Ammo "Controversy"

*Info on why I haven't posted in a while to come soon*

I just wanted to make a quick post about some B.S. I read that sparked all kinds of talk a little while back.

http://www.wow.com/2009/12/09/ammo-controversy-in-3-3-already/

http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2009/12/08/ammo-controversy-in-patch-3-3/

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21626553111&sid=1

When I read those articles, I have to admit, it was the stupidest fucking thing I have ever read on WoW.com. (No offense Mike.) I was not "news worthy/blog worthy" at all. QQ because epic arrows weren't "easy" (an opinion) to come by? Mike even contradicts (one might say he was just explaining both ways to look at the issue) himself in the article.

I just wanted to say, not even 2 weeks after the patch came out, I got 21,000 epic arrows made last night, by someone I didn't even know, with my own mats, and tipped 20g. If we do the math, I paid less than 1 gold per 1000 arrows. I have paid between 5 to 10 times more than that for saronite arrows. Also, if you economists want to factor in the cost of me farming the mats, yeah it might have had a high opportunity cost (like all farming does) but it just so happens that all those crystallized shadow I used I had just saved up over the course of the expansion with out a real use for them. People said this was going to be expensive and it would take forever for people to get honored with that faction and it would be hard to find the right spec'd engineer and and blah blah blah bull shit bull shit.

So...

/end controversy

EDITED TO ADD: I am so full of laughter and anger as I read the Hunter QQ in that thread. It honestly embarrasses me to play a Hunter. I might revisit this topic soon...

Patch 3.3

IS OFFICIALLY OUT NOW! I have been anticipating this patch and I cannot wait to play. Look for me in a random heroic near you!

The Douches You Meet on Xbox Live

When I started the blog, I didn't intend for it to be solely WoW based. I am a nerd at heart and in broadening my gamer nerd horizon, I played me some Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I have to come right out and say, it lives up to ALL the hype. I am not a hardcore FPS gamer, but I do enjoy them, and I can say without a doubt Modern Warfare 2 is flat out fun. Any FPS fan should DEFINITELY have this on the top of their Christmas list.

What I wanted to present today, is the general attitude of Xbox Live from a WoW players perspective.

On WoW, you may think the spam and trash talk is out of control with barely any monitoring, but wait until you get a dose of Xbox Live. The anonymity of the internet + the instant communication over a headset + the rages over being killed and losing + the blame game and pointing fingers at "scrub players" + hardly any discipline from the Xbox Live Overlords = The most insane trash talk you have ever heard. If you compare this to WoW, the most trash talk you can get is some text in a chat log that is easily reportable and the WoW Overlords hand out bans like candy to children for even the littlest Anal [Obsidian Warbeads] offense. In both cases though you can chose to ignore/mute the person so, yes, it can easily be avoided. However, where's the fun in that? ;)

The only other thing I want to add, is how funny it is when you get to here actually HOW nerdy and young some of these same pointing finger trash talkers from WoW are when they are on a headset.

Keeping this one short. Check out Modern Warfare 2 if you are into FPS games and be prepared to enjoy the douches you meet on Xbox Live.

The Douches You Meet in Retail Stores: Black Friday 2009 Edition

As you can see, this won't be WoW related today, mostly because I canceled my account to have money to buy Christmas gifts for my family. I will activate it again after Christmas and hopefully it will be closer to 3.3.

So when you hear Black Friday you think of crazy people waiting outside for hours to buy some expensive electronics for really cheap and possibly getting in fights and killing people. I have participated in more than a few Black Fridays in the past years and I have to say this year was the calmest and not crowded Black Friday I have been to to date. It was so refreshing. I didn't wait in any line for anything except checking out and even those lines were not too long. I bought every present that I planned on buying for every person in my family without any of them being sold out and they were all on sale. I went to 5 different stores around the town then drove to a mall and got a couple gifts from there too. Everywhere I went it almost seemed like a normal day. A few of the stores and the malls were not any more crowded than it would have been on a normal day. I can't stress this enough. It was great.

But that doesn't mean there weren't a few stressers.

1. People that get in the fucking express check out with OBVIOUSLY more fucking items in their cart than indicated by the huge sign. Then the douches justify it by saying that they figured since it was a special day those store rules didn't apply................. (I can't trail that off enough)

2. When people see things on shelves or bins, they feel like they should turn into complete cavemen and throw stuff around when they are going through it and just leave it on the floor or completely out of its original place. Makes finding things so much easier for the next person trying to find something, am I right?

3. I used to work at Best Buy and I actually worked a Black Friday and you know all those people that wait overnight for all the doorbusters? They leave trash and lawn chairs and tents and all kinds of shit outside the store for the employees to clean up. Disrespectful.

4. A specific instance today, Wal Mart had a new strategy for Black Friday (which worked pretty well). They had to change it because of the death. What didn't work well, is that the registers didn't recognize over half of all the items went on sale at midnight so the cashiers had to manually override my items. It could have been a small inconvenience but the cashier had the nerve to tell me that I was the one who was wrong about when the items went on sale WHILE I AM HOLDING THE AD IN MY HAND. Shenanigans.

So I am rambling on now. But today was a good day overall and I got all my shopping done. I hope some of you could be so lucky.

The Douches You Meet in Dungeons: Bringing Your "A Game"

Yesterday I had a crazy, and very tiring, day. I was literally falling asleep/just plain asleep at work. My Boss didn't give me shit for it luckily, but because I was too tired to actually work most of the day, I couldn't post a new blog on time. This one, is a situation that I encountered with my girlfriend when we were in a pug run of Heroic UP. She is excited that I am writing about her, so before I start the story, Hi baby! I love you! (Awww how sweet!! *Blush*)

Bringing Your "A Game"

Heroic UP. Pug. As I said. Me on my Hunter. Of course. My girlfriend on her main. Holy Priest. The stage is set. Writing like this is intense.

My girlfriend and I were just running to have a good time and maybe get some badges or something. Both of us, like many players right now, out gear Heroics to the point where they really become "easy mode." Neither of us have "Best In Slot" gear by far, but out gear Heroics. So she is the parties healer, naturally, and has been playing a healer since level 1 on that Priest. We can also say level 10 since that is when you actually get talents, whatever floats your boat. She is a good healer. She cares about the role, always tries to do better than before, and takes her role seriously. Leveling up from 70 - 80 she healed A LOT of dungeons. A LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of dungeons. She was good, everyone told her that, and she made a reputation for herself and made a lot of friends through healing the dungeons that still have stuck around to this day.

Back to present day, she is still a good healer. However, given the fact that we were in a 5 man, she was more laid back than she would be healing a raid. Up until this time, we really hadn't ran any 5 mans in a while and had been running raids every time we logged on. Now that I think about it, I think the reason we were running it was because it was the daily, and there is the chance for the mount. Anyway... She was used to healing raids so when she was geared, and back in a 5 man, she was more laid back. She was playing WoW healing the dungeon, while also chatting with a friend on Myspace or AOL instant messenger. Don't remember. So, because of this, the tank got a little low on health a couple times. He flipped out and was like, "WHERE ARE MY HEALS!!" She apologized and said, "Sorry I let you get low. I was reading something. I AM NOT going to let you die. Calm down." It was the truth. She is more than capable, gear and skill wise, to heal a 5 man. However, the tank kept running his mouth. So she kept letting him get low before she healed him. He was pissed because he felt the need to use cooldowns when his health got low, which is what a tank should do, but even after she assured him she wasn't going to let him die, he kept on being a douche. The tank did stop being a douche close to the end of the dungeon. There was a bit of conflict and then everyone let it go and finished the run. The second after we down the last boss, the douchebag starts going off on her again. Calls her out in party chat saying she is a fucking shitty healer and fucking sucks, worst healer ever, blah blah blah. Then whispers her and talks a little more shit and then ignores her. Another example, like last week, of people that try so hard to annoy you and make you feel like shit, possible even making themselves feel better for being a douchebag to someone else. When really, they are a fucking loser taking the game way too seriously.

So this is the question I want to put out there: Should you be bringing your "A" game to a 5 man (or any content you have complete faith you will completely faceroll)?

My opinion is, if you are playing your role on par or better with the way a lesser person (gear or skill wise) would play that role and be competent, you are doing just fine. However, I guess what I should really say is, play your role to whatever standard you want, and if someone has an opinion about it you don't agree with, who fucking cares? As long as you don't feel at fault, or that you have let the group down in some way, which obviously she hadn't (no one died and we made it through the content just fine), just go about enjoying the game while not letting the douchebags get you down.

DPS Questionnaire

I saw this post on WoW.com and apparently I am behind the curve. Even more behind the curve because Pike at Aspect of the Hare did this questionnaire and my answers probably will not be much different because I agreed with pretty much EVERYTHING said. However, I was thinking today, I should do some kind of "About Me, the Man Behind the Rage" some time in the future. So this will be part one.

DPS questionnaire with my alter ego, "Treos the Troll Hunter."

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary DPS?

Treos, Troll Hunter. Dual spec'd BM PvE and MM PvE.

What is your primary DPSing environment? (i.e. raids, PvP, 5 mans)

PvE content. Whatever I have time for. I am very lucky to be in an amazing guild that raids everyday but is in no way "hardcore." It sounds contradicting but it isn't. More on that one day. Like I said, whatever I have time for. In a somewhat embarresing fact, if I can only hop on WoW for 5 minutes, I will just run my rotation on a boss dummy, even if I haven't gotten an upgrade recently, just to DPS.

What is your favorite DPS spell/ability for your class and why?

I would have to say, BM spec'd, is Bestial Wrath. Figures right? In MM spec, Trueshot Aura. If Trueshot Aura sounds lame... let me explain why. When I first started playing in Vanilla WoW, I was a BM hunter from level 1 - 39, then as soon as I hit 40, I respec'd to MM because Trueshot Aura sounded really awesome (as well as Aimed Shot) and I wanted to feel like I am really powerful just mowing people down. I hadn't played anything but BM until lvl 40 but I never even got to use Bestial Wrath until way later when I respec'd back in my 50's and had I used Bestial Wrath at 40, I probably wouldn't have played MM for A LONG time. BM is amazing.

What DPS spell do you use least for your class and why?

There are a lot of abilities I don't use (or feel like I don't use enough). If I had to pick just one it would be Distracting Shot. When do I want aggro again? In my defense, it does have plenty of uses but it is still rarely used compared to everything else in my spellbook.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your DPS class and why?

Well, because Hunters are a pure DPS class, I would say DPS is my biggest strength. To elaborate, every Hunter spec has some sort of raid buff, but nothing terribly unique where you NEED a Hunter in your raid. However, you SHOULD always take a Hunter because they are awesome.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your DPS class and why?

Being a ranged class with a limited range. Like, not being able to shoot someone because they are too far, then they come too close, and you can't shoot them either. Luckily, the fabled "Dead Zone" was taken out way back when. I also think the fact that we rely on mana is weird.

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best DPS assignment for you?

Best assignment:
Raid Leader: Treos, your assignment is to stand there and fill the boss with arrows until it falls over.
Treos: Aye, mon.

In a raiding environment, there are all kinds of moving and reaction, but I love being able to sit back and just shoot all my shots without worrying about anything. Not because "it is easier" than say a fun mobility fight like The Safety Dance, but because, I feel like I put a lot of time and knowledge into perfecting a rotation and I enjoy having the opportunity to display that flawlessly without having to worry about the fire.

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with most and why?

Using the same interpretation Pike used, I enjoy partying with an enhancement Shaman the most. The Strength of the Earth Totem along with Bloodlust is awesome. I think BM Hunters and Enhance Shamans have a raid buff that overwrites each other though. So maybe a Paladin. Either way, you can see the theme here. Pure DPS classes care about DPS and want everyone to join the party to make them stronger. :)

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with least and why?

Any class that doesn't help me do more DPS.
Any class that can out DPS me.
Blood DK's when I am MM spec because I hate having no use for Trueshot Aura and it always being overwritten.

What is your worst habit as a DPS?

As a Hunter DPS specifically, I feel I don't cast Misdirection enough. I beat myself up for not using it more during boss fights, but then I look at OMEN and the tank is so high up on the threat meter it would be a waste to cast. It still bothers me though, I feel like it is in my spellbook for a reason and I should use it every time it is up.

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while DPSing?

In a PUG environment, everything. People that are so obsessed with DPS meters BUT that don't know how to use them properly. PUG environments have all kinds of special phenomenons that don't happen in a NORMAL environment so let me think of a better answer... Haha... I'm the nerd rager and I have been sitting here for minutes trying to think of a pet peeve of mine while in a group environment. I want to say, "I don't let anything bother me! I just try to have fun!" That would be a complete shit lie. TONS of fucking things bother me. However, most of the things that annoy me are done by players who are stupid in the first place. So I guess I don't have a pet peeve when everyone I'm playing with are not morons. I guess the only thing I can put here is, it bothers me when buffs are overwritten or time isn't taken to evaluate specs of an entire raid to get the best synergy. I know that sounds like a really hardcore or elitist attitude, but I am not trying to sound like that. As an example, two questions back, it is a pet peeve when something I am providing to the party is constantly getting overwritten and so if there is a Blood DK or another MM Hunter in the group, I go BM. The thing that gets under my skin, is no one seems to care or try to ask other people what spec they are so they can do the same. I ALWAYS ask if there is a Blood DK or a MM Hunter in the group for that very reason. Trueshot Aura is awesome, so if I have it, I want to use it!

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other DPS?

The Beast Mastery spec lags behind the others but not nearly as much in practice as I think people tend to assume it does. Both of the facts in said sentence (that it does lag, and that people overestimate the lag), irritate me to some degree.

As for hunters as a whole, I dunno, all the Recount screenshots I’ve seen of superendgame guilds show hunters as really lagging behind, but that must just be a superendgame thing because hunters destroy the meters in my guild. Like, you’ll have that one crazygood mage, that one crazygood rogue, and that one crazygood feral druid, but everyone else toppin’ the meters? Hunters, hunters, and more hunters. So, I dunno.

*Cough* Sorry, I just had some kind of weird out of body possession experience/deja vu where everything I was about to say exactly was taken from my head and said for me.

Just to reiterate, BM DPS = Viable DPS. A spreadsheet will NEVER tell the whole story. BM DPS is not the best, obviously, but I can't count the times I out DPS'd better geared Hunters of a different spec on a daily basis. I still out DPS better geared people than me to this day. Maybe BM sucks for min/maxing and whatever bullshit you want to call it, but I guess I just play BM like a professional because I MAKE IT viable. I have the screenshots bitches.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a DPS?

Recount as a personal tool. Praise as a outside tool. Like, back in BC, I would be in groups and they would say, "Treos, it is so rare to find a Hunter that can trap the way you do. Here, take this free gold for being so fucking awesome."
"Thanks, mon!"

- True Story

DPS is a pretty straightforward role to play I think. I use my utilities like Misdirection and I always try to do more DPS than the time before, because that is my role, that kills the boss, and that gets me loot.

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

Everyone says Hunters are so easy. Easy for what? Leveling? Possibly, but ALL leveling is easy, and time consuming and not fun lol. If Hunters are somehow "easier" to play than other classes, how could anyone suck with one ever? The truth is, every class is easy to play. WoW is easy to play. Every class is hard to master. WoW is hard to master. You are technically playing the game if you are hitting one button, and if you can send your pet and auto shoot all the way up to 80, take that attitude into a raid and let me know the results. The previous statement could be applied to any class.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new DPSers of your class to learn?

Like the last question, different aspects of gameplay are different aspects of gameplay. You are always learning something new. I would say, pet management is difficult in PvE when you first have to learn it, and not just moving them out of the fire but knowing when to dismiss them and what boss fights they are going to die on without a doubt.

What DPS class do you feel you understand least?

Casters. Specifically, Locks and Mages. I have played them a little bit but no fucking clue how to play one decently. Feral druids as well.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in DPS?

Recount. It actually is a DPS aid when you know how to read it properly. I use a couple of "Iwin" macros that blow all my cooldowns. Nothing secret, just the standard stuff. All other macro's I use are for convenience. Like my Sting Modifier and Shot Modifier. Without the game in front of me I can't give them exactly but basically one button shoots Serpent Sting, Shift+same button = Viper Sting, Alt+same button = Scorpid Sting. I use the same thing with Aimed Shot and Multishot in MM spec.

On a side note, Aimed Shot and Multishot share a cooldown. Explosive Shot and Arcane Shot share a cooldown. I can't tell you how many MM Hunters told me they don't use Arcane Shot because they think it shares a cooldown with Aimed Shot or Chimera Shot or something. Who knows.

[Your class's preferred basic stat] over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

BM Hunters - Attack Power
MM Hunters - Agility (or Armor Pen. if you are one of those badasses)
SV Hunters - Agility

At least, that is how I have always understood it. Personally, I am thinking about gemming for straight Agility even while I primarily play BM so that when I switch to MM I will have the proper stats.




And... WTF?! It's over... It did take me a while to fill out but I always love Hunter talk...

The Douches You Meet in Dungeons: The Gathering Whore

Profession and gathering use in dungeons can always spark controversy if not handled at the beginning of the run, much like loot rules. In the past, the unspoken rule was, you roll for nodes. Pretty simple.

• Mining/Herb node is in sight.

• Someone asks, "Is anyone a miner/herbalist?"

• Yes? No?

• If yes, the two usually roll for the node. If no, the person who has, it takes it.
  

• In most cases, if another node is somewhere else in the dungeon, the 2 miners/herbalists would take turns until the end.

All is fair.

Skinning is a little trickier because usually multiple mobs throughout a dungeon will be able to be skinned and it gets hard taking turns. Also, this could come up with mining and herbs corpses as that happens too. So what I usually do is when something is able to be skinned, I see if anyone goes to skin it, if not, I do. Now finally, to the story:

Heroic Violet Hold. Pickup group. Of course, this late in the expansion, no one needed the loot just wanted a quick run for badges and to kill some time or whatever. The tank of the run is a Paladin and he is really anal about EVERYTHING. We kill a few mobs and he says, "Hey everyone make sure you loot all this stuff so I can skin it. I don't need the mats for anything but I don't ever use my profession unless I am in a dungeon." I am a skinner and a LW, so guess what fuck nut? I need AND use the mats. I don't say this because it doesn't really matter, not worth starting shit over. So I go to skin something and the guy races me to it. I was thinking to myself, "Ok. No problem. I'll just get the next one." Nope. This guy races to every skin. Even when I would be in the middle of skinning something he would click it. So then, still not trying to start anything, I say to myself, "I will just skin the things I loot. This guy can have every skin in the dungeon except when I go to loot something, I'll take the skin right after it."

You can see where this is going... It is my turn to loot something and the douchebag skins it right out from under me. "QQ Moar," you say? Truth is, it bothered me, but only because I knew the guy was a douche and obviously this level of douchebaggery was going to keep going on. However, I don't get to play that often. So I could confront him, call him out, and tell him he is a fucking dick. But, I was enjoying the rest of the dungeon. It is easy, I was top DPS (over 5k on all the boss fights, not e-peen stroking, it is relevant), and I wanted the emblems. So even though his douchy antics were starting to bother me, I let it go.

Then after we kill the second boss, which happened to be that lava dog, he runs and skins it and gets like 10 Borean Leather. It was fucked up he knew I was a skinner and didn't pass on one fucking skin the entire dungeon, so after the boss was over and we were waiting for the next portal to spawn, I said, "Man, you are a skinning whore." Everyone says "lol" and doesn't think much of it. Then the Paladin is like, "fuck you," and kicks me from the group. So as I am waiting for the countdown to be taken out of the dungeon, I was like, "Really? You kick the top dps in the group and would rather 4 man it because you can't share a fucking skin? You are a little bitch." Then some other random asshat says, "bullshit, you aren't top DPS," and links me the dps meter. I think I was like number 2. What did they link? Overall DPS for the entire dungeon. So then I said, "What a fucking noob, I was talking about boss dps, the only fucking dps that matters." The only person close to me in DPS during the bosses was putting out about 4k and I was doing over 5, while the other dps was doing like 2k. The only reason I was low on the overall meter was because I had a few of friends over so I was halfass playing (<--- spoiler: next weeks story) until it got to the boss fights because that is the most fun. So then I get teleported out.

I get up from the computer, literally, laughing out loud. I could have nerd raged, but for what? This group was a handful of douches. I got on WoW to have a good time, and I did. Because for me, fun is unleashing my DPS on a boss and being at the top of a meter most of the time. Not because I feel like it makes me better than anyone under me, but because it proves I know how to play my class and I get to compete with myself always trying to put out 4 higher numbers than the time before. Maybe even a 5 digit number one day. ;)

New Friday Posts!

I am going to start a column Friday titled:

"The Douches You Meet in Dungeons"

Such an [EPIC] title. Agree?

One of the reasons I started my blog was to tell specific stories of the douchebaggery of WoW players (or people in general) and how I got to be the nerd rager I am today.

Check back tomorrow!

Virtual Asses

Original title of this blog was too long so here it is:

"The very ridiculous reason an overwhelming number of male gamers give when asked why they create/play girl characters in video games, or more specifically, RPGs"

The reason? BECAUSE THEY WOULD RATHER STARE AT A GIRLS ASS WHILE THEY GAME THAN A GUYS ASS.

Maybe you aren't following me so far and are thinking to yourself, "Yeah that sounds like a valid reason... Hey wait! WTF! I play a guy character! Am I secretly GAY?! HAVE I BEEN STARING AT A GUYS ASS THE WHOLE TIME I HAVE BEEN PLAYING WOW?! I LOVE PLAYING WOW! DOES THAT MEAN I LOVE STARING AT GUYS ASSES?!"

Yeah. You are probably thinking that. Because you probably are gay and just realized it. Just embrace it. However, if you are thinking you reached that conclusion in error, I am about to show you a test that can settle this.

Test:
1. Do you have a girlfriend? If yes, proceed to question 2. If no, proceed to question 1a.

1a. If you were given the choice of staring at a hot girls ass all day, or Justin Timberlake's ass all day, which would you pick? If you chose a hot girls ass, you MOST LIKELY are not gay. If you chose Justin Timberlake's ass... there is a pretty good chance you are gay. If you chose none of the above, maybe you are the Lance Bass type. Or maybe you prefer one of the gay guys from" Will and Grace." Look, I don't know how you roll. But the basic principal stands.

2. If someone gave you the choice of staring at a picture of her ass all day, or your own ass all day, which would you pick? If you would choose her ass, you MOST LIKELY are not gay. If you chose your own ass, that is really weird and a whole different issue to tackle. If you chose your own ass go back to question 1a and try to see if you get a better answer.

What does any of that shenanigans have to do with WoW? For starters, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You know why? BECAUSE LOOKING AT A REAL ASS IN REAL LIFE IS DIFFERENT THAN LOOKING AT A VIRTUAL ASS. Look morons, your sexuality does not depend on which PIXELATED ASS YOU WOULD RATHER LOOK AT IN A FUCKING VIDEO GAME. No one is going to judge you. I promise. No one is going to say, "Dude, you are playing RE5 staring at Chris Redfield's new tone body and hot ass compared to how they made him look in the original Resident Evil, instead of playing Tomb Raider? YOU ARE SO GAYYYY!!!!!" If that EVER did happen to you, obviously someone is trying to hide there own sexual identity crisis by only playing female characters in video games.

While we are on the subject of Chris Redfield though, you want to know what I thought when I got RE5? "DAMN! Chris Redfield HIT THE FUCKING GYM SON! Look at that BEAST! I bet he is going to be punching fucking African zombies in the fucking face to death, like in that movie with Vin Diesel, when he punches that guy to death that killed his wife!"

Similarly, when I play my main in WoW, "DAMN! Treos is a fucking BEAST! A FUCKING BEAST MASTER! Putting out over 5k DPS with his bad ass big red wolf fucking shit up!"

Now, to hit another point I haven't mentioned yet regarding why the original reason for playing a girl character is fucking idiotic, WHO THE FUCK IS STARING AT AN ASS WHILE THEY ARE PLAYING A VIDEO GAME IN THE FIRST PLACE?! Seriously, I will add a diagram of every third person video game I can think of and this is how they work:

Can anyone give me a good fucking reason why you would be looking at someones ass instead of in front of you, who you are fighting, or whatever the fuck you are doing?

(Now I get if you are a Druid in WoW, and your ass takes up 75% of the screen in bear form... I'm sorry. Start playing from a bird's eye view I guess or I can't help you.)

If you think I am making all of this up, I have a few good posts that will provide much enjoyment if you share the same take I do on this insane reason guys make girl characters.

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Chinese MMO company thinks you are either a closet homosexual for playing a girl character, OR, that you some how take too much pleasure in staring at a girls avatar's virtual ass or something.

Winner:

Koeh
"What I find interesting is: "The reason for the bans is that they firmly believe that you are a homosexual if you do, or that you like to watch your female avatar from behind"

So they complain that you're gay because you play a female character, but then they also complain that (being straight) you like to watch the avatar from behind? Wtf do they want?

With that logic, are people who play beasts/animals in games not allowed to play them because they're may be into beastiality?!?!

What a load of s**t..."

Loser:

Some total moron named "washu"
"shouldn't it be the other way round?... if you like to stare at a guys butt or hear his voice all day, then you are gay, nothing homo just because you like to watch girls..
(10 female toons)... would never make a male!"

^^^ As you can see here, DEFINITELY something wrong with that person.

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MMO-Champion, Topic: "Guys, why did you roll a female toon?" HILARIOUS 39 page post. No I didn't make it through all 39.

Winner:

Rantus
Quote from: Specops on November 01, 2009, 09:34:13 pm

I'd rather be looking at the ass of my female toons rather than that of a male toon... If I'm going to be playing something, why would I want to look at a guy?

Your char is the online representation of you.
Would you get a sex change IRL so you don't have to look at a guy when you see a mirror?

Quote from: Ghul on November 01, 2009, 09:36:50 pm

when im nearing bis gear on every content patch i usually tend to look at my good geared char and think "yes i really like this char of mine".
i dont want to say or think this line towards a male char because it would feel a little gay :>

its not gay to think your char looks awesome or cool. only if you think its hot, then we have a problem."

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Post from WoW.com, it is about half down the post, someone asks is it weird to play a girl character if they look better in dresses or some BS like that.

Winner:
Kylenne
"Pro Tip for question #2: people who are secure in their own gender and sexuality don't generally give a shit about something as trivial as what character you play in a video game. People who give you grief are not worth your time."

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The comments on all three of those articles/posts I can guarantee you will see more than one person in all of them use what I am now coining, "The Ass Defense."

You know why it is a "defense?" Because there seriously has to be some other reason they are playing a girl character, it REALLY cannot be the ass thing, but I think they are trying to hide the true meaning. Whatever that meaning may be.

Something else I found funny in the comments justifying why they prefer girl characters to guys, a lot of people were saying, "I think the girl animations look better than the guys." I guess that is understandable, but can you tell me how you would know that? Obviously you had to make a guy character at one time to know you prefer the girls animations. So were you staring at a guys ass the whole time until you made the girl character? Also, how would you have seen the girls animations in the first place to know they are better than a guys? Did you youtube it somehow? Or did you watch someone else's girl character in you dungeon group? Which brings us back to square one. They were staring at a girls ass in the first place to figure that out. So in all actuality, the "Animation Defense" is covering up for the "Ass Defense" which is covering up for whatever other reason you have for playing a girl character.

To sum it up, no, I don't play any girl characters. Not for any specific reason of any importance. I feel like, I am a guy, so I create a guy. Big deal. I also, don't have a problem with a guy playing a girl character. It is a video game, do whatever the hell you want. Just please, tell the truth and don't use some lame ass excuse about asses. However, if the ass thing really is your reason, evaluate your sexuality before you log back on.

Ass

Raging so hardcore right now that I am posting a new blog just to say my next blog will be about staring at pixel asses.

Fucking.

Pixel.

Asses.

I wish I could channel all these thoughts right now and hunt people down like this:

Possibly the most amazing graphical bug ever...

Yes. That is an Undead Paladin you see. Oxymoron? Probably. Freakin' sweet? Most definitely.

So it was reported on by WoW.com who said that they had been "sitting on this one for a few days now." (Perverts) Now, they are drawing mass attention to what could be the coolest and funnest bug ever.

This youtube video shows how to do it.



The only correction as noted by WoW.com is that you click and then press enter. It isn't simultaneous or the other way around (as shown in the video).

I have personally seen the Tauren Rogue and the stealth animation and it is awesome.

Note: If you shapeshift as a druid and possibly a warlock, you lose the race change. I don't know if this works with Halloween wands or other shape changing buff foods/drinks but most likely.

Also, there is a trick to making the gear look differently as well. The character you want to look like, we will call B, and the character you want to be logged in on we will call A.

1. Log into character A, take their gear off, then log out.
2. Highlight character B, and do the login trick.

If you have done it right the gear and possibly race (if they 2 were different races) will be changed when you log in. The only downside is that when you equip your gear to go raid/pvp/quest it will overwrite the other characters gear model. It looks really cool though if you want to be a plate wearing Mage casting a blizzard. Screenshot worthy. I can't wait to make my Troll Mage decked out in the Death Knight starting gear.

Enjoy your fun before it gets patched out.

Nassira quitting The World (of Warcraft)

A good blogger and fellow hunter has quit the World of Warcraft recently. And just as I make a couple posts saying I think WoW is in a good spot, it will keep getting better, and subscription numbers are still growing... *BAM* A quitter. Here is her post with my thoughts in bold.

Hello, everyone.

It is with mixed emotion that I write this post today, announcing that I will no longer be playing World of Warcraft on a regular basis. - "...on a regular basis?" Are you quitting or not?

There are many reasons behind this final decision. The first of these, and the most important, is that I no longer have fun within the game. - Understandable.

I don’t like the direction WoW is going, and haven’t truly enjoyed myself since before the release of Wrath of the Lich King. - What direction is WoW going?

I’ve been playing this game for many years, and I think I’ve finally burnt out. I no longer enjoy raiding, dailies are a chore, and leveling is mind-numbing for me. - Understandable.

Too many changes have been made which I believe are for the wrong reasons. - What changes?

It has slowly corrupted the game for me, and has leached my enjoyment from it, not to mention the fact that very little has changed in regards to visual aspects or in-game mechanics – two things which are imperative for keeping my interest. - Cataclysm is pretty much having an overhaul of visual aspects (which have gotten better over every expansion) and also possibly in game mechanics (which should be elaborated on).

I feel, at this point, that WoW is a dying game, something Blizzard is simply trying to keep alive long enough to bring all the old players into their latest, greatest, next-gen MMO. - How is WoW a dying game? I think Cataclysm sales numbers will determine that and it is too early to tell if it is "dying." Also, Blizzard puts a lot of time and effort into all their games and the second statement seems like a bitter shot below the belt at Blizzard because you are not happy with the game (for reasons you didn't elaborate on).

This latest-greatest is where they’re putting all the effort now, and it’s become apparent by the lack of attention being payed to the parts of WoW which need that attention the most. - There is some explanation of why you think the WoW developers attention has shifted, but no elaboration on WHAT NEEDS ATTENTION.

This is, of course, my personal opinion, so please take it only for what it is. - Noted.

Secondly, as most of you know, I’ve been attending college again full-time. I simply don’t have the extra time to spend on WoW when I should be improving upon my classwork. As an art major, it’s incredibly difficult to make everything fit into regular time slots, and many of my projects span across days until completion. I simply cannot justify spending over 20 hours a week playing and writing about WoW when I have so many other things to accomplish. - Understandable and a mature evaluation of time and priorities.

I have enjoyed the posts on mmnassira.com and will continue to keep it linked on my blog. I am not a "Blizzard fanboi" but I am a fan and do think they are a good company. I have to disagree with the statements that WoW isn't being paid attention to like it should be. They put a lot of time and effort into WoW as well as their other games. I also know for a fact that they have pulled people from Diablo development to work on WoW, so I don't know why they would not pay attention to it's cash cow to try and work on it's future.

Is WoW (still) a good game? Part 2.

I know I am a noob and a shitty ass blogger for writing a new blog as a sequel to my previous blog all within minutes of one another but I wanted to add some insight to why I wrote the last post.


First I read a post on MMO-champion where someone is basically trolling and asking, "hey i left wow for 4 months and is there anything worth coming back to," followed by 13 pages of saying how crappy and stupid the game is. It was lame and I was laughing because of how many people will be on a WoW related forum and say how crappy the game is. THEN in the comments section here, someone says WoW is crappy because they are changing the game and making it easier. A lot of making fun of this guy and back and forth debate. Really entertaining stuff.

Eventually though, you will come to someone named JoeQuincy, who made an awesome comment that I really want to give recognition too.

There's plenty of your post I'd like to take to task... but the first one really stands out:

"Even 'hardmodes' are an artificial way to make a fight harder."

What the hell EXACTLY is that supposed to mean?
We're talking about a series of functions laid out by game developers to cause players to interact with audio/visual stimulus and keyboard/mouse inputs in various ways. What ISN'T artificial about that? Ever?

The content developers have options here:

1) All easymode, almost all players can handle it, elitists complain that the game is 'too easy' (but never actually quit the game they hate so much, for some reason)

2) All hardmode, only the best 10% (or less) can handle it, everyone else complains that the game's too hard. People actually do quit playing, because they're paying for something they can't access.

3) Default easymode with hardmode toggles, elite players have a challenge, casuals can see all content. Theoretically, everybody's happy. (In reality, the elitists think the company should develop the game for only their relatively tiny share of the market, and alienate 90%+ of their players/income, so they complain endlessly. About everything.)


Let's face it, easy/hard toggles are making Blizz money, and it means they still have a way to provide a challenge for strong players even while catering to the much larger casual player pool. Sure, killing Freya with three trees up may not be /necessary/ as the game stands... but if it's the only way you're going to be challenged by that fight, DO IT. Use that tool to HAVE FUN.

That's what it's for. Blizz is still pandering to y'all. Get over your whiny selves.


That all will make more sense once the other comments are read but the point about the easy modes, hard modes, and complaining really stood out and further proves why Blizzard is a great company. They are starting to design content that everyone can see and experience, and in all honesty, get what they pay for when they buy the game and pay every month (more on that in a future post in the not so distant future). The problem people are having is Blizzard PREVIOUSLY made content that only a minority saw, and now the majority sees it. They want to make the game as accessible as possible while still making it challenging for the players who want the challenge. This is different from what they did in the original WoW and different from what they did in The Burning Crusade, but they have shown this is the future of the content. People should know this by now and either get on board with it or GO PLAY SOMETHING ELSE.

Is WoW (still) a good game?

I am really losing my fucking mind. Most of it is over forum trolls. People that all day complain about how crappy and "casual" and easy WoW is and how everything Blizzard does is ruining the game ON WOW/WOW RELATED FORUMS. THESE PEOPLE ARE WASTING THEIR TIME POSTING ON HOW SHITTY A GAME IS ON FORUMS ABOUT THE GAME WHEN THEY COULD BE PLAYING ANOTHER GAME AND SAVING THE QQ.

It is the most hypocritical load of bullshit ever.

"Hey everyone WoW is so easy and everything is so casual and this game is dying. /end post"
/open WoW.exe

You know that is EXACTLY what happens. People run their mouth and then run to the game.



The question I wanted to pose is this. Is WoW a good game?

My answer obviously yes. I think the problem people have is they keep judging WoW on every change it has ever made and comparing it to everything it has ever done. But if someone was to go out today and pick this game up off the shelf, never having played it before, what would they think of it? My guess is, if they like MMO's, they would like this game. Of course this game isn't for everyone, but why are MILLIONS (you really can't even comprehend millions) of people playing this game if it is so shitty? Also, if everything Blizzard is doing is ruining the game and everyone is quitting because it sucks now, why is there proof subscriptions are growing.

World of Warcraft is the most successful MMO of all time (based on subscriptions) and how would that be possible if the game is dead and dying and sucks. The game got there some how. Anyone can have a valid complaint about anything, but all these people that keep saying that "the next patch is going to kill WoW" (which has been said before EVERY SINGLE PATCH EVER) need to just fucking stop.

I will leave everyone with this link which, in my opinion is a pretty fucking awesome list.

BEST SELLING VIDEO GAMES OF ALL TIME

Expansions, Patches, Raids, Progression

Yes, this insane wall of text is planning on covering it all... I want to talk about how expansions and patches change the game, as well as, how raids and progression has evolved through said expansions and patches. Last, I want to speculate on how all of this relates to the future/Cataclysm.

Expansions:
I love expansions and I love keeping a game that deserves it going and alive with expansions. A big complaint about the expansions in WoW, is that as soon as one comes out, all the end game in the previous version is obsolete. When an expansion for WoW comes out, they try to bridge the ilvl gap quickly and some items that were once epic are replaced quickly with blues or greens. Granted, in Wrath of the Lich King the ilvl gap wasn't closed as quick as it was in The Burning Crusade, but it is still a valid point to make. Honestly, I don't have a problem with expansions making gear and content obsolete, I believe a lot of people play for the moment and are ready to move on by the time an expansion comes out. So the complaint I mentioned before was not mine, just one I have heard. A complaint that I have, is when content is not left in it's original state. Example, Naxxramas and Onyxia. While I am glad they amped them up so they are relevant to a max level now, I wish they kept stuff the original way so future players could see it, should they choose to. An example of this, Karazhan, a really crazy and fun raid and I am glad I can go steamroll it at 80 so I can show my girlfriend, who didn't play during TBC, cool stuff like the Opera Event and Chess.

Patches:
People pay $15 dollars every month with the promise of new content and maintenance. I am very pleased with how open Blizzard is about the details of patch development, the rate new content is implemented, and the quality of said content. My only current complaint about patches is something that I will also address further down the post, the fact that patches are actually making content obsolete now and not just leaving that to expansions. For example, in patch 3.2 a 5 man dungeon, Trial of the Champion, was implemented that dropped ilvl 200 epics on normal and a fresh 80 (technically 78) could go run it and get epics, actually making the need for any other 5 man normal (or heroic), and even 10 man Naxxramas/Sarth+0, obsolete. However, there are certain drops that are really good in those dungeons and might warrant a run in them, but you could in all actuality, run the 5man ToC normal until you gear up enough for Heroic, then only run 5man ToC heroic until you gear up fully in there, and then go straight into 10man Trial of the Crusader. Therefore making normal 80 dungeons, heroic 80 dungeons, 10/25 Naxx, and 10 Ulduar obsolete. In the next patch, 3.3, 3 new 5 mans will be coming out that will drop ilvl 219 on normal and 232 on heroic. So if they are not any harder than the other normal 5 mans and heroic 5 mans in the game currently, the next patch will make almost every dungeon and raid in the game obsolete in terms of gear, save for Trial of the Crusader 25man and Trial of the Grand Crusader 10/25 man.

Raids:
Raids have gone through A LOT of change since WoW was released. I wasn't raiding in the original WoW, although I had a lot of friends that did, I don't want to try and sound like I know everything about it since I wasn't doing it personally. What I do know is this, when you got to about 57 - 60 you started running the high level 5 man dungeons to start gearing up for raids. You would start putting together a dungeon set of gear, while questing to get attuned to raids, and while trying to get rep with certain end game factions like the Argent Dawn. Back then the raids varied in size, from I think 10 to 15 to 20 to 40.

Fast forward to The Burning Crusade. Now you hit 70, run normal dungeons and quest to try and get rep up to "Revered" with certain factions so you can buy the key to the Heroic version of their dungeons. So basically new heroic dungeons were introduced and that is how you started to gear up for raids. Also, you had to get attuned for Karazhan, so attunements were still in. Also they tried to standardize the raid size to 10 and 25 man raids. I wont go into the drama it put some guilds in but you can imagine I'm sure going from a 40 man to a 10. However, the problem was that you had to gear 25 people up in Kara to progress to Gruul's Lair and Mag's. 10 + 10 = 20, so where are the other 5 people getting gear? then after that you had 25 man raids in Tempest Keep and SSC, but then they added another 10 man in ZA. Then the finished it off with a 25 man Black Temple, then a 40 man Sunwell. SO AS YOU CAN SEE, Blizzard was all over the place.

Fast forward once more, to Wrath of the Lich King. Blizzard stuck with the standard in The Burning Crusade of Heroic dungeons to gear up when you hit 80, but they dropped the rep requirement. Also, no attunements to run raids in Wrath. They also standardized the raid sizes to 10 and 25 man, which makes it to where you can actually run with a raid group and not have to worry about who is geared and how you are going to gear them up if the raid members are consistent. Not much to say about raids in Wrath, chances are if you are reading this you already know all about them. My personal opinion is that the way they did raids this expansion is by far the best and I hope they continue this. From what was said at Blizzcon, they are going to keep this format.

Progression:
Although I touched on this a couple times in previous segments, I want to make myself more clear. When you hit max level in every version of the game, where did you go for gear and where did you go once you got all that? WoW has a tiered gear system. You get a certain level of gear, then you are ready for a harder level of raid. Tier 1 -> 2 -> 3 -> 4 and so on. In the original WoW, progression was pretty straight forward once you knew what the path was. The Burning Crusade progression was similar, except when they released the Sunwell patch, then you could obtain high level gear by running lower level dungeons and raids and buying the gear with badges. In Wrath of the Lich King, they have actually changed the progression path more than once and are continuing to throughout the next major path as well. Honestly, there has been so much time between the patch changing that the only people really effected are Alt's (for the better) and slow levelers not max level yet. Like I said before, I have a problem with patches changing the progression path, because of the making of content pretty much obsolete. However, as I am writing this one of the big changes of Patch 3.3 is weekly raid quests that will send our heroes back into lower tier raids to kill a boss and get a phat lewt turn in. So Blizzard is already trying to fix the patch obsoleteness.




I wanted to cover all of this to say, I think Blizzard is on the right track how they are going, and I hope a lot of what they have learned over the past 2 expansions they are putting in Cataclysm. You can see things have changed quite a bit, so who really knows how they will handle the 4 things I mentioned above? I would like to think it will be more like Wrath. They made all content available for all players which is good. However, I hope they don't kill progression paths every patch. Basically, I hope you don't just have to wait until patch 4.3 to kill Deathwing even if you only gear up in 5 mans up until that point (which is how it will be come 3.3 with the Lich King). My final thought on that is, just because Blizzard is making many modes of the content so everyone can see it, doesn't mean you shouldn't have to raid and progress to get the gear before hand. Thoughts? Opinions?

Patch 3.3 Emblem Change

I might go back to posting on the ridiculousness of restrooms in my area soon, but today I wanted to give my thoughts on something that generated a lot of rage, not so long ago, and the potential rage it could currently bring. I go where the rage goes people!

In patch 3.2, all dungeons that currently dropped Emblems of Heroism/Valor started dropping Emblems of Conquest. This got a lot of people up in arms about loot, gear, welfare epics, etc.

The big deal was that people who raided complained that they worked for their gear and now any scrub running 5 mans could one day get the gear they have. (Notice I didn't use the word "achieved," while it is true gear can be a representation of what you have achieved, it is no longer a standard.) The counterpoint from other raiders was basically this, "Fine, give them the gear we have, they haven't ran raids and we know what we are doing. Skill>gear. Also, we can gear up our alts faster to so why are we even complaining?"

Now in patch 3.3, "All dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Conquest will drop Emblems of Triumph."

I am going to be honest and say I did not see this change coming and was excited when it was announced. After I settled down the change makes sense and I know what Blizzard is trying to do. There are millions of people that play this game for a hundred different reasons. In this expansion, Blizzard is trying to make sure that even someone who doesn't raid and only runs 5 mans can possibly gear up to one day fight the Lich King, should they have the time to get the group together and such. It is about content. Blizzard has said they they don't want to put content into the game that only 5% of the players get to experience. So if that means giving away epics like candy so that you can raid the current content, fine.

I would like to think that everyone who plays this game is playing to have fun. As much as I started to rage when my friends started out gearing me with 5 man ToC gear, I see where Blizzard is going with this expansion and what they are trying to do. If I only have to run 5 mans for a couple of weeks and then get to fight the Lich King with ten different alts, awesome. If you play to see new content, why not make gearing up for it easier (for many people) the second time around? If you are a raider you probably already have a geared toon ready for the Lich King, so now, you can grab and alt and not have to raid so much to gear up to do it again. Blizzard is making things easier the second time around and i think it is all for the better.

If you play the game because you want a challenge and you want to beat your head on the desk after wiping constantly, WoW has hard modes. However, if you just want to see all the content because you paid $50 for a game and then $15 bucks a month for a year waiting for the "Final Boss," well then go down the Lich King.

One point I do want to make soon is how raid progression has evolved through WoW and it's 2 expansions and what the future will hold for raiding. Post on my thoughts about that, coming soon, when I can collect them all coherently.

FOLLOW THE CODE FFS!

OMFG. Yeah, you can probably already guess what happened. If you can't, here is a hint, I POSTED A BLOG ON THE EXACT TOPIC YESTERDAY. Before you read further, I am warning you, you might wish you hadn't. So here it goes...

10 minutes ago.

I walk to the bathroom (floor 2) and see one of the two stalls is occupied. So I walk out and head to floor 3. Walk into the third floor bathroom, empty. Go into the stall and start my business. Someone walks in, I wait, they use the urinal. "THANK GOD," I was thinking. They leave. Then someone else walks in. Could I be so lucky as to have two pissers in a row? OF COURSE NOT! Some fucking guy comes in and sits right down next to me. So I hurry up and try to finish and bolt out of there. But no... Not fast enough. No, I couldn't make it out unharmed. I was subjected to hearing him pissing, grunting, shitting, and some other noise that I am hoping I can repress.

Look, I get if you gotta go you gotta go, as the old saying goes. But why couldn't he have done what I did and try to find another bathroom, or hold it for 5 minutes? It's not like it grosses me out to where I am going to be sick, I know everyone does it, but why does he feel the need to subject someone else to his bodily functions?

I almost feel the need to put fliers in every bathroom at work, reminding people of the code.

So yeah, just a quick update and a chance to say, FML!

Rant over Public Bathrooms

Ahh... "The Code." Many men know of this fondly. Instead of familiarizing everyone with the code I will link to some awesome other articles I found while doing "research." They have a lot of the same rules and stuff so you can just skim through if you like. (Note: Image above is from a t-shirt that can be purchased at the first link below.)

http://t-shirts.cafepress.com/item/stick-to-the-code-light-tshirt-neutral-grey/283534551

http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/9325/Everything+Else/Mens+Bathroom+Etiquette+and+Toilet+Stall+Rules.aspx

http://www.thoughtsfromthejockstrap.com/articles-2009/august/taylor.html

http://nowthatsnifty.blogspot.com/2009/07/urinal-rules-and-ettiquette.html

Now we are back to the original reason I wanted to write this. What happens when there can be no code? Well, at least, no code in the original sense of the code. For example, at my office on each floor there is a restroom. Two urinals and two stalls. You have no choice but to get shoulder to shoulder and get down to business. And I am not just talking about urinals. THERE ARE ONLY 2 STALLS RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER. I can't stress this enough. Also, no they are not like the big handicap stalls or anything. They are both, combined, about 6 ft across. So you are literally sitting in a less than 3' cube with about 6 inches separating you from the guy next to you. So while it is already bad enough you have to sit in the stall next to some stranger and listen to them do their business, YOU ARE LITERALLY INCHES AWAY FROM THEM.

It is so bad that if there is someone in there already in a stall, I have to walk to another floor. The most I have had to go up was three floors to find an empty restroom. Luckily, some other guys recognize how horrible this is and as soon as they walk in and see someone going, they turn right back out and leave. So I guess that is the code for my work. "If someone is already in session, just turn around and leave. Hold it for 10 minutes and try again." A very shitty code, no pun intended, but it works.

Of course, not everyone follows this code. It is so torturous to me to have to sit that close to a stranger that I have actually, swear to God, gotten up and went up a floor to finish in private. Immature? Maybe. Better? ABSOLUTELY.

So I will close this up with a quiz. Hopefully you browsed through the links. Answers are below the quiz to check if you passed.



















Answers: A-1. B-3. C-1. D-5. E-Sink. :)

Raging over Bestial Wrath change and my findings...

I used this picture because I had planned on being a happy hunter after testing the new Bestial Wrath on the PTR. So does is actually get the seal of approval? NO!!! The change is SHIT! Blizzard had the perfect opportunity to close the gap in PvE dps from BM to MM and SV and what did it do? Gave us an overall 2% dps increase. FUCKING 2%! Honestly, after taking forever to download the PTR, testing my dps on the PTR, and then testing my dps on live I could see no difference. It seriously looked like I was doing less dps on the PTR if not the same. This could be because of procs and crits and the sort, but what I am trying to say is a 2% increase on a spreadsheet can easily lead to an increase of NOTHING when actually fighting.

Here is what Bestial Wrath was changed to and what I assume will be it's final rendition before going live this week or next:

Bestial Wrath - Blah blah blah lasts 10 seconds.

The Beast Within - "Increases all damage you deal by 10% and while your pet is under the effects of Bestial Wrath, you also go into a rage causing 10% additional damage and reducing mana costs of all spells by 50% for 10 sec. While enraged, you do not feel pity or remorse or fear and you cannot be stopped unless killed.”

The newest change was reducing the shot cost by 50% for the ten second duration. What I got from that when I tested was that I lasted about 10 - 15 seconds longer before I was out of mana AT THE MOST. I didn't really test this as much, but it was just something I noticed.

And here are a few links for the mathy stuff behind the change... Which like I said, 2% increase is the general consensus, even though it looked pretty much the same.

http://huntsmanslodge.com/3860/beast-mastery-buff.htm
http://huntsmanslodge.com/3871/how-bout-them-apples.htm
http://huntsmanslodge.com/3891/beast-mastery-changes-acceptance-and-ponderings.htm
http://hunter-dps.dungeoneer.com/2009/09/new-ptr-tooltip-reads-increases-all.html

So, in closing, Blizzard/WoW Dev Team/Ghostcrawler all know what to do to increase BM dps. They had a perfect opportunity and didn't go for it. This actually reminds me of a reflection I had about the new mastery system unveiled at Blizzcon... Maybe I will post about that next...

Rage and Reflection: BM Hunter Nerf/Buff in Patch 3.2 PTR Build 10433

First things first,

New Format - I am going to go weekly with this blog!
No Holds Barred - I am going to cover anything and everything that comes to mind!
NSFW - Fuck trying to be polite and proper! I am an adult and time to rage like one! (Or will I be raging like a child? I think that only applies to QQ...)

So the topic of controversy today comes from MMO-champion.com (link to the right, fuck all that embedding shit).

Hunter
Beast Mastery
The Beast Within now lasts 10 sec (Down from 18 sec) but now also increases all damage you deal by 10% at all time.
Bestial Wrath now lasts 10 sec. (Down from 18 sec)


When I first saw the change I was like, "WTF IS THAT SHIT!!!!" Then I thought about it some more and realized that the change is a clever one, Blizzard nerfed BM PvP and "buffed" BM PvE. I used "buffed" because 10% increased damage at all times sounds like a buff but I have not tested it. But guess what? It just so happens I am a Hunter who raids as... BM! I also raid as MM, so now I can go download the PTR when I get home and actually test it and edit my post since I am obviously a fucking failure who would complain about something before ever doing any research on my own. Wait a second... isn't there a huge amount of people on forums about the World of Warcraft that do that? Like the classic, "WoW is too easy because you can get epics from heroics and a guild cleared a 25 man heroic dungeon in one day so everything is too easy even though my guild still runs Naxx." Another time... Another time...

Back on topic. Once upon a time there was a spec for PvP that was along the lines of 50/21/0. It was nicknamed the "36 second hunter build." If you didn't look at the spec or don't know anything about this, it meant that you popped all your cooldowns, zerged the other team, focus fire someone for 18 seconds, then hit readiness, and do it all over again to the same person (if they need it) or another person. Such a ridiculously FUN, and sadly OP, spec. So they nerfed readiness and made it to where is doesn't affect Bestial Wrath. Apparently 18 seconds is still too long to be OP, so they made it a 10 second duration. You know what else has a 10 second duration? A fucking mage's iceblock and a pally's I-take-no-damage bubble. So, as people pointed out on the MMO-champion forums, BM hunters in arena get to be laughed at as they blow Bestial Wrath only to watch a mage or pally sit there are be immune for ten seconds. Personally, I think they should change readiness so when BW is wasted, it can be useful again. I know this sounds crazy but isn't there another class in the game that excels in close quarters combat and can use all there cooldowns and then reset them? *cough* FUCKING ROGUES THAT'S WHO *cough*

So a rogue gets to open up on someone twice if they blow all their cooldowns but a hunter doesn't?

On the PvE side of things, as BM, your pet does about 40 - 60% of your DPS. The variety is from the mobility of the fight. If you get to stand still a lot, then you and your pet are even and you are possibly ahead. If you have to run around a lot, your pet usually passes you in dps contribution. As MM, your pet does about 20% of your dps, if even that much. So by nerfing (arguably) the only signature in the BM tree, your pet's dps is nerfed and yours is buffed. From what I have noticed with my own test prior to this news, my MM spec is a constant 200 - 300 dps above my BM spec. However, my MM spec isn't straight agility gemmed due to BM being my main spec so the dps increase from BM to MM could be more. If this change adds a flat 10% dps increase, with no loss from the shortening of BW (unlikely), my BM spec would be on par with my MM spec.

I PvE more than I PvP. So do I think the change sucks for PvP, yes. I don't know if it sucks for PvE yet but just throwing this out there, BM is a really cool tree. My one hope if this change goes live is that it brings BM dps up and people will stop saying that BM DPS IS NOT VIABLE.

Raging over "Guild Halls"

Something that really gets me raging is when other people rage about "Guild Halls," or the lack thereof. Throughout my day I read WoW.com (formerly wowinsider.com), MMO-champion.com, and occasionally the forums at Worldofwarcraft.com. Going through the comments and forums on the first two sites I mentioned, I can usually get in a pretty good rage over the idiots and the comments they leave.

Here is a quick preface, at Blizzcon this year they told us a lot of things they are going to do to change guilds (and I would like to think all of them) for the better. TONS of things. Then after all the cool announcements and discussion one commenter says, "We didn't get guild halls, so screw it. Not interested in the changes." Of course this sparked a couple replies and a down ranking, but this is exactly what I want to address, this reverence for Guild Halls.

When I first thought about Guild Halls, I thought they were a complete waste of time and I don't know why anyone would want them. It seems really stupid to sit in a room with your guild when you can already chat with everyone and meet up for screenshots anywhere in the game. After thinking about it a little more, I realized it wouldn't be that hard to implement in the first place, and could even be cool.

My idea for the creation of Guild Halls and what they would contain.

First Blizzard gives everyone in a guild a guildID, exactly the same as a raid ID. They make an instanced portal in all major cities that everyone in your guild can go in taking you into the Guild Hall. I don't think the Guild Hall should be customizable like "The Sims" or "Animal Crossing," just have your guild tabard on the walls and then a throne, for the guild leader, a big table with food and chairs, and other benches in the room as well so everyone could sit. Another idea (which I think is totally awesome) is having a "trophy case" on one wall that whenever you take down a boss you get their head on display with a clickable plaque that reads "Soandso Guild defeats Onyxia 08/27/09." This could only be done for the last boss of every raid as to not clutter the screen. Also maybe have some other perk of having the Guild Hall like a reagent vendor or the guild recipe vendor that Blizzard brought up in the Guild Panel at Blizzcon. I honestly don't think that this would require too much effort and it wouldn't desert major cities like Blizzard thinks.

Which brings me to my next point, Blizzard has said they will not implement Guild Halls because they don't want major cities to become ghost towns. I can understand this, but if there is no AH, no bank, no Boss Dummy, or anything like that people would still need to be in major cities. If the Guild Halls were cosmetic, the people that wanted to use them would and would shut up, and the people that actually get on the game to play the game and not sit around in major cities for hours, would go about their business.

Since it is HIGHLY unlikely Blizzard will put in Guild Halls, no matter how relatively easy, I have a solution for all the people that want Guild Halls. Go to any major city and find a remote place that no one ever goes (like that room in Org in front of Thrall's room or ANY PLACE in Silvermoon City) and designate that area to be the Official Guild Hall. For example NO ONE goes to Silvermoon so find a tavern where there are tons of tables and chairs and say, "Hey guild, this is our Guild Hall, so everyone meet up here when you are not doing anything like actually playing the game." If you want a more practical location, go to Shattrath and tell your whole guild that your new guild hall is on the second floor of the inner dome in Shatt and then you have access to ports to other major cities, as well as a hearth to Dalaran since that is pretty much where you need to be for everything besides the AH.

So, really, I don't have a gripe with the idea of Guild Halls. If we got them, great. If we don't, oh well. I really have a problem with people acting like Guild Halls would be the best thing that happened to WoW since 30 minute hearthing. Seriously "retpallyjil," there were so many good changes announced that would be coming to guilds that acting like Guild Halls would be better than any of them is really stupid. Also, because Blizzard has stated we are not getting them, QQ and constantly bringing it up doesn't look like it is going to help.

Finally, I want to give a nod to "XeroThree" who commented on a WoW.com post about Guild Halls. Turns out, he had the same idea I did, which I read today when I was going back looking for links for the post. Cliché "great minds..." quote?

Obligatory "First Post"

FIRST!!!1!!1!!!11!!!!

^^^Myself as well as many other nerds DEFINITELY rage over that.

Anyway, down to business. My name is Josh and I play World of Warcraft. My main is a Troll Hunter, and currently my only 80. I am a chronic nerd rager over WoW, and pretty much any other video game I play. This blog will contain rants, rages, and the occasional insiteful reflection. I am sure if I get on a really good rant or rage the post will have some "NSFW" language, but I will try my best to note it before I post it to the site, just giving fair warning.

Nerd raging for me is my way of letting it all out. I scream at the top of my lungs, yell obscenities, punch my keyboard, and smash mice on the ground. Honestly, after it is all over, I feel better (more or less depending on how much it will cost to replace the mouse). Calling me a nerd rager is a compliment. If you see me questing and out of nowhere getting sapped and then proceed to be killed by a gnome rogue keeping me stun locked while not being able to even get one attack off... Prepare for some... NERD RAAAAGE!