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Garmin's Astro 320 GPS handheld offers nine-mile coverage, keeps your hunting dogs in line
Before you and your pooches head out to hunt innocent ducks this year, you might wanna check out Garmin's new Astro 320 dog tracker -- a handheld GPS device designed to help hunters keep even closer tabs on their four-legged sentries. The latest addition to the Astro family can simultaneously track up to ten hunting dogs per receiver, with a revamped antenna and three-axis electronic compass covering up to nine miles of flat terrain. Boasting a 20-hour battery life, the 1.7GB handheld can also tell hunters whether their canines are running or pointing, while its mapping capabilities provide their precise coordinates relative to powerlines, buildings, and individual trees. All this information is displayed on a 2.6-inch display, where users will be able to access 100k or 24k topographic and satellite maps. A keypad lock function, meanwhile, will make sure you don't accidentally press any buttons while you're in the thick of a hound-led hunt. The handheld will be available in July for $500, with the full system (including a DC 40 tracking collar) priced at $650. You can flip through the gallery below for images of some antenna-toting doggies, or head past the break for a more testosterone-laced pic and the full PR. %Gallery-125121%
Patch 4.2 New Hunter Pets: Ahnka
Patch 4.2 introduces two brand new daily quest hubs to Cataclysm called The Molten Front and The Regrowth. Yesterday, Blizzard updated the public test realm to include a new tidbit of information about eight new unique and rare creatures that would provide unique challenges to tame them by savvy hunters. 8 new rare tamable beasts have been added, each of which provides a unique taming challenge. Will you be the first hunter to tame Deth'tilac, the rarest and most powerful of them all? Players will need to progress through the Hyjal Regrowth and Molten Front daily questing areas in order to unlock access to the full gamut of taming challenges. source I hopped on to the PTR this morning and, lo and behold, found the first of these eight new challenges -- Ahnka, the spirit cat.
The Road to Mordor: Frozen in time
My goat snorted as it cleared the final rise, and I pulled its reins to bring it to a halt. Raising a hand to shield my eyes from the sun, I gazed at the decrepit ruins before me. A chill ran up my spine as I imagined the horrors that awaited me within the crumbling structure. For many days I had traveled the countryside looking for just this place, yet now that I'd found it, I was unsure whether I wanted to be here at all. My guides had long since fled in terror, abandoning gear and food in their haste to flee what they called "evil territory." I curled my fist and summoned all of the powers of determination that remained within me. It had to be done. I had come too far and shed too much blood to turn my back on the ruins' ancient secrets right as I was on the verge of discovery. Sure, it was the beginning of every scary play ever, but I knew completely that my destiny would be made or broken in the next few minutes. I kicked my mount into action, and we solemnly entered the deep shadows of the ruins' domain. It was do or die time. "FREEZE TAG!" I shouted. "GAME ON!"
The Daily Grind: Do MMOs play upon your real-world fears?
There's a friend of mine who suffers from extreme acrophobia -- the fear of heights. It's so bad, in fact, that she experiences anxiety attacks if she gets too far from the ground or goes flying in an MMO. This phobia's kept her away from certain zones in games if these areas utilize a lot of high-up places. I know of other people who experience a terribly common fear -- arachnophobia -- and struggle with the appearance of giant spiders in MMOs. You know, the critters that practically every online RPG is required to include by law. I've even heard of cases where Hunters in World of Warcraft chose spider pets to gain an edge in PvP, if they so happened to be fighting an opponent with that particular fear. It's a strange question, but here it is nonetheless: Do MMOs play upon your real-world fears? Do you struggle with parts of your game, or know others who do, because the devs happened to recreate a personal phobia of yours? 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 4.2 Preview: Tier 12 armor sets
Blizzard has been on an information release kick this week for Rage of the Firelands, the next content patch for Cataclysm. World of Warcraft has been known, for better or for worse, by its armor design choices. Some of the armor sets in WoW actually have transcended the game itself, becoming part of a healthy nostalgia for players old and new. Firelands is not going to have any shortage of cool raid gear. The tier 12 armor preview has just been released and contains images of the paladin, mage, rogue, hunter, death knight and priest sets. Warlocks, warriors, shaman, and druids are currently absent, though we can bet druids will also have a fire motif, considering Fandral Staghelm's role in the Firelands raid. %Gallery-122557%
Addon Spotlight: Quoth the Raven, Grab Bag 4
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, Grab Bag 4 is probably better than Grab Bag 3 but not as good as Grab Bag 2. Once upon a website cheery, awake at midnight barely clearly, Running another troll instance studying their forgotten lore, While on Eagle Boss, DPSing, suddenly I heard his rasping, Annoying me with all that chatting, chatting in my Chatter box. "Who's there?!" I muttered, "rasping in my headphones loudly?" Fine, I'm back to DPSing. "Addon columnist," he told me smiling, Grinning like that stupid Jin'do, Godslayer of trollish Loa, "My addons broke and I need fixing and by god I need it now-ish," Can't you see I'm in an instance, running, DPSing serpents, boas, "TELL ME NOW, my framerate's dying!" he sqawked like Outlands' Arakkoa Quoth the patch day, "Addons broken!"
Reader UI of the Week: Clean up with Jeska's UI
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com. Oh, hello there. I didn't hear you come in. Make yourself at home while we talk about Jeska's user interface, a pretty cool center setup that makes tracking hunter cooldowns and timers a breeze. And since Jeska is playing on a laptop, we can discuss some more tips and tricks for laptop users. Before we begin, though, I want to put the call out again for more submissions to the column. No, we aren't running low -- you guys are great at submitting and putting cool stuff in my email. Rather, I want to begin to categorize each user interface in terms of DPS, healer, tank, PvP- or PvE-focused, and all that, so that new readers have an easier avenue to finding interfaces that fit their playstyles. Here's what you can do: Make it absolutely clear which spec or role your UI best represents, and take screenshots that can exemplify that. That's it! And please, please, please remember to put "Reader UI of the Week" in the subject of your email; if it's not that, I'm not going to get your email. Yay for UIs! Submit your user interfaces, screenshots, and descriptions to readerui@wowinsider.com. %Gallery-19902%
The Road to Mordor: Echo... echo... echo...
Last night before I drifted off to sleep, I was idly wondering what it would be like to actually live in Middle-earth. Apart from the extremely high mortality rate due to wandering wolves, bold bandits, and orchestrating orcs, it might be a pretty excellent place to dwell, as long as one didn't mind a lack of Wi-Fi and Starbucks. I think Hobbit pies and Dwarf ale would be an acceptable substitute. Next week our virtual world will grow a bit in girth and depth with the Echoes of the Dead update. When all is patched and done, it'll be a truly big update containing meaty piles of content to devour. I think many of us are still scrutinizing Turbine as we go through this first year after the free-to-play switch, watching to see whether all of this additional revenue will be pumped back into the game or not. Echoes of the Dead marks the second post-F2P update for Lord of the Rings Online, following last November's Journey to Winter-home, and I have to say that I'm pretty impressed with just how much is being served up this time around. So in anticipation of the patch, let's walk through the major features of LotRO's latest update and see whether it was worth the wait!
Patch 4.1 PTR: New hydra pet available for hunters
Hunters have campaigned and begged for it, and now it appears to be on the horizon. According to a post on MMO-Champion, the patch 4.1 PTR contains a couple of spells that should be of interest to hunters. First is a tamed pet passive with a hydra icon, and the second is the ability Bellowing Roar, which includes the following: "The hydra lets out a bellowing roar, increasing the critical strike chance of all party and raid members by 5%." So get ready, hunters -- that elusive hydra pet you've been craving will (potentially) be yours soon, in patch 4.1. I'm going to name mine George. Editor's Note: Please keep in mind that this is datamined information from very early in the patch 4.1 cycle. That does not necessarily mean that the hydra will be a tamed pet in patch 4.1, only that Blizzard was exploring the possibility of allowing it. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Road to Mordor: Just around the bend
It's been a few months since the November Update in Lord of the Rings Online, and the natives are restless -- as usual. Some folks are despairing the long wait until Rise of Isengard while others are itching for more challenges to their currently level-capped characters. Then there are the players who are hopelessly lost in Moria and would give their eye teeth for a flashlight. Happily, a new update is just around the bend, code-named Echoes of the Dead. The actual name is Echoes of the Dead too, so I guess that's not such a great code. Over the past couple of weeks, we've started to get a feel for just how large this update is, and after reading through the Bullroarer test notes on Wednesday, I think we're in for a tsunami of a patch. Of course, these patch notes come in the middle of Turbine's carefully spaced dev diaries dealing with each major change or addition, which means that we're a little in the dark as to the specifics of half of this update. That's not going to stop me -- or any of you -- from analyzing, speculating and gesturing excitedly to no one in particular. So let's dig in to this hearty meal of mushrooms and patch notes to see just how deep LotRO's rabbit hole goes!
Turbine dev diary outlines LotRO Hunter tweaks
The winds of change are blowing toward Lord of the Rings Online's Hunter class, and Turbine developer Brian "Zombie Columbus" Aloisio has penned a new dev diary detailing the efforts to make Hunters more interesting for high-level players. This is no small feat, as "the Hunter was intentionally designed to avoid complexity," Aloisio says. "The differences between the trait lines are a little shallow." How exactly is Turbine going to achieve the delicate balance between easy-to-play and hard-to-master? Aloisio outlines three primary focus points for the Hunter changes: a reduction of the number of "filler" traits, enhancements for underused skills (as opposed to new skill additions), and general maintenance. The dev diary goes into great detail regarding the bowmaster and huntsman lines, with the former ultimately receiving a reduction in top damage potential but an increase in the overall effective damage and the latter seeing significant changes to Fleet Stance and Strength of the Earth. Find a path to the official LotRO website for the full details.
In defense of gear simulations
Josh Myers is not a scientist. The closest he's ever come to being one is winning the Science Fair in 8th grade and getting straight As in physics in high school. Despite these clear signs telling him to look for a career in science, he decided instead to go for a degree in English. His wallet hasn't forgiven him since. "Just sim it" is a phrase almost everyone who has played World of Warcraft in the past few years is familiar with. Should my enhancement shaman use Tunic of Failed Experiments or Voltage Source Chestguard? Sim it. How much of a DPS increase is the four-piece Firelord's Vestments bonus? Spreadsheet it. How much DPS am I losing since I can't afford a Flask of the Winds on my hunter? SIM IT! I'll be the very first to say that saying "just sim it" isn't a constructive thing to say. Beyond being slightly rude, it doesn't explain why simming is such a good idea. However, while I find "just sim it" to be in poor taste, the actual act of simming or spreadsheeting gear choices is a really good idea. This post aims to address why we encourage spreadsheeting your DPS choices.
Left 4 Dead Hunter & Tank plushes shipping December 27
The Left 4 Dead 2-themed Hunter and Tank plushes will just make their planned "late December" arrival on the Valve Store. The new additions to this line of frighteningly inappropriate stuffed "animals" will begin shipping to pre-purchasers on Monday, December 27, ensuring that Christmas will not be ruined for any young recipients of these special ... Infected. Sold separately and currently available for pre-order at a 10-percent discount, the Hunter Plush ($26.95) and Tank Plush ($31.45) both feature ten likely terrifying sound samples that should never, ever be played in a child's bedroom when the lights are off. Thankfully, the pair looks decidedly cuddlier than its sibling, the Boomer Plush. But, you know? That isn't saying much.
The Art of War(craft): Must-have PvP talents for hunters in 4.0.1
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Art of War(craft), covering battlegrounds and world PvP, and Blood Sport, with the inside line for arena enthusiasts. Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women? Battlemaster Zach Yonzon, old-world PvP grinder and casual battleground habitué, rambles on about anything and everything PvP. We don't have much time before Cataclysm hits, so let's get down to business. We've talked about some optimal talents for death knights and druids for PvP, so now we turn our attention to hunters. Hunters have always had a tough time in arenas, not necessarily because the class was broken but because the format simply wasn't conducive to the hunter playstyle. It got so bad, in fact, that Blizzard designed an arena -- the Ring of Valor -- specifically to benefit hunters. On the other hand, hunters have always lorded it over in the open expanse of the battlegrounds. The good news is that battlegrounds will be cool again. Well, they've always been cool in my book, but soon they'll be rewarding cool gear, too. That means hunters will once again feel like PvP gods (without needing the help of an enhancement shaman). There's one big change to hunters in Patch 4.0.1 and that's the change in resource from mana to focus. The difference with the way focus behaves is that rather than a resource well that pays for spells and abilities (mana), hunters have abilities that generate focus in combat such as Steady Shot and Cobra Shot, and then a whole load of focus dumps. In a way it's like death knight runic power or warrior rage without the decay. This means you'll always want to have nearly full focus but never gain focus that will simply slough off because you're over your maximum. It's a careful balance of gaining and spending, although focus regenerates at a steady rate.
Patch 4.0.1 hunter DPS hotfix
If you play a hunter, you may be interested in what Zarhym had to say today about your DPS -- namely, that it should already have gone up. Yay for more damage! Zarhym - Re: Class balance as of Oct 13, 2010 We have pushed a hotfix to improve hunter damage. Specifically, we increased the damage of the signature abilities (Chimera Shot, Black Arrow, Explosive Shot, and Kill Command) by 15-25%. This will both improve overall damage-dealing and make sure that these abilities are prioritized higher than other shots. We think this will bring hunters to a good enough state until they hit 85. Aspect of the Fox and Cobra Shot solve some specific issues at higher levels. Marksman hunters may still trump Survival and Beastmaster hunters until they're 85, since their rotations rely a little on Cobra Shot. source So just in time for Hallow's End, you hunters get 15 to 25 percent more damage on several signature abilities. I don't play a hunter myself, but I'm happy for y'all, as long as I don't end up in Sholazar with my wife camping some rare spawn parrot thing. I really don't understand you non-melee types, but I can't see a downside to more base damage here.
Cataclysm Beta: Death knight, hunter and paladin tier 11 previewed
The fine folks at MMO-Champion once again peel back the layers and show us the future -- at least, the future of what we'll be wearing. While the hunter set is interesting, I'd have to say I actually really like that paladin set, shown above. It's no Judgement, but it's pretty solid nonetheless. They also revealed the death knight tier 11 set earlier, and it's very dramatic looking. The red set is pretty spectacular. (I restrained myself from saying it was hot. You're welcome.) Head on over and take a look. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
Choose My Adventure: Psychopathic Hatchet
Choose the adventures of the WoW Insider staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Spoiler warning: The video above and Robinemia's recap after the break are full of Cataclysm spoilers. Above is what happens when Choose My Adventure is live (the picture links to the video). See the board with the nail? It was not the most appropriate quest reward for me. Yet the voters chose it because Psychopathic Hatchet was the best name and it wasn't a placeholder graphic. No, it's not a hatchet. It's a board with a nail. But the axe was a staff, so yeah. Anyway, Roblinator the goblin shaman is winning the polls. If you don't like it, go vote. Another Prupher gallery and Robinemia's recap are after the break. Schedule Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 42 troll warrior, will play on Tuesday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Monday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time). Robin Torres will play the character that wins the polls: Wednesday, 1 p.m. EDT. This will be streamed. Adventurers who play when they can Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 26 blood elf paladin Lisa Poisso as Prupher, the level 14 tauren druid Michael Sacco as Shockbroker, the goblin shaman Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 16 blood elf warlock Robin Torres, as Robinemia, the level 29 Forsaken mage Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 17 troll shaman
The Road to Mordor: Putting the "lass" back in "class"
With the not-so-recent NDA lift on the beta, LotRO players are fast at work discussing, analyzing, dissecting and pouring over all of the information coming from testers. Like a double Shire rainbow, the main question on everyone's lips is, "What does it mean?" We want to know how this is going to impact us, our future, and our gameplay, and the massive scope of this change is both unsettling and heady. Last week we sifted through the LotRO forums for testimonies about several aspects of the beta, which was treated with a stony silence from the lot of you. Oh, I kid! Nothing gets the tongues wagging around here like a good mouthful of free-to-play, although I've been informed by the leaders of the Global Conspiracy Against Gamers Having Fun that this topic has three days left on the clock until it's locked away in a vault forever. So even though I tried to touch on the relevant points of the beta last week, there's simply so much of it out there that I had to leave some behind. It's easy to forget that this fall's update contains more than the LotRO store, like a whole barrel of additions and fixes to the game -- including class tweaks. Grab my hobbity hand, and we will venture into the land of the unknown... the land of class changes.
Know Your Lore: Nathanos Marris and the dark rangers of the Forsaken
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. When looking at the new race and class combinations that are coming out with Cataclysm, some are far easier than others to digest, such as the addition of the hunter class to the human race. Of course the humans can be hunters, that's not a terribly far-fetched statement at all. But what about the other new race that, as of Cataclysm, gets to take up the bow and tame beasts as well? I'm speaking of the Forsaken, of course -- the thought of an undead creature holding a biscuit and coaxing a wolf to be his new best friend is just a little off-putting. In Wrath, we've seen a sudden return of the dark rangers -- the forsaken remnants of what used to be Sylvanas' corps of elven rangers. As Ranger General of Silvermoon, Sylvanas led and commanded the Farstriders back before the Third War. After the events of the Third War, Sylvanas found herself turned into a banshee, and then after regaining her body, a dark ranger -- the first dark ranger of the Forsaken. But the Forsaken we play in game aren't really elven -- they're humans, the former residents of Lordaeron. How do they fit in? There's a few different and absolutely reasonable theories kicking around, but first we should take a look at the first and only human ranger lord -- Nathanos Marris. WARNING: The following post may contain some spoilers for the upcoming Cataclysm expansion. If you wish to remain unspoiled, stopping here would be advised!
Breakfast Topic: The best class choice for new players
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com. I'm living a dream that many guys out there have: My girlfriend is actively learning how to play World of Warcraft and is enjoying it. After a couple of false starts, she finally found a class that suited her. First, she tried a warlock. Too many things to remember. Keeping DoTs up, keeping up with soul shards and collecting them, keeping tabs on her demon in battle. It was too much for her. She tried a hunter. Taming her own pet was cool at first, but then she had to feed it and manage it in dungeons. Throw Feign Death, Deterrence and Disengage into the mix, and it was not her cup of tea. She's flying back 10 yards into other packs of mobs and feigning death every time the cooldown is up because she's afraid of the tank yelling at her for "doing the aggro thing." I was dismayed that a hunter didn't work out, because I always deemed it the default starter class for new players. At least it was for me. Then came the paladin. Oh, blessed paladin, how she loves thee. At first, all she had to do was run up to the mob and hit it with Judgement of Light. The only "tricky" thing I had to teach her was when the Judgement of Light button was dark and wouldn't let her use it, it meant she needed to apply her Seal of Righteousness again. I even put the Seal right above the Judgement so she wouldn't forget. She was actually having pure joy with her new class. She didn't wonder if she was doing it right. She didn't worry about forgetting something. Just kill, kill, kill and love every second of it.
