorite suicidal healer, Eus. After she began dragging me around the lands of Azeroth and into M.A.S. I randomly realized something about us in my vast nerd mind. I realized the way we ran around when I was helping her hit the 70 cap was a hell of a lot like two of my favorite DC comics characters, one Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. She being Harley for the fact she is slightly insane, scares the piss out of poor Edy more often than not, gets me in way more trouble than I could manage on my own, and likes to make things taste her mace (doesn't help her husband is very Joker-esque). That being said Edy became Ivy cause of her red hair (Harley has blonde so Eus's white hair worked there), her best laid plans going ary due to one crazy partner, and though I too am crazy (just as Ivy is) I am much more planned in my chaos. Now with this history told and if you have any knowlegde of said characters you know Harley has a habit of simply calling Poison Ivy "red", and as such when 3.0.2. hit Eus wasn't all that happy when the Ed went black since I always wished that I had made her hair black from the start.
Now Eus was a good sport about it all and Edy switched back and worth depending on my mood but after her account was hacked and Eus was taken away for a short time I felt really lost without the Lucy to my Ethel. I had just gone red again and was concidering going black Ed in memory of the lost pally till it all worked out but never got around to it and as such she got her account back and all was good again. Then one day I told her I was gonna do the black hair again and she told me "Hell no" pretty much. I asked her why and she said well it was cool if I wanted to but if there was PVP hell to raise I would have to have the red hair again. It wouldn't be Harley and Ivy without it. After alot of back and forth and finally I caved but wondered how I would know if it was the BIG oh shit pvp or just her wanting to drag me into a random ass fight and she told me she would call a Code Red. So I agreed. I had no idea she would actually hold me to it....though thinking back I was stupid to think she woudn't. I went to another color of hair and sure enough like a day later she called a Code Red (which confused the hell out of the guild might I add) but being an Ed of my word I came a-runnin' and went straight to the barber to bring out the red Ed and off I went to die, Snuggles in tow.
From there the Code Reds got a bit out of hand and I couldn't do anything for gettting called to fight, which is fine and all but damn a woman needs a break from time to time. Other guildies started wanting to call them as well to which I had to speak up. So we made rules.
*Code Red can only be called by Eus (or a Eusy alt) to be official. Even Ed herself can not call a Code Red but simply beg for some assistance (ya I've had this happen before....ny guild found it damn funny the red in the code red couldn't call it. But seriously how the hell can I call myself into action?)
*Edyion is not obligated to answer any non-Eus issued Code Reds and as such she may or may not come running depending on how pissy she is that day.
*To ask for a Code Red to be called you better have a damn good reason. Edy is sworn to answer any and all official Code Reds and as such will be highly upset if she left an alt in the middle of nowhere or stop making money to hope on Edyion and come a running.
*There is no mercy in a Code Red. If it is red it is dead. Level is no longer a concern. If M.A.S. is answering a Code Red (mostly if i have been dragged out here) then there will be blood the time for nice has been and gone.
Now i did have to put my foot down at one point in my responses to Code Reds as Eus was getting a bit trigger happy and wearing my ass out. At one point it was like every day at least once a day a Code Red was called and there is only so much PVP I can handle before the bitch in me comes out and I change Edy to the black Ed and ignore everybody. So I managed to get it scaled back a little and the guild has grown to expect and look for Code Reds and as such we tend to get good turn out for Code Red alerts. In general all guildies stay till we all get bored or something more pressing comes up and they have to leave. We might be called to one area for the Code Red (usually Tarren Mill) but a Code Red is not a stationary thing and usually branches out into roaming from one side of Azeroth to another leaving no survivors in our wake. Ended up in the Alliance start zone in Howling Fjord one time cause of that.....good times *smiles to self*.
And now that I have lost my train of thought THAT my friensd it what a "Code Red" is, how it works and why allies have been warned. We dont win every fight but we dont give up very easily either. If you camp a M.A.S.ter you have been warned and better be looking for a fight cause if ther is a Code Red we will sure as hell be looking to bring you one.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
The Way of the Ed
Well after a few days of trying to figure out just what the hell it is I want to talk about I finally settled down to decide I should address my play style (specially since I cant seem to get in a raid for crap these days and when I do people are so busy pointing fingers its a bad one anyway).
Edyion:
Well for starts Edy is a beast mastery hunter as I am sure you are well aware of by now. Yes I did not succumb to the temptation of the survival numbers. Close a few times (hell even as I type this I'm thinking about it) but I am stubborn and don't like to have my game dictated to me as to what I should and shouldn't spec since its blah blah blah fludda fludda. I started out BM as a tip on leveling from a friend of mine when I started playing. From there I began to really enjoy actually having to multitask to be affective and the utility of having a pet that wouldn't simply die in 3 hits whether it be solo or in a group and even possibly off tank something on the healer until the tank could get to it or I could get it to the tank.
Now without getting into the old "overpowered" BM of 3.0.2. and the great nerf of 3.0.8. I will admit we did need the nerf to a degree. The exstint to which we got hammered was way too much though and we are still working to recover verses the explosive shot in terms of dps. On average in a raid I will never be close to out dpsing a SV hunter and I have excepted this after much fustration and what I felt to be set backs since even equally geared I am easily run into the ground at the moment but I do hold my own. Which of course brings me back to why I remained BM in the face of all this.
Its simple. I like the utility.
I might not be pumping out the dps at the moment (will see how that holds up when 3.1. finally reaches us as I had to give up the PTR for various fustrating reasons) but my pet is still more sturdy than that of a the other hunter trees and I have perks that come in very handy on a PVP server and when I actually do decide I wish to battleground or arena. Most of all since I love instancing my pet is like a build in off tank and does very well at it. I have a very very tight relationship with my guildmates I have known the longest and in particular our few remaining tanks and our long suffering healers, and as such they have grown to trust my play style. I learned to pick up add slack and to be the flexible hunter in a run that I am now. Now I don't get the buffs of the MM and SV trees for party benefit, such as True Shot Aura and Hunting Party, which probably also hurts my raid utility some. My pet also has to be alive for me to benefit from the ap boosts, which can be a bit of a pain but at the same time since my pet takes more of a beating huntanking is more manageble for my spec than others, so in essence you are getting 2 of me for the price of one.
Now am I one that pays a ton of attention to the mechanics and math of dps? No. Math is not my thing and I sure as hell dont play this game to crunch numbers. My dps is not the top in most cases and unless something is really off or I am completely out of commission I will not be the bottom either. I am stable upper middle dps. Would I like to be the top? Who wouldn't? Its not the end of my world that I am not. Is my spec perfect? Not by any means, but my spec is set to a way that I am comfortable with. I am fortunate enough to be a guild that isn't overly concerned with those things as other more "hardcore" are. I have run with numerous other guilds and for the most part they like the way I play because, again, I am dependable and flexable.
With Dual spec I do intend to experiment more and fully learn the Marksman and Survival trees but will I be giving up Beast Mastery? Highly unlikely. With the knowledge of these trees I will be able to better improve how I do certain things I am sure. Would I be able to give you the exact numbers and mechanics of my spec? Hell no. Never said I was the hunter grand puhbah. There are sites for that. I'm just trying to give a little insight into the inner workings of the brain of an Ed.
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That said I think i will give a little insight into the things I do with Tytanya at some point as well.
Edyion:
Well for starts Edy is a beast mastery hunter as I am sure you are well aware of by now. Yes I did not succumb to the temptation of the survival numbers. Close a few times (hell even as I type this I'm thinking about it) but I am stubborn and don't like to have my game dictated to me as to what I should and shouldn't spec since its blah blah blah fludda fludda. I started out BM as a tip on leveling from a friend of mine when I started playing. From there I began to really enjoy actually having to multitask to be affective and the utility of having a pet that wouldn't simply die in 3 hits whether it be solo or in a group and even possibly off tank something on the healer until the tank could get to it or I could get it to the tank.
Now without getting into the old "overpowered" BM of 3.0.2. and the great nerf of 3.0.8. I will admit we did need the nerf to a degree. The exstint to which we got hammered was way too much though and we are still working to recover verses the explosive shot in terms of dps. On average in a raid I will never be close to out dpsing a SV hunter and I have excepted this after much fustration and what I felt to be set backs since even equally geared I am easily run into the ground at the moment but I do hold my own. Which of course brings me back to why I remained BM in the face of all this.
Its simple. I like the utility.
I might not be pumping out the dps at the moment (will see how that holds up when 3.1. finally reaches us as I had to give up the PTR for various fustrating reasons) but my pet is still more sturdy than that of a the other hunter trees and I have perks that come in very handy on a PVP server and when I actually do decide I wish to battleground or arena. Most of all since I love instancing my pet is like a build in off tank and does very well at it. I have a very very tight relationship with my guildmates I have known the longest and in particular our few remaining tanks and our long suffering healers, and as such they have grown to trust my play style. I learned to pick up add slack and to be the flexible hunter in a run that I am now. Now I don't get the buffs of the MM and SV trees for party benefit, such as True Shot Aura and Hunting Party, which probably also hurts my raid utility some. My pet also has to be alive for me to benefit from the ap boosts, which can be a bit of a pain but at the same time since my pet takes more of a beating huntanking is more manageble for my spec than others, so in essence you are getting 2 of me for the price of one.
Now am I one that pays a ton of attention to the mechanics and math of dps? No. Math is not my thing and I sure as hell dont play this game to crunch numbers. My dps is not the top in most cases and unless something is really off or I am completely out of commission I will not be the bottom either. I am stable upper middle dps. Would I like to be the top? Who wouldn't? Its not the end of my world that I am not. Is my spec perfect? Not by any means, but my spec is set to a way that I am comfortable with. I am fortunate enough to be a guild that isn't overly concerned with those things as other more "hardcore" are. I have run with numerous other guilds and for the most part they like the way I play because, again, I am dependable and flexable.
With Dual spec I do intend to experiment more and fully learn the Marksman and Survival trees but will I be giving up Beast Mastery? Highly unlikely. With the knowledge of these trees I will be able to better improve how I do certain things I am sure. Would I be able to give you the exact numbers and mechanics of my spec? Hell no. Never said I was the hunter grand puhbah. There are sites for that. I'm just trying to give a little insight into the inner workings of the brain of an Ed.
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That said I think i will give a little insight into the things I do with Tytanya at some point as well.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Edy's Theory on Pets
Something I have been thinking a lot about since I started playing WoW is...well pets. As a hunter I have been through many many pets and a lot from the same family. Before patch 3.0.2 you kinda had to go through many pets to get the desired results from a single pet as you learned new skills from training them so you could train them to a different pet. Now for you older WoW players you are thinking "WTF we already knew that so what?". I'm not pointing that out for you. There are people that picked up the game after WOTLK came out and dont know about that or people that never played a hunter before. Personally I love the new set up and wouldn't go back to the old way for anything but I am just making it clear as to part of the reason I HAVE gone through as many pets as I have. Anyway that said there really wasn't a lot of room for keeping pets long term. Pre-3.0.2. you only had 3 stable slots (yeah I dont really have alot of insight into pre-BC since I started about a year ago so I again am working off what I know personally). This pretty much ment if like myself you where attached to a pet you had to use at least one other stable as your catch and release area. It is because of this I have noticed an oddity (perhaps I am too observant or maybe my imagination is a bit too active) that pets of the same family, e.i. cats, boar, etc etc, have difference ui and as such don't preform exactly the same.
Now I can hear the "you are smoking something" remarks already but hear me out. I have been partners with Snuggles since I caught him in Eversong the minute I finished my hunter quest and I was instantly in love. At first it was because he was my very first pet and it was a sentimental gesture but as we grew and I began to actually learn how to teach my pet how to be all the Snuggs he could be I tamed numerous cats along the way and was surprised in the differences.
When I caught Snuggles he came with the talents bite and claw. I didn't know his type of cat was special for this till i started researching. So right off the back I had a kitty with a roar and claws to match it. Since I didn't know you had to train up enw skills thats all he had for a while and it was good. Then through pointers from RL friends that were hunters and research I learned I had to tame something with the desired skill and train him till i personally learned the skill to teach to Snuggs. First one I got was a black panther I named Gomez from Stranglethorn. I hated him from the moment I got him. Now I understood that he wouldnt have the same talents as Snuggle-butt till i taught him but even once I did I knew something was off. He was always slow to attack. When I had him on defence I would have to get hit a few times before he even cared enough to fight. Agressive he wouldn't do anything just stand there. He got the boot not long after. With that said before you start harping on "Edyion you tard, those come with the ability cower maybe thats why he wouldnt do anything" . I am not stupid by any means and I knew cower was there i caught him to learn it and then promptly untrained it from him at the trainer. It wasnt the cower but this is but one example.
A later kitty I tamed was Josie, a frost saber from winterspring. I got her to learn the highest prowl and kept her to keep from having to give up Snuggles dps since at the time your pet could only know 4 skills (so nice to not have to worry about that limit anymore) and I wanted to have a cat with prowl for spying/scouting purposes. Where Gomez wouldn't do a damn thing I wanted him to if it ment actually being agresive, Josie was hell on paws. I couldn't even take her leash off she was so agressive without it. By contrast Snuggles seems to have a smaller aggro radius and when i take him off most times he wont ever attack something unless its almost right up on me or him or it has some sort of taunt to use. She also got unhappy a hell of alot faster than Snuggles at the same level. Sadly i had to let her go to train a stinky spider for my next level in bite but I am sure she is chewing the face off some Gnome as we speak.
Next I caught a red lynx I naned Edward and called JR when talking to guild (my toon has red hair most of the time and started with red hair so it seemed like a fitting name). JR was...special. That cat had a habit of attacking random things then we were in instance runs. Now it wasn't like I was just letting him loose all willy nilly. One of my pet pieves as a hunter is pet control. I think we should ALL be AWARE of WHERE our pets are at ALL TIMES, so I work really hard at maintaining that control. Jr. seemed determend to make my toon pull her hair out when she got him to level and started using him in instance runs. I would target a mob like always and when the tank had aggro hit pet attack and start firing. Then I would noticed Jr. run off to attack something on the other side of the room nevermind i wasn't even having him target it. Didn't happen often but I did stop using him for a while because of it. Nothing like having your pet go "fuck you" and pull half of Steam Vaults on your head. And it was probably Jr. that made me sit down and think about the differences in all the cats I have personally had. And then i started looking at other hunters and their pets in my guild and I saw something similar.
When I had my spider she didn't act like the spider of my GM's hunter. My gorrila seemed determend to kill me where as my buddy's Gorrila was just as chill as could be. Then there was Killer, the guild's special education raptor owned by one, Bigdog, that my Jr. seemed to be getting his notes from. I don't think I have ever seen that raptor do a single thing Bigdog wanted him to when he wanted him to. And even since 3.0.2. and WOTLK I still see the differences myself. I picked up another cat from Zul'Drak to hold my spot for my spirit beast I saw a difference in how he played for me versus Snuggles. Jr. and Snuggles remand different until i parted with Jr. for another pet i wanted. I couldn't blame skills anymore for the additude differences I have picked up on. Yeah I might be reading way more into it that I should but so what? Its my theory on pets. Just sit down and actually think about your pets and how they act if you have them. See if you see what I do :).
Thursday, April 2, 2009
A Pleasant Reminder
For the past few weeks I have been doing my best to not address the inter turmoil of M.A.S. here with you kind people. My guildies that read this already know how I feel about it and I don't feel is necessary to drag you into a long ass rant about how upset I am with certain former M.A.S. members. So I won't. I am very proud to be a member of M.A.S. and honored to have been allowed hold a position and help my guild family through the good and the bad. Yes I take it a bit personal when people step on us. But we will survive.
I should actually thank all parties involved with the great defection as the did something for me personally I have been missing in this game. You see by nature I can't stand people. Most tend to be fake and I can't stand that. It makes me very angry so I have nothing to do with them in general. Well I hadn't really had to deal with that in game so I was a bit more open and nice than I am normally inclined to be. This has been fixed for me now. I have been lied to alot in the past few weeks and a few people have lost any respect I might have held for them and as such I will no longer have anything to do with them. Is this a personal decision? Partically, but mostly they have allowed me to bring out the part of me that lets me coupe with such situations. Edy does not give a damn anymore would be the best way to put it. So I will let my apathy towards these people maintain my happiness in game. And this empathy will help me maintain what little civil conversation comes up with these people. Yah I might be dealing with this a little hard but lets think about it. No matter how much you want to think that World of Warcraft is just a game its not. Its people. Its the people you walk around in the store with. Its the people you meet on the street and never say a word to. If you talked to them you would like some and others you wouldn't. Some are snakes. Others gems in a sea of filth. Peoples feelings get hurt and relationships die as a result. Thats what happens if you have associations with people RL or in game. I see that the clearest now, I accept it wholey now, and from here we move on.
The Ed has spoken.
I should actually thank all parties involved with the great defection as the did something for me personally I have been missing in this game. You see by nature I can't stand people. Most tend to be fake and I can't stand that. It makes me very angry so I have nothing to do with them in general. Well I hadn't really had to deal with that in game so I was a bit more open and nice than I am normally inclined to be. This has been fixed for me now. I have been lied to alot in the past few weeks and a few people have lost any respect I might have held for them and as such I will no longer have anything to do with them. Is this a personal decision? Partically, but mostly they have allowed me to bring out the part of me that lets me coupe with such situations. Edy does not give a damn anymore would be the best way to put it. So I will let my apathy towards these people maintain my happiness in game. And this empathy will help me maintain what little civil conversation comes up with these people. Yah I might be dealing with this a little hard but lets think about it. No matter how much you want to think that World of Warcraft is just a game its not. Its people. Its the people you walk around in the store with. Its the people you meet on the street and never say a word to. If you talked to them you would like some and others you wouldn't. Some are snakes. Others gems in a sea of filth. Peoples feelings get hurt and relationships die as a result. Thats what happens if you have associations with people RL or in game. I see that the clearest now, I accept it wholey now, and from here we move on.
The Ed has spoken.
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