bigredkitty
Latest
BigRedKitty: Silithid
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.It's Starship Troopers time in Wrath of the Lich King beta, and that means another exoskeleton pet for the 51-point Beastmaster hunters: Silithids! Yes, Silithids are Exotic pets and Marksman and Survivalists need not apply. Silithids are classified as Cunning pets, so you get a really nice selection of spells you're not going to have seen elsewhere. They're not PvE or PvP-specific, but can be build to focus more on one of these aspects than the other.Honestly, any pet that looks more like Scourge than a Beast isn't going to find a place in our stable. But if you thought Ravagers just weren't freaky enough, then you're in for a treat.You are invited to download the YouTube version (44MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (169MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Worms
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Worms. We're not gonna mess up the pronunciation of THIS one. Yeeha!But really, worms? Hunter pets? Tenacity pets? Worm-Tanks, that's the concept Blizzard wants to sell us. Are you buying? How about you watch our little movie and then make up your mind.You are invited to download the YouTube version (81MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (295MB) here. They're big files because the movie is almost ten minutes long; we wanted to give worms a fair-shake.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
WoW Insider Show Episode 52: Club Penguin is the WoW-killer
We were live on WoW Radio as usual last Saturday with our weekly podcast, and this past week we welcomed Krystalle Voecks of our sister site Massively into the mix, as well as Daniel "BigRedKitty" Howell, and of course the Turpster. Krystalle chatted with us about what's planned for the big DragonCon event in Atlanta this weekend (WoW Insider will be there, even though I unfortunately won't be), and we also talked about: The pending release of Warhammer Online and what it means for WoW players. More beta talk, including those changes to Warriors that made it into the game and BRK's favorite things about all the pets he's been trying out. Sylvanas' model change, and whether she's hot or not. And of course we answered emails, including your questions about our legendary missing show, why female Draenei broken are the only ones who wear hoods, and what exactly private servers are. It was a fun show -- we wandered around a bit, but don't we always? You can listen to it right now over on WoW Radio's website, and of course in iTunes as well. If you have questions or comments about something we said, send them along to theshow@wow.com and you might even hear them next time around.And if you missed the live show this past week, we do this every Saturday afternoon at 3:30 Eastern, so tune in live on WoW Radio's website, and you'll even be able to join us in IRC chat. Enjoy the show this week, and have a good one.
BigRedKitty: Rhino
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Real short, real sweet. The Rhino... is Big.Do you understand that? Are you paying attention? Big. B.I.G. Huge. Massive. A whole lot of air-displacement. You may need to buy a bigger monitor.Taurens, your dream of have a pet bigger than you is totally realized.And if there was ever a pet that deserved to be a mount and one's pet, this guy is the best reason ever to start email-bombing Blizzard to develop that capability. The Rhino is a Tenacity pet; it's a bad-@ss tank, baby. It doesn't do the DPS of a Ferocity or Cunning pet, but it has one of the best new pet-talents there is, Blood of the Rhino. That 40% bonus to healing includes everything from direct heals, to the hunter two-piece tier-five bonus, and even bandages.As of this writing, Blizz hasn't released the Rhino's unique spell - every pet-class will have a unique spell in Wrath of the Lich King - but when they do, we'll be sure to let you know what it is.Rhinos... commence freaking out; all social-nicety rules have been suspended.You are invited to download the YouTube version (30MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (97MB) here. As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Wasps
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.It's like Hunter Paradise in the land of hunter pets, lately, no? You need a tanking-pet? Gotcha covered. DPS? Yeah. Stealthy, tricky, neat-o, and maybe even make your lunch for you? No sweat, we're loaded with potential heart-warming killers for you hunters now."But what about fluorescent, BRK?"Ooo. That's a new one... let's check the menagerie...Yes! Wasps! And check out Sting! Still breathing? Yeah!You are invited to download the YouTube version (44MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (153MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Chimaeras
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Ki-MEER-Uh.Seriously, we honked up the pronunciation of this one, and big time. But it's much too late to remaster the silly movie, so just bear with us as we say it improperly. Again and again and again. Please?The other thing we flubbed is the "or" part of our macro:/use [pet:cat/chimaera] roast clefthoofNot a comma, but a slash. Tell ya something about making movies... post-production is a PITA.Chimaeras are next in our look at the Wrath of the Lich King hunter-pets. This is the first Cunning pet we've tried, and we like this tree a bunch. The Chimaera may not be as pretty or as big or as exotic as the other pets we've reviewed, but it has something special in the form of its Froststorm Breath spell. It's a doozie!And because we haven't talked about the best way to tame a new hunter-pet, or the best macros to use to feed your pets, we're gonna throw that bit in as a bonus. Just for you!You are invited to download the YouTube version (44MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (170MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
77 Hunter solos Onyxia
Chalk up another piece of evidence for just how trivial the old world stuff will be when Wrath releases -- here's a video of a Hunter at level 77 (on the beta servers, obviously) soloing the original raid boss herself, Onyxia. There's a little more info about how it was done over on the WarcraftMovies page -- the only way to deal with all the whelps was to max out AoE, so he used a special talent blend just to do this. And it looks like he just dodged or ate the Deep Breaths, as I doubt even a 77 Hunter would be able to put up enough "dots" to down her before she can do too many. Roar of Sacrifice also got a lot of usage -- it's a pet talent that lets a Hunter avoid half of his pet's health in damage. And he says the two-piece set bonus from Hunter T5 helped a lot, too -- over the fight it added up to quite a bit of healing.Not too shabby. And at 77, this means there's still three levels (not to mention all the endgame gear) to grow. Maybe the fact that Blizzard is revamping/replacing the old endgame isn't so bad after all -- when it's this easy for the highest level players, it's time to move on. Unless, of course, they make soloing Ony an achievement.[via BRK]
BigRedKitty: Moths
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Ferocity Pets! These are the face-rippers, the squishie-killers, the pets that make us proud to be a Beastmaster hunter! Cats, Devilsaurs, Raptors, Wolves! Yeeha!Moths? That's what we're being told, yes.So we tamed a level 69 Moth from Netherstorm, took it to Shadowmoon Valley, and let the fun begin.You know how devilsaurs are supposedly filled with helium? Well we think moths are made of a carbon-fiber and Kevlar composite. Holy smokes, foshizzle!You are invited to download the YouTube version (41MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (248MB) here.Note: We say in the movie that Moths are "exotic". They are not; our mistake. They are new in the Wrath of the Lich King, but any talent-spec hunter can tame one.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Uvuros
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.So you're wondering just how much of a tank the new Tenacity hunter-pets are going to deliver. Well, we're gonna try a few things and let you know.We obtained a level 70 Warp Stalker and trained it up nicely. Welcome to Tanking Pet City, population, Us.First on the agenda, we're going to hunt down a beastie that, when we first found him, required a party of five to eliminate: Uvuros in Shadowmoon Valley.Uvuros is a 70 elite, has 69,000 health, and has a mean fire-breath spell. /hot!Can a hunter with a Tenacity-pet solo Uvuros? Let's try!You are invited to download the YouTube version (25MB) of this movie here, and the full-sized version (144MB) here.As always, a great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Devilsaur
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.You've seen pics, maybe even a small movie or two, but have you seen a devilsaur up close and personal?Well, except when they stomped and chomped you silly in Un'goro? /shudderHere ya go, then! We tamed one and let it loose in Shattrath City and Nagrand, using all its abilities and letting it rip stuff up.You are most welcome to download the presented YouTube version (212MB) movie by right-clicking here.And if you're feeling particularly frisky and want to see this movie in its native format and in stereo, download the full-sized version (324MB) by right-clicking here. Devilsaur-stompin' is best heard LOUD! We jacked up every sound option, including reverb, so you'll get the full Devilsaur Experience./shudderAnd remember that the Monstrous Bite spell triggers the Monstrous Strength effect. Don't try to "learn" Monstrous Strength from a trainer or find it in the talent trees; it only comes with Monstrous Bite.Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
WoW Insider Show Episode 49: Death Knights picking Peacebloom
The latest episode of our podcast is now up for listening over on WoW Radio, and in there, Daniel "BigRedKitty" Howell, Duncor the Dependable and I all break down the Wrath beta at length, talking about what we're most excited about (and what you're most excited about, too). We talked about the rumored changes coming to raiding mechanics, including the much maligned potion sickness and possible changes to crushing blows. Since BRK was on, we chatted about our Hunters (mine is almost 69, hopefully 70 soon) and what he expects for the expansion, from exotic pets to new pet talents. We talked about the new, smooth regen mechanic and whether it helps or not. And we talked at length about Inscription, how it works, and whether we were into it. I'm very into it, the other guys not so much. And of course we answered your emails -- if you have a question, comment, or insight on the show, you can email us at theshow@wow.com, and you could even hear your email on the next show.Which is going to be a good one, by the way -- as you may have noticed, next weekend is our 50th show, so we'll have to do something fun. More singing? Giveaways? Drinking by the host? You'll have to tune in and see. As always, enjoy the show and we'll see you next week.
WoW Insider Show later today at 3:30pm Eastern
Our podcast is back this afternoon, and it's going to be a doozy. We'll share with you some of the best entries in last week's beta key contest, and we'll do what we always do: talk about the biggest stories in the past week of Warcraft. I can tell you right now: this week's show is going to be almost all about the Wrath beta, because there's no bigger story than that. All of those amazing Green quest rewards will probably get a mention, as will what we've seen of Inscription and all the other new stuff so far.And since BigRedKitty will be making his triumphant return to the podcast (and I'll be on with him for the first time since I've started leveling my Alliance Hunter), we'll talk Hunter stuff as well -- I definitely want to hear what he has to say about all these exotic pets we're seeing. And while I can't guarantee it, there's a rumor that none other than Matthew Rossi will be stopping by -- I hear he's excited about something called Titan's Grip?Should be, as always, a terrific show. Tune in to WoW Radio at 3:30pm EST, join everybody in the IRC channel at irc.mmoirc.com in the #wowradio channel, and as always, if you have questions or concerns for us to answer (or just want to tell BRK how awesome he is), drop us an email at theshow@wow.com. See you this afternoon!
BigRedKitty: "Exotic" declassified
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. Once upon a time, there was a comedian who did a bit about Troy Aikman. Mr. Aikman is a famous, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who was forced to retire due to receiving multiple concussions over his career. The joke went like this: "Troy, you've been a Super Bowl MVP and are one of the greatest quarterbacks of the 20th century. How do you feel having to retire after receiving your 10th concussion, and how has that incredible series of blows affected your brain?" "Ummmm... I like... pudding!" How is this pertinent to WotLK and hunters? Well, the new 51st talent point in the beta of the Beastmaster tree is named Beast Mastery. As written, it's kind of obscure, a little open-ended, and the programmers don't seem to have a clue what it could really mean: "We're still working on implementing this particular talent. The talent will allow you to train a different "class" of pets which we're calling "exotic" right now. Only hunters with this talent will be able to train those pets. They won't necessarily be "stronger" (though will all have unique abilities that you can only get from exotic pets), the extra power you should get from the talent will be from the additional pet skill points (pet talent points). "Devilsaur anyone?" So when pressed for an answer on the WotLK beta forums for what "exotic" entails, the blue-poster basically said, "Pudding!" But did you ever have a doubt that BigRedKitty wouldn't know what "exotic" is? We sure hope not! We're totally on the case, ready to spill the beans on "exotic" pets, and announce what you 51/15/5 Beastmaster hunters can expect to find come expansion-time. Devilsaur, indeed.
BigRedKitty: Hex Lord Malacrass Hunter-guide movie
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.It's Zul'Aman, baby, and you're playing the roughest, toughest ten-person instance in the game! You're feeling good, looking sharp...and all of the sudden, Bam! Hex Lord Malacrass rears his ugly mug. He's not fun, is he?You wanna do your job as a hunter, right? Right! Well let's see if a BRK Hunter Guide Movie can give you some insight and testicular fortitude for this guy... can we say that? Yes? Oh OK, good. /whew.Hex Lord drops something really pretty Hunter-loot for us Hunters, too! Well, let's rephrase that.Hex Lord drops the single most hideous piece of Hunter-loot known to Dwarf-kind, the Coif of the Jungle Stalker./wretchGreat stats, loads of Win there. But... just don't look at it under bright lights for too long.You are most welcome to download this movie (118.5 MB) by right-clicking here.Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Void Reaver Hunter-guide movie
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Void Reaver used to be called Loot Reaver, thanks to a nifty addon called VoidReaverAlarm that made this fight as simple as, "Run to the Happy Face!" But then Blizz went and bamboozled us all by honking-up the Combat Log for this fight, making that addon useless. Since then, great gaggles of guilds have come to detest this fight and avoid it out of fear of wiping.Well no more; it's time for you to get back in there and get your shoulders.Void Reaver is a great opportunity for you to hone your huntering-skills and impress everybody with your ability to do damage when it counts and avoid damage when necessary. Void Reaver drops your tier five shoulder tokens and some awesome hunter-pants. With a little instruction, you and your guild can get back to Tempest Keep and score some phat loot for yourself. /ninja hunter-pantsThis video demonstrates the "traditional" method of fighting Void Reaver, not the, "Everybody in the middle except two kiting-hunters" method. We hope to do that movie in the near future.You are most welcome to download this movie (101.6 MB) by right-clicking here.Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Leo the Blind Hunter-guide movie
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.The third boss you meet in Serpentshrine Cavern is Leotheras the Blind. Well, you could do Morogrim Tidewalker, but he seems to only drop caster-loot. Hunters don't care about that bubble-blowing doofus, so convince your guild to skip him, natch. Leo is where the Tier 5-gear loot flows!You are most welcome to download this movie (36.8 MB) by right-clicking here. Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
BigRedKitty: Hydross the Unstable Hunter-guide movie
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.The first boss you meet in Serpentshrine Cavern is Hydross the Unstable. Please allow us to present a Hunter-perspective into defeating this guy.And yes, TJ really does need a present. Don't freak if you don't get it; it's not important to the fight.You are most welcome to download this movie (34.9 MB) by right-clicking here. Another great big Thank You to the WoW Insider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! From his video guides to Karazhan For Hunter Dummies, nobody covers raid Hunters like BRK. Looking for more Hunter goodness? Check out our non-raid Hunter column, Scattered Shots or the WoW Insider Directory of Hunter Guides.
Running of da Bulls brings 600 Tauren to Cenarion Circle
As planned, BigRedKitty and Ratshag had a very succesful "Running of da Bulls" last Saturday -- almost 400 Taurens ran their way from Mulgore all the way over to Hammerfall, and from the videos, the pictures, and other accounts, much fun was had by all.BRK says that they made 200 purple shirts, which were apparently gone four hours before the race even started. The 500 person guild they formed filled up quickly, and estimates say that at peak, there were probably about 630 people on for the event, double the number of Horde on there most of the time. The winner of the race, Slokoshka, picked up a game card for their troubles, and then, not content with leaving hoof marks across half of Azeroth, the Tauren decided to raid Ironforge and made quite a mess of things there, too.Seems like a lot of fun, and it all went for a good cause, too -- not only did everybody /moo for Sharvan, BRK and Ratshag's friend who passed away recently, but they also raised over $500 for Sharvan's family, who we're told also attended the race and were completely touched by how generous the WoW community can be. Very awesome.
BRK and Ratshag organize a Running of Da Bulls
Many of you might remember that a while back, we organized a Stormwind Stampede, where a bunch of us created a herd of Tauren over on Zangarmarsh, and then had a little footrace all the way to Stormwind. Our friend BigRedKitty is apparently putting something similar together this weekend -- he's calling it the Cinco de Mayo Running of da Bulls, and the final goal appears to be from Mulgore to Hammerfall (which means there's an Org to Undercity zepplin ride in there somewhere).The whole event kicks off this Saturday, May 3rd over on Cenarion Circle. BRK is organizing the thing along with Ratshag of Need More Rage (he's the one who created the route, and it'll be his friend you're hunting for in Hammerfall). He's got more on his blog, including that the race is a tribute to a friend of theirs who passed away, and all the Tauren will be saying "moo" in respect.Sounds like a lot of fun. If you want to join them, meet up in Mulgore on Cenarion Circle at 4:00 server time (which works out to 7:00 Eastern). And make sure to take some screenshots. For the Herd!
BigRedKitty: The Lurker Below Hunter-guide movie
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.Everything you ever wanted to know about The Lurker Below, Serpentshrine Cavern, The World of Warcraft, Hunterism, and Life Itself is right here, right now, oh yeah! OK, OK. That's overboard, even for us. Ahem. We hope you like our little movie on how we play our hunter when fighting The Lurker Below in SSC. Better?For those interested in WoWWebStats reports, here's a link to the anonymous report of this fight. We are Titan, Hobbes is Aristocat. You are most welcome to download this movie (36.4MB) by right-clicking here. A great big Thank You to the WoWInsider editors for allowing us to publish this movie both here and on our little blog at the same time! Daniel Howell continues his quest to enslave... NO, EDUCATE! yeah, educate the WoW-playing masses as the hunter-pet duo extraordinaire known to lore as BigRedKitty. More of his theorycrafting and slanderous belittling of the lesser classes can be found at www.bigredkitty.net.
