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Take HomeKit devices for a spin at a handful of Apple Stores
As a mark of just how serious Apple is about its smart home initiatives, the company has built HomeKit into 46 of its brick and mortar stores. That means if you stop into the Union Square location in San Francisco or the World Trade Center and Williamsburg stores in New York you'll be able to give the IoT suite a test run, TechCrunch writes. Some 28 other stores throughout the country will have the demos up and running. If you don't have one of the fancy stores, you'll have to settle for non-interactive literature and the like. Ugh.
US Army retires its first drone
Military drones may still seem like relatively fresh concepts, but they're officially old hat as of this month: the US Army has retired its first-ever drone, IAI's Hunter, after 20 (!) years of service. The robotic recon veteran will now see use only through government-owned contractor support units. The troops, meanwhile, will upgrade to the General Atomics Gray Eagle, which boasts better sensors on top of greater endurance (25 hours instead of 12) and a higher altitude ceiling (29,000 feet versus 15,000).
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite archer class?
I've never been one to gravitate toward bow-and-arrow classes in MMOs, although I've dabbled in them from time to time. I guess I fear that archers and their ilk are far too popular and feature mindless, straight-forward mechanics (shoot... one arrow at a time! Now two at a time! Now a whole bunch rapidly!). But if I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Dungeons and Dragon Online's Bard. I equipped her with a heavy repeating crossbow, and being able to man the medieval equivalent of an automatic rifle was strangely satisfying. Plus, crossbows do not get a lot of play in MMOs for some reason. Do you have a favorite archer class, and if so, what was it? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Patch 6.0.3 hotfixes for November 5th
Once again into the breach, dear friends, and instead of using dead bodies as material for a wall, we're going to look at the hotfixes that Blizzard made for November 5th. Shall we? Let's do. Hunter's tenacity pets saw a couple of fixes. Tenacity Pet Specialization: Blood of the Rhino now reduces the pet's physical damage taken by 15% instead of increasing armor by 20%. Tenacity Pet Specialization: Great Stamina now increases the pet's health by 60% (up from 12%). Priests saw a 15% nerf to Holy Nova's healing, while Divine Star's healing or damage (based on spec) was buffed by 15% Fixed an issue where Zidormi may send players to an incorrect phase in the Blasted Lands. Once a Challenge Mode has started, characters can no longer change specializations, talents, or glyphs. For a full list of the hotfixes, follow us beyond the curtain.
WoW Archivist: Class protests and the Million Gnome March
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? Betas make players nervous about their class. It happens every time. Blizzard makes changes, often drastically, and for better or worse some people hate the changes. I've been keeping my eye on the beta class forums since the Warlords beta began, and I've seen a lot of unhappiness this time around. The ability pruning that was one of Blizzard's major design goals for classes this year has removed depth from rotations, taken away both utility and cosmetic options, and in some cases radically altered or deleted abilities that players enjoyed. Beta testers have voiced strong opposition to many of the changes. In ten years, I haven't seen players this up in arms about class issues since classic WoW -- an era when many specs and mechanics were simply broken in PvE, PvP, or both. This past Friday, something happened that I believed would never again happen in WoW: an in-game class protest. With much more open lines of communication from developers to players in recent years, I thought the game had matured beyond the point where such things would ever be necessary. But here we are, almost ten years after the most famous class protest in WoW's history, and players once again felt the need to gather in Azeroth to voice their complaints.
Gara the Spirit Beast and how it can be tamed
Spoiler warnings for Warlords of Draenor in this post. As we all know, I don't play a hunter. I am, however, married to a hunter. And this means that despite my utter lack of comprehension about the class, I end up paying attention to it just so I have some idea what we're talking about at any given moment. I should at this point remind you all that I am not the person to complain about if you can't tame snakes. Luckily for me, Bendak is a master hunter. And this time, he's got a doozy of a post for y'all, namely one on how to tame Gara, the new Warlords of Draenor spirit beast. And man, it's kind of crazy. Kind of really crazy. That's just one of the screenshots he took above. I don't want to put a lot of spoilers here, if you're dying to experience it all yourself, but if you're looking for a fun and interesting write-up that will make the process easier for your hunter, well, look no further than Bendak's post. Happy taming. No, I really can't get you tameable snakes. Go tame Gara instead. He looks pretty awesome.
Hearthstone reveals new Webspinner card
Hearthstone unveiled its final class specific Curse of Naxxramas card yesterday, the Hunter beast Webspinner. The 1/1 spider costs one mana, and upon expiring summons a random beast card into your hand. Senior Game Designer Ben Brode explained via Twitter that the range on the text includes any beast card, with the exception of tokens. That rules out the 1/1 hound summoned by the Unleash the Hounds spells. All other beasts (Including hunter legendary King Krush) appear to be fair game. Webspinner can get any collectible Beast. Everything from King Krush to Captain's Parrot. - Ben Brode (@bdbrode) June 19, 2014 In terms of viability, this card shows promise. The other turn one beasts available to hunter generally serve specific purposes. Stonetusk Boar exists almost exclusively to be used with Hunter's Mark, while Timber Wolf is utilized in conjunction with other beasts already able to attack. Webspinner could be a nice early game tempo play, while retaining value later on in the match because of its ability to provide the user an additional card. If that card ends up being a Savannah Highmane, King Krush, or even Core Hound, it's a great play. Really, so long as it doesn't draw you Captain's Parrot or Angry Chicken, it's a victory. The hunter set currently sits right in the middle, as expert opinions go. It is nowhere near as crushing as it was prior to the most recent Unleash the Hounds nerf, but it definitely has a place in the metagame, especially against the all powerful Miracle Rogue deck. Webspinner doesn't look like it will unhinge the class again, so much as it will provide another early game option, something the class can definitely use. Moreover, it will provide the class another degree of trickery. After Webspinner dies, opponents will be forced to wonder if you have a giant dinosaur in your hand or not.
Destiny gets a spiffy new website
Bungie has updated its Destiny website with lots of full-motion backgrounds and a visual palette befitting its burgeoning sci-fantasy universe. There's plenty of info regarding the Titan, Warlock, and Hunter classes, too, as well as a collection of Destiny trailers that you may have missed.
Tameable hydras for hunters officially on the way?
Hunters may remember with some sadness the brief moment in time back in 2011 when hydra pets were datamined from the patch 4.1 PTR. Unfortunately, the pet never made it to live servers, leaving those with hopes of taming a three-headed beastie for their very own to wait until a later time. Apparently, that time is coming soon. Game Designer Jeremy Feasel tweeted the tantalizing image shown above yesterday, along with the following tweet. Wish they'd stop biting each other and help me kill this thing! #Hunters #StopHittingYourself #3HeadsAreBetter pic.twitter.com/yfh0Lhsabh- Jeremy Feasel (@Muffinus) March 28, 2014
The Daily Grind: What type of animal do you like as a pet?
I love pet classes that allow you to capture, tame, and use an animal as your new combat buddy. It adds a lot of variety and choice to playing the class compared to pet classes that just stick you with the standard pet that everyone else gets. This was perhaps why I played a Hunter in World of Warcraft for so long. I was just nuts about collecting the most interesting and most unique pets. The highlight of my career was using a bunch of taming tricks to snag a Spectral Wolf back in Burning Crusade era that wasn't supposed to be tamable. I felt like the bee's knees when I had that guy running around with me. So when it comes to pet classes that fling animals at enemies, what type of beastie do you prefer? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Hearthstone dev diary sets its sights on Rexxar the Hunter
Blizzard's latest entry into the money-printing franchise that is World of Warcraft, collectible card game Hearthstone, is currently chugging along through the closed beta stage of development, and many fans are clamoring for more information as the game nears launch. Well today you're in luck, especially if the animal-loving Hunter is your class of choice, because the devs have just released a new dev diary detailing Hearthstone's playable Hunter character, the legendary Rexxar. The dev diary dedicates the first half of its entry to the lore of Rexxar the beastmaster, a half-orc, half-ogre from Outland's Blade's Edge Mountains who eventually found himself in Azeroth becoming staunch allies with the Horde warchief Thrall. But let's be real here: We all want to know how he plays. Not to worry, the devs have that covered too. Rexxar's mechanics echo the playstyle of World of Warcraft's Hunter class. He has plenty of tricks and traps available to him, including classics such as Snake Trap and Misdirection. With his longbow in hand, Rexxar unleashes a barrage of ranged attacks while standing safely behind an army of his animal companions, making him a veritable force of nature on the battlefield. For more on Rexxar, click on through the link below.
Scattered Shots: Siege tips and tricks, part 1
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing the finer points of pew pewing in Vale of Eternal Sorrows and Gates of Retribution. With the September 23 hotfixes, all three hunter specs have been brought up to relevance. In simulations, they are all within a couple percent of each other, but the real question is how do they perform for you in a real world setting? After an expansion of beast mastery and survival (which play very similarly), the jump to marksmanship will be tough for some hunters. This week, for my very first hunter column, we're going to look at how you can maximize your damage and survivability in the first two wings of Siege of Orgrimmar. Keep in mind that a lot of these are simply suggestions and that your mileage may vary. What works for me may not work for you, but this will give you an idea of how our abilities can be utilized on the first eight bosses. Stock up on some Tomes of the Clear Mind and let's get started.
Lord of the Rings Online explains Hunter changes in Helm's Deep
Ranged classes can be hard to handle from a design standpoint. Lord of the Rings Online had exactly that problem with Hunters; players felt that one of the class trait lines was the "main" line and the others were just supplementary. The latest development blog explains how that issue has been corrected: the developers have given the Bowmaster, Huntsman, and Trapper of Foes lines unique roles and specialties on the battlefield. The Bowmaster is a stationary high-DPS ranged specialization that requires a steady spot for consistent damage. The Huntsman, meanwhile, emphasizes mid-range mobility and rapid output of weaker attacks. Trapper of Foes fills out the roster by focusing on crowd control and AoE, trading in some damage for more group offerings. Players can start enjoying these changes when the expansion goes live in November. On an unrelated but important note, players impacted by the game's outage issues earlier in the month have now been compensated via time extensions for subscribers and free Turbine Points for lifetime members. It's not a class revision, but it's certainly a welcome bit of recompense.
WoW Archivist: Two weeks as a noob in 2004
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? When I took on the WoW Archivist mantle last year, I wanted to tell some personal stories as well as provide in-depth looks into the game's past. My first column talked about an early but extraordinary world PvP experience. Today I'd like to tell you about my first weeks of WoW in 2004, in a very different Azeroth than our modern version, with a very different incarnation of the hunter class. A hunter will rise In December 2004, a hunter stepped forward in Red Cloud Mesa. He was new to the ways of Azeroth, but eager to learn. What followed would be painful. But when the narrator shut up and the hunter proudly accepted his first quest from the Navajo minotaur guy with giant punctuation over his head, this new hunter set forth. He had nothing but a bow and a hope that his trials would forge him into a hero. He would become a hero, many months and scars later. His first two weeks, however, were marked with terror, failure, and shame in roughly equal parts.
Not An Announcement: Hunter aspects
Blizzard Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street has been talking with hunters on twitter again, this time on the topic of Aspects. There is an ongoing problem with hunters, what's called button bloat, where they simply have too many abilities on their bars. One player asked whether aspects were really needed, or whether they could be baked in. @SamSykesSwears They were never that interesting IMO. Keep pack as a toggle and lose the rest I say. #notanannouncement - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) August 19, 2013 While this is not an announcement of the removal of aspects, it is a reasonable discussion point. There's pack, cheetah, and hawk right now, Aspect of the Fox was removed a little while back in patch 5.1. They were concerned at the time that constant hunter movement would be too strong, but preferred it to aspect twisting, where you would swap between Fox and Hawk to do more serious damage. The simplification of things like Auras for paladins, totems for shaman, and aspects for hunters seems to be one of the top things on Blizzard's to do list right now, and the question is, are these abilities really interesting enough to warrant being kept? Personally, I always liked them. In the instance of hunters, switching from Fox to Hawk and back again was fun, I liked the additional consideration of paladin Auras along with Seals, although I know from explaining them to people that they were confusing. Is this dumbing down? If so, is it really a bad thing? Or is it simply reducing unnecessary bloat? Is it really that interesting a gameplay decision to set an aspect any more, or is leaving Pack active just another way to justify yelling at hunters?
WoW Insider is looking for hunter and mage columnists
Like World of Warcraft? Like writing about World of Warcraft? Then you're who we want! We're looking to hire not only a new hunter columnist, but a new mage columnist, too. Your primary duties will be the production of your column on a weekly basis, but opportunities for additional work as a news blogger may arise over time should you desire them. You can find the full instructions on how to apply on our applications page. If you have prior blogging experience, make sure you mention that in your application along with a link to your prior work. The deadline for your application is end-of-day on Friday, August 23, so work quickly.
Preparation, Readiness, and other cooldown resetting abilities may have grim future
Classes with cooldown resetting abilities probably won't find one of Ghostcrawler's most recent tweet all that surprising. The abilities (Preparation, Readiness, etc.) have been targeted by several nerfs and changes this expansion. Ghostcrawler wrote the following in reply to a tweet that said it may be time to stop adding cooldown resetting abilities to the game if they're constantly going to be nerfed. @Divine_Namjoo We agree. I'm not sure that design angle has payed out well. - Greg Street (@Ghostcrawler) July 16, 2013 The abilities are particularly problematic in PvP, where players can chain several attacks or crowd control abilities together within a short period of time. What do you think? Do cooldown resetting abilities belong in the game? Are they overpowered?
Blood Pact: Flow like a shaman, sting like a hunter
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill wants to look into a popular counterargument to the nerfing of Kil'jaeden's Cunning. Or not, as I'll argue we warlocks have our own style of play. The damage dealing game isn't just about turning a mob down to 0 points at the end of the night, but about using the mob's health bar to vault over cooldown or resource barriers. Turning a warlock into a sitting duck in PvE requires either getting rid of all the mob health bars or getting rid of the warlock, which is usually accomplished by movement or threat of certain death. This struggle against being useless is what makes choices in a damage dealer's arsenal meaningful.
Should you play a hunter in WoW?
If you're still not sure what WoW class you want to play, allow us to take this opportunity to introduce you to the noble hunter. Hunters are one of the most commonly recommended classes for new players to the game, and with good reason. Compared to other classes, many of which have the ability to fill multiple game roles, hunters have a single, straightforward function in any situation: to do damage with ranged weapons. And with the power of their pets to protect them, hunters have very high survivability when soloing, which secures their place the top of new player recommendation lists. But don't start thinking that this means hunters are a simple class: while the basics are easy to pick up, there's a lot of depth to hunter gameplay (and a world of difference between playing with a good hunter and a not so good hunter). Hunters have a number of crowd control options and access to traps, both of which require strategic thinking to use well. And, further, while pets can make the life of a hunter much easier, controlling them can be a challenge that adds complexity to the game. So while many people would tell you hunters are a great class for newbies because they're easy, we'll just say that they're a great class for newbies because they're easy to get started with. If we've piqued your interest, read on to see more about what the hunter has to offer in World of Warcraft -- and whether it may just be the perfect class for you.
WoW Archivist: Launch classes' 9 biggest aggravations
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? The launch of WoW was a magical time -- everyone who played the game back then would agree. The concept of questing rather than grinding was fresh and exciting. The world felt immense, full of secrets and adventures. Classes, on the other hand, were very raw compared to today. While many players yearn to play on vanilla-only servers, I doubt that most of those players would prefer their class to return to its vanilla version. Though some were better than others, every class had its problems. In this column, I'd like to highlight the biggest aggravation, as I see it, with each of the original eight classes -- and how Blizzard has since fixed every one of those issues.
