hadronox
Latest
Breakfast Topic: Fear ... so exhilarating
I'm going to come right out and say it -- I'm a big, fat scaredy-cat. I am (woefully) an easy scare. There is very little effort required in getting me to shriek at the top of my lungs from a sudden noise or make me feel just ... spooked. Enter WoW. Now, I realize it's just a game, but keep in mind that I'm the person who nearly cried the first time I saw The Grudge because I was so terrified. There have been more than a few instances where I've been creeped out (gigantic spiders, anyone?), but the one part of the game that actually made me uncomfortably frightened is going into Hrothgar's Landing, due north of the Argent Tournament Grounds. It's got everything I hate: lessened visibility, the feeling of claustrophobia (from the mists) and very deep and dark waters. It actually got to a point where I would abandon those dailies unless someone was with me, as I would just get too nervous to do them. Have there been any times when you have been genuinely scared in game? Does the Scourge make your skin crawl? Do Nerubians make your blood run cold? Or are you just afraid of the dark?
One Boss Leaves: Zuramat voids Hadronox
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.Zuramat the Obliterator sent Hadronox and his poison to the void this week in this week's Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves fantasy matchup. Despite the choking clouds of poison Hadronox laid down for Zuramat's Void Sentries, Zuramat overpowered the giant spider in a tightly contested battle.Let's start off with a look at the other scenario. "Absolutely Hadronox, hands down," claimed Daigeil. "Here's how it plays out. The two face up and start smackin' each other up. Quickly Hadronox drops poison clouds and places her DoTs. Soon, Zuramat does his thang, spawning Void Sentries all over the place, and casts Shroud of Darkness. Hadronox, being a huge spider (they aren't all that smart, y'know, and the average PuGger doesn't understand STOP ATTACKING; that leads us onto the debate of whether PuGgers or spiders are smarter, but let's not go there) just keeps hitting, stacking up the healing-cancelling effect."Soon, Void Shift comes into play. Having no other targets, Hadronox is shifted and drops Leech Poison, Acid Cloud and Web Grab, stacking all the Sentries on top of herself. Naturally, they all die shortly after Shroud's effect drops off, healing Hadronox to full! This repeats, and with Zuramat's limited array of abilities, it can only really go one way. By the time the poor Void Walker is dead, Hadronox is still at 100% from all the self-healing."
The OverAchiever: Glory of the Hero, Continued
No one's kiling any folk here today, on account of we got a really tight schedule. -- Mal, "Trash." Seemed to have some good luck with a previous Firefly quote, so why not? We're all set in Ahn'kahet, so let's pop over to Azjol-Nerub and lay waste to some bosses there.AZJOL-NERUBEvery achievement here is, in one way or another, a DPS race. If you've had difficulty with previous achievements in that vein or your DPS is still gearing up, you'll probably want to steer clear of Azjol for a while.Watch Him DieThis is one of the few achievements in the game most efficiently done from a kamikaze perspective (Sarth-10 3D is the most notable of the other picks). Early attempts at this with two tanks, two DPS, and one healer failed miserably, mostly due to the combination of poisons, a Priest healer, and Watcher Narjil's Blinding Webs ability. I'll admit I tried that before anything good dropped from Naxx, so it may just have been a gear issue at the time, but:a). If you have very good DPS, and:b). If you're willing to suffer a repair bill -- you can probably get this achievement in one or two tries without worrying about keeping all three Watchers tanked, bringing an off-tank, or risking a DPS having to kite all three to the entrance.
Two Bosses Enter: Hadronox vs. Zuramat the Obliterator
Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches. This season's bosses come from the five-man instances of Wrath of the Lich King.To battle! This week, Two Bosses Enter, One Boss Leaves pits Hadronox (Azjol-Nerub) against Zuramat the Obliterator (Violet Hold). Poison against shadow damage ... the not-yet-trapped versus the already imprisoned ... Can you predict the outcome?The usual rules apply: Assume that these foes share similar levels, health pools and damage output. We'll allow Zuramat to summon his Void Sentries, even though Hadronox himself will be the only victim of Void Shift. This match occurs in neutral territory -- no additional Nerubian spiders, no handy Violet Hold wall switches.Focus your debate on the three S's: Style, Story and Scale. Don't get caught up in game mechanics and what actual players might do in each encounter. Consider the flavor each villainous gladiator brings to bear, leave your comment on what you think would happen and why, and then cast your vote for who you think would come out on top.
Beast Mastery: Spiders
I like the creepy-crawlies. As soon as my hunter hit Level 15, I made my way to the Skittering Dark in Silverpine Forest and hunted down Krethis Shadowspinner. Sure, she looked exactly like the low-level spiders in Tirisfal Glades, but how could I not want her? With a name like that, she was sure to be deadly. Sure enough, she was, and she managed to kill me several times before I was finally able to tame her. If I had waited 5 more levels, Freezing Trap would've made things much easier.Of course, over the course of leveling, I had to abandon her (leveling pets was nowhere near as easy as it is post-Patch 3.0.2) but these days I keep the company of Leech Widow from the Wetlands. Yes, it's a generic white spider, but you'll understand these things if you have a Hunter. The cool thing is, Spiders now appropriately have the Web ability that we only used to envy from NPCs. It entraps opponents for 4 seconds from 20 yards and has a 40 second cooldown. It's a damage-less version of the Exotic Pet Silithid's Venom Web Spray. The good news is, the damage doesn't really matter. You'll want to use the web merely to keep opponents at a distance. This ability makes them a great choice for Level 19 twinks.
First impressions: 5-man healing in the beta
I specced resto in the beta the other week to try out the new talents and abilities Druids are getting in Wrath, and decided to brave the horrors of LFG and scribble some notes for your sake, dear readers. By the way, the aspect of beta that I will miss most? The 1 copper respec fee. Can we keep this?Please note that this is written from the perspective of a 70 Restoration Druid, so unfortunately I can't comment on whether Priests, Shamans, or Paladins might have had an easier or harder time healing the instances. I have a good but not jaw-dropping resto set, and on the live realms clock in around +1998 to +2100 healing unbuffed. If your gear's better or worse, then just adjust the potential difficulty level as needed. And even if you're not a healer, you still might find something useful here:
