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Arena stats from the second season start
Caster has posted his "first successful pull" of an exhaustive list of arena PvP stats about class and spec over on the forums. There are tons of stats to play around with here-- for each bracket of 5v5, 3v3, and 2v2, he's got the average, minimum, and maximum of specs for each class, wins and losses, the low, average, and high of hit points, and even a breakdown of who's grouping with who.Not surprisingly (though I was surprised back when Arenas first started up), Warriors and Paladins are topping the charts in terms of numbers, so it seems a good way to win 5v5 Arenas is simply to stay alive. Apparently 2v2 teams are the most volatile (since people switch around with them all the time), but the numbers there are the most interesting-- Warlocks and Priests top the charts there (thanks a lot, Fear), and it turns out Druids might have actually have a place in Arena PvP-- as long as it's right alongside a Lock.And the big loser is apparently Hunters-- their numbers are down to single digits in 2v2 and 3v3 (as in 1 and 2 total), which means players are not taking their Hunters into the arenas. Is that because Hunters aren't useful or viable enough in the smaller teams? I'll leave that one up to you.[ via WoW LJ ]
A quest to switch sides
Even though almost all you hear from players is Horde pride or Alliance cheerleading, let's face it, there have to be a lot of people out there who believe they've made a mistake. Personally, I love the first character I made-- Hunter is still my favorite class, and I'd love to finally get my first Hunter all the way up to 70 and into some epic gear. Why haven't I? Because it's a Night Elf-- I was young then, and confused, and I accidentally rolled Alliance. I can't really play without my awesome Horde guild now, so that Hunter has been sitting there at 59 for a long time.So there are probably plenty of people that want to switch, but there's no way to do so without completely rerolling. Yet, anyway. Here's the best idea I've heard on the subject so far: create a quest that would let players change factions.Yes, I know, there's lots of reasons for Blizzard not to do it (not least of which is the whole interfaction communication thing). But consider it seriously-- it would be a once-in-a-lifetime quest that would have serious costs (so no nightly switching back and forth), and take a long, long (maybe even a series of daily quests) time to get done. This isn't some frivolous thing-- it's a serious decision, a second chance to reconsider a faction choice you might have made 70 levels ago. Right now, you only get once chance to choose a faction, and it's before you even know your character. Surely you should get one chance to reconsider, right?And originally I was thinking that a faction change would be a "Horde in Durnholde" kind of thing-- if you're an Orc, then you suddenly become Human forever. But Blizzard could even work it so that you could stay the same race, and just switch sides. Imagine it-- Gnome and Undead Rogues alongside each other, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Although it would get confusing in the battlegrounds, wouldn't it?
Adventures in Azeroth: Collecting unique pets
Welcome to another episode of Adventures in Azeroth, where I document my misadventures as a new Hunter on a new server. (Want to check up on my progress? You're welcome to join me and a whole group of readers in the It Came from the Blog guild on Zangarmarsh!) But this week I'm not really talking about playing (I haven't leveled much since the last episode of Adventures in Azeroth) -- instead, I'm talking about the crazy lure of hard to find Hunter pets, and my new-found pokemon-esque desire to catch-em-all.However, practical concerns have limited my collecting. After all, one pet is quite enough work to keep leveled on its own -- much less if I had a pair. But, after noticing that every last Blood Elf hunter with an Eversong Woods cat identical to my pet Mittens, I decided I had to do something about it. I didn't want to be just-another-Blood-Elf-Hunter -- I wanted to be... well... unique! So I went searching for a new pet, one that every run-of-the-mill Hunter wouldn't have.
BigRedKitty: The Jump Shot
Each week, 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. If you asked Peyton Manning how to throw a sixty-yard touchdown pass and he told you, could you do it? If you asked Tara Lipinski how to do a triple-loop combination and she told you, could you do it? If you asked Roger Federer how to hit a 130 mile-per-hour serve and he told you, could you do it? If you asked BigRedKitty how to perform a Jump Shot and he told you, could you do it? So here's our dilemma: one of the most frequently-asked questions at the BRK Center for Hunter PvP-Studies is how to properly execute a Jump Shot. We're going to tell you how to do it, but don't think that just because you read about it here you're going to log on and start jump-shooting like you were born to do it. Like kiting, trapping and working efficiently in a party, you're not going to do it perfectly the first time. It's going to take practice. Lots of it. And if you're not willing to put in the effort, you might want to go roll a toon that isn't so hard to play. We'd suggest you go read the WoW Insider mage column for ideas on that.
Gamers on the Street: Attunement changes
Hello all, and welcome to Gamers on the Street! In this column I will be logging into a different server each week to create a character and ask completetly random gamers of both factions their opinions about things that are currently impacting players in World of Warcraft. In this way we hope to reach out to the community and give some everyday gamers a chance to talk about some of the things going on in game.This week, I picked the Gnomeregan server by asking someone in the <It came from the Blog> guild to name a server for me. It was the first one that was given to me. I rolled my two characters -- a Gnome Rogue and a Troll Rogue, which I dutifully leveled past one so nobody thought I was a gold spammer -- and headed for the major cities nearby to ask my questions. Amusingly, getting anyone to talk to you at level five (Alliance) or three (Horde) was difficult to say the least...
BigRedKitty: A little deeper with hunter macros
Each week, 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. After the overwhelmingly positive critical reviews of last week's introduction to hunter macroism, and Mathew Porter's outstanding coverage of all things macro, we feel that one more week of instruction in the art of macroistics is in order. It is certainly not our goal to steal the thunder from our resident macro maven, but we have had a lesson plan in mind from the beginning of this short series of columns, as we usually do. We wanted to start with the basic one and two-line macros we showed you and follow that by expanding on those ideas to make macros that respond to specific key-clicks, macro sequences, and if-then structures. Many folks will find these simplistic but that's OK. The BRK Email Coffers have overflowed with thanks from those people for whom macros are a new idea and that's where our bread is usually buttered. The comment section from last week, and hopefully today, will continue be a great place for you macroheads to show us your particular masterpieces.
Breakfast Topic: Got upgrade?
Leveling up my draenei hunter, I used to keep looking for the next upgraded item I'd be able to use. My most exciting upgrading moment so far came when I reached level 40 and got to put on a full mail set I had bought and put away in the bank just for that moment. Somehow, though, I wasn't able to find many upgrades in my forties, and now starting on my fifties, some of that armor I had saved in the bank is still the best I can find, on the auction or in quests. The surprising thing is that leveling still isn't that hard! Of course maybe it's just because I'm a hunter, and hunters can even level naked if they want to.Still, it makes me wonder just how often we need to try and upgrade our armor leveling up. Is it totally different for the various classes? For example, can a hunter get by with sub-par gear for a long time, while a priest or warrior never could? If you're trying to level a very gear dependent class and just can't seem to find good upgrades, how do you manage?
Constructive criticism with the forums and the Armory
Some European players recently posted topics to their forums which focused on giving constructive criticism to whoever was above them in the thread. As the draenei author of the hunters' "what does the hunter above you need?" post put it:This isn't another "Rate my armory" thread. But rather a thread to give constructive criticism and directions for the above hunter. Like when you see a hunter in peril running around with a 2H Sword of the Bandit you could point him towards the Sonic Spear in Shadow Labyrinth. Or when a confused survivalist spends 2 of his precious talent points in Imp. Feign Death you could tell him to spend them on something more useful like Clever Traps and so on. May the Naaru bless you all.Not only is the idea tremendously useful, there's something about the humility and camaraderie in the attitude of this sort of post that gives me a pleasant surprise. Usually the forums (and anonymous Internet communication in general) have of all sorts of nastiness, and it's refreshing to see people using everything that the forums and the armory provide in such a cooperative way.I found "what does the player above you need?" posts for Hunters, Warlocks, Rogues, and Warriors. If you have found similar forum posts for other classes, or posts with remarkable constructive criticism of another sort, please mention them in the comments below.
Adventures in Azeroth: Introducing Cat
Last time we talked about my adventures as a newbie hunter running around Zangarmarsh with my pals in WoW Insider's It came from the Blog guild, I was a newly minted level ten trying to figure out what pet to tame. And knowing little of what I was doing, I asked for your advice on what I ought to tame. From the image above and the title of the post, I'm pretty sure you can guess what the results are, but I'll break it down for you anyway. Out of a total of 762 votes, cat won out with a total of 198 votes. However, boar was very close behind with 190 votes. And in third place, the noble owl, with 82 votes. (If you want to see the full results, check here.)So, as you can see, I went out and tamed a cat in Eversong Woods -- and I have to say, it's a completely different game after getting a pet! With a pet doing the tanking, I didn't have problems with monsters rushing up into melee range, where I can't use my bow, and beating on me. (Really, I'm hopeless once something gets into melee range!) And if something does get into melee range? I can just call my faithful cat in to pull it away. Oh yes, it seemed like the game was going to be eeaassssy sailing from here out. But of course nothing's ever easy...
BigRedKitty: Basic hunter macros
Each week, 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. What is your goal as a hunter in an instance? To not Multi Shot sheep? That a good one. To pull with the precision of a guided missile? Nice. To chain-trap your assigned mob until it has frostbite? Spiffy. To provide massive quantities of sustained, ranged DPS? Of course. To top the DamageMeters, demand the raid publicly address your superior skills and offer you tithings of gold and phat loot... and a nice song to commemorate your presence? Toss in a frosty, adult beverage and you're approaching how BRK rolls. But what really is the best way to convince your friends that you are deserving of a parade? It is our esteemed opinion that DPS alone is not going to win you any friends or influence people. We want you to do tons of DPS, but do it in a manner that exudes confidence, bravado, and efficiency. We want you to use a few macros.
Build Shop: Hunter 5/13/43
Welcome back to Build Shop! A short break was taken due to some technical difficulties, but here I am once again. And although I had previously claimed to have covered every class, it appears that I was mistaken: I missed Hunter! Therefore, as a thank you to the person who brought this to my attention (let's call him Mr. X), I will be reviewing his Hunter build. (To Mr. X: you didn't give me a screen name or anything, and I'm not sure if you want your real name attached to this. Drop me an email if you want me to credit the build to you.)This build definitely falls into the "strange" category. You've all seen enough raid builds and leveling builds, time for something a bit different. Here's how Mr. X describes the build:This Hunter idea just caught my attention, the ability to control 5 mobs, freeze trap, wait for cool down (24 seconds), wyvern sting pull, concussive shot another, one gets trapped, drop a trap for another, you pet tanks the last, 1 sleeping, 2 trapped, pop readiness, drop trap for the last, call pet back, wyvern sting the one it was fighting, relax a moment or two, back up, send pet in at first wyvern sting, let loose, then back to the second wyvern sting, trap cooldown should be up, retrap first ice block, fight the second ice block, have pet grab third ice block, mend pet, take out, and retrap the last ice block, step back, send in pet, let loose again. 5 mobs down, 1-2 minutes.-in a goup this hunter could have some fun too. the ability to free 3 targets, for 26 seconds each, pull a group of 6 in end game instances, rogue and mage in group, 1 sap, one sheep, and 3 ice blocks, then a wyvern sting mid combat should it be needed, and chain trapping one of the 3, the group can take out 1 enemy at a time, even in a group of 6, or without mage and rogue, still stop 5 for a period, life becomes really easy at this point. plus expose weakness on the 1 target everyone is fighting. this could be especially helpful with boss adds, since freezing traps arent specific to a specific target type (i.e. humanoids, beast, undead, etc)
The saga of Craig
The last couple of days have been torture for Trappa of Eitrigg. On a run in Old Hillsbrad recently her best friend and companion Craig despawned before her eyes and never reappeared when called. Her pet simply disappeared. Now, my hunter is only level 40, but I can't imagine how I would feel if I logged in one day to see my huggable-yet-feisty while lion Sobriquet gone. I get depressed just thinking about it. Trappa did what every sane hunter would do, she went straight to her stable only to find it Craigless, and then filed a GM ticket. What ensued was a battle of legendary proportions. She was told that her pet was hungry, and that must have been why he left. I asked Trappa if this might have been the case, and she said that she always keeps Craig in the green, since all hunters love them the 25% damage increase. She admitted that he might have gone into the yellow just because he had recently been put away, but he was also at the top of the loyalty chart. In her own studies since this incident she said it took a rebellious pet 25 minutes of not being fed to run away. Since Trappa certainly fed her pet more often than this, it appears she was the victim of a horrendous, heartbreaking bug.
BigRedKitty: The better we get to know players, the more we find ourselves loving pets
Each week, 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. In case you haven't noticed, WoW Insider management has finally capitulated to the letters, emails, mass-marketing campaigns, sky-writings, bags of flaming poo on the stoop, and torch-bearing crowds that have been pelting the BigRedKitty doors with week-old nachos requesting, nay demanding, more than hunter-specific class columns. You got 'em now, so a hearty BRK Congratulations to your non-violent overthrow of the ruling class. WooT for revolution! It's the Big Pet Column this week and for many of you it's about frickin' time. We get daily garbage-barge deliveries of email asking pet-related questions. So many, in fact, that this subject hits #2 on our: Top Ten List of BRK's Most Commonly-Received Questions, Comments, and Threats 10. Where did you get that blue cat? (He's purple... he's a purple cat). 9. Can I have just one gold and then will you run me through Deadmines and then will you show me where my trainer is and then will you level my toon for me and then will you call me when he's about to take on Gruul so I can do that myself? 8. Would you please write another BRK-Self-Flame so I can steal it?
Adventures in Azeroth: Introducing Lizzie
Despite how much I love World of Warcraft, I've got to say that leveling through the same zones over and over gets old after a while if you're an alt-a-holic like myself. So, when faced with the prospect of starting a new character on a new realm, I decided to try a different approach: I picked up a copy of Joana's 1-70 Horde Leveling Guide. For those of you unfamiliar with Joana's guide, it walks you through the fastest way to level up in World of Warcraft with a combination of grinding and questing. Joana's time of 4 days and 20 hours /played to level 60 sounded good to me, so I decided to give it a go, and when we all created new characters on Zangarmarsh to play together in It came from the Blog, I created a blood elf Hunter (though I have little experience playing Hunters, they seem to be best equipped for this speed leveling game) with plans on following Joana's guide and seeing how quickly I could get to level 60.After leveling my new hunter, Lizzie, up to level 11, I've pretty much decided I'm not going to be breaking any major records -- though I may beat some personal bests. Interested in hearing about Lizzie's newbie Adventures in Azeroth? Keep reading!
BigRedKitty: Proper hunter deportment
Each week, 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. Deportment: d?-pôrt'm??nt, noun. A manner of personal conduct; behavior. Why is it so important that we conduct ourselves in a manner in which the other classes don't have to? Because a lot of people think we hunters are expendable, that's why. We have a bad reputation and much of it fairly earned. In order to build up your Hunter Karma you'll need to work extra-hard at not being a PITA.There is a saying in the business community. Everybody who has a bad experience with your product will raise a ruckus and complain, but only one out of ten people who like your product will ever say anything to anybody. Negative press gets attention, folks, and hunters have a boat-load of it."Hunters break my sheep.""Hunters break my saps.""Hunters break my shackles.""Hunters always cry for pet heals.""Hunters grab aggro and then kite or melee the mob I'm supposed to be tanking.""Hunters think all loot is Huntard-Loot."So what can we do about this avalanche of negativity? How can we combat the Huntard Stereotype? What can you do personally to raise the awareness of proper hunter behavior? Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, and Hang On. That's what.
More pets for Hunters-- bug or feature?
Petopia (which has been a great Hunter resource for a long time, but only recently added a great blog to the mix), has a really interesting note for Hunters: you can now, apparently, tame an extra pet.It's always been annoying to be a Hunter in search of a new pet-- you have to either stable or permanently abandon the one you have with you, which leaves you without a pet for a while. And considering that taming new pets is how you learn new pet abilities, it's a pretty important thing to do. So for a long time, Hunters have asked for a way to tame new pets without having to go without their old ones for a while. And apparently, that's what Petopia found is now live in the new patch-- when you want to tame a new pet, you need only dismiss (not abandon) the pet you have, and you are able to somehow tame another pet.If you then go back to the Stable Master, your dismissed pet will have been placed in any stable spots you have open. If you don't have one open, but then buy one, Petopia reports that the dismissed pet will appear in your purchased slot, and that all three pets will be available to you, even after you log in and out. You can even dismiss and tame a pet multiple times-- at one point, Petopia had a total of five pets (two inaccessible from the stable) to juggle at a time.This a huge feature to be undocumented, which actually leads me, and a few other players, to believe that it's a bug. People who have tried it report that some strange things are happening-- selected pets are showing up in the wrong place and so on (although from what I've seen, no pets have actually been lost yet-- then again, there's always a first time, so go for this at your own risk). It could be, also, that this was a feature Blizzard was building in, but didn't get done in time for the patch, and is being found in its early state by Hunters. In the meantime, now might be the best time to go learn those new pet abilities you've haven't been able to pick up because you didn't want to abandon your three best friends.
BigRedKitty: Five of the top ten things every class should know about hunters
Each week, Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for the hunter class sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. Since there are more non-hunters who read WoW Insider than hunters, we've been asked to write a little something for the rest of the readers out there who aren't particularly interested if Hawk Eye is essential anymore, if the new Expose Weakness talent is going to be stronger than Trueshot Aura, or if guns are better than bows. Pfft. Guns FTW, right? Of course. There is a lot of goodness in the hunter class that BigRedKitty believes everybody needs to know about. So this column isn't for hunters but is instead for everyone else. This is the first in a two-part series about what a hunter can do for his party and bring to the table. When played properly, Hunters provide large quantities of sustained, ranged DPS, effective crowd control for all types of mobs and an amazing ability to rescue seemingly out-of-control situations. But there are things we love and things we hate. There are things at which we excel and things at which we stink. Knowing what a hunter can and cannot do will maximize the effectiveness of the next hunter who groups with you. "You mean hunters do more than wipe raids?" /snark Well, yes. Although we've known several hunters who would easily top the Raid Wiping category on the Armory, we do have some good qualities too.
How I tamed my dragonhawk in 8 easy steps
Etherjammer wrote in detailing how he was able to tame a dragonhawk at level 10. Now, this was intriguing enough that I decided I needed to try it. In his blog post he describes a journey that starts in Menethil and ends in Fairbreeze Village. What's the caveat? You run dead. Since my hunter is level 40 I decided to start my jog in Southshore where she is currently bound. If you decide to try this at a lower level, I would suggest swimming up from Menethil to Southshore and beginning your death jog from there. Step one: Die: I would suggest stripping off any gear you care about and let a nasty (or three) eat you. Step two: The jog begins: The first leg of the journey takes you up past Tarren Mill and Strahnbrad. From there follow the road west to Chillwind camp.
Alts and alts and alts, oh my!
I probably play World of Warcraft way too much. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? My addiction stems from not being happy with one character, or two, or three... I have 7 characters leveling in the Outlands right now, two of which are raiding Karazhan. Why can't I stick with just one and work on it until it's the best of the best? Because I love my alts! I created my first alt when my primary character, a Hunter, hit level 52. I'm not entirely sure why I did so, but it probably had something to do with having out-leveled my friends by about 20 levels and wanting to help them without hindering our playing experience. My first alt was a Warlock, who I took to 60 first, becoming my first instance grinding and raiding main character. The hunter stood on standby for a while, until my guild had Molten Core on farm-mode, upon which I took him to 60 and brought him in for our alt runs. He was one of the first to complete the Lok'delar/Rhok'delar/Lamina quest in our guild, which he still has (at least, until I dust him off and bring him out of retirement). After a few months with them, I met other people who played on a different server, and they needed main tanks for their progression. So I was off and running with a Warrior, who was level 60 in a matter of a few weeks. I helped that guild progress through Blackwing Lair when I took my first burnout hiatus. It took a few months of enjoying other things, more real-life than virtual, when I was feeling the pangs of withdrawal and logged back in.
BigRedKitty: Bad hunters are born, not made
Each week, Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for the hunter class sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. Back in the days when 60 was the echelon, Molten Core was a big deal, and 72% of all hunters weren't Marksman, BigRedKitty had a different role among our peers on Khaz Modan. We were a simple Hunter Class Leader in a nice guild with many friends, both hunters and of the lesser classes, and providing large quantities of sustained ranged DPS was the simple order of the day. And then one day, we went into a Lower Blackrock Spire 10-man raid, but we took another 60 hunter from the guild with us. We were a 0/21/30 Survivalist and our hunter cohort was a 5/31/15 Marksman. He used a very fast bow, we used a very slow gun. He was a night elf, we were, of course, a dwarf. He had a wolf, we had our favorite cat, Hobbes. Opposite sides of the same class, as it were. Now this hunter loved to pug. He pugged everything, and I mean everything. As such, loot drops for him were an everyday occurrence. Eventually he had a Beaststalker Set, whereas we never saw the chest piece of shoulders drop, and it took BRK 25 runs to Warmaster Voone to get the Beaststalker's Gloves. Dang. Voone... I need to kill him again. Just out of spite. Anyway, by the time we finished the Troll boss – the guy who would "frog you", remember him? – we were very much ahead in the damage meters and our "uber-geared" Marksman was way down the list. His solution: my DamageMeters were broken. Of course, six of us had the most current version, we were all syncing, and we all had the numbers the same way. Still, it was obviously our fault. He asked, very haughtily, how anybody with my gear – the rare PvP set - could possibly out-DPS him. Of course, the explanation was simple...
