MM Hunter BIS Gear List for the Current Patch

Never posted anything like this before but I spent a good amount of time going over other "Best In Slot" lists and trying to find my personal one. Because I spent a good deal amount of time doing this, I figured I'd post it somewhere and share, even though there are a million of these floating around.

Things to keep in mind: I use the agility MM Spec (still favoring Armor Penetration on gear as the primary stat of choice though)

My Armory (for reference)

Head: T10.25 - 77 Arm Pen
Neck: Wodin's Lucky Necklace (BoE) - 38 Hit
Shoulder: T10.25 - 55 ArmPen
Back: Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape - 52 Arm Pen
Chest: T10.25 - 77 ArmPen
Wrist: Scourge Hunter's (Gunship 25) - 40 Arm Pen
Hands: T10.25 - 63 Hit
Waist: Nerub'ar Stalker's (Festergut 25) - 63 Arm Pen
Pants: Leggings of Northern Lights (Lady D 25) - 77 Arm Pen
Feet: Rock-Steady Treads (LW, easy but expensive) - 47 Arm Pen
Finger: Ashen Verdict - 59 Hit and Frostbrood Sapphire (Dreamwalker 25) - 60 Arm Pen
Trinket: Deathbringer's Will (Saurfang 25) - 155 Arm Pen and Mark of Surpremacy - 128 Hit
Stat Stick: Oathbinder, Charge of the Ranger-General (Lich King 25) - 115 Arm Pen
Ranged: Fal'inrush, Defender of Quel'thalas (Lich King 25) - 36 Arm Pen


Arm Pen: 77, 55, 52, 77, 40, 63, 77, 47, 60, 155, 46, 115, 36 - 900 constant
Hit: Neck 38, Hands 63, Finger 59, Trinket 128 - 8% hit by gear so you don't need to gem for it.


Note: The only "low" (Non T10) ilvl piece would be trinket. It provides 3% hit at the cost of a better trinket that would give roughly 3% crit. However, if you choose to go with an Armor Penetration spec, you would pick up the 3% hit in your talents and use an Armor Penetration trinket like Mjolnir Runestone or Needle-Encrusted Scorpion. Grim Toll also works but you would use a slightly different talent build.

Note: I didn't list 25 man heroic gear because I won't be doing those for a while (my guild is currently 8/12 in 25 man and on Monday we will be 9/12 :) but all the gear in 25 man heroic is the same gear as 25 man non-heroic but with better stats.

That Commercial I Promised - TCIP

Microtransactions pt. 2

Photo credits to (cutaia) on WoW.com

Be sure to read part 1 first :)

Continuing on with diving headfirst into Blizzard's microtransactions by addressing the common complaints, concern, and controversy.

• The cost of the item, $25.

As I mentioned in the first part, $25 dollars was the price Blizzard put on the item all outside things considered. They have economists on the payroll and they raked in 2.5 million dollars and climbing off this mount. Good for them. The huge problem people are having with this price is when they put it in comparison to something.

$25 dollars is almost two months of game play, therefore it is outrageous.
$25 dollars is half the price of the game/an expansion, therefore it is outrageous.

You know what I spent well over $25 dollars on yesterday (to put this in perspective for you)? Dinner and a movie with my beautiful girlfriend Shelby. You know what I could have done? I could have bought the two of us Hot Pockets and Cheetos and pulled up the movie illegally online and watched it at home for about $5 total. However, $25 to spend on something fun and cool and relatively better than what I could get for $5 at home, was well worth it to me. So let me try this game.

A car cost $25,000, this mount only cost $25. OMG that is 1000 times less than the price of a car, I should buy it!
My pay check is $2500 a month, this mount only cost $25. OMG that is 100 times less than what I make in a month, I should buy it!
A month of groceries cost $250 a month, this mount only cost $25. OMG that is 10 times less than what I spend a month on food, I should buy it!
A night out at the movies, and possibly even popcorn and a drink included (depending on how expensive the theater is), cost $25. So instead of going out one night a month, you can buy a mount.

$25 is a joke.

• A bad use of money or a waste of money.

Who are any of you internet jokers to say how I, or any other person, should spend our money? That is what I thought. But then people took it a step further saying, "Sure. Go ahead and spend your money on whatever you want. It just makes you look like a stupid moronic idiot that shouldn't be leading a guild because you have bad judgment and no sense of the worth of some things and have a poor miserable life."

To that I say, "Cool story, Bro."

• That Blizzard will only ever make cool things for real money now and not in game achievable.

• That Blizzard already has $15 a month from us and we deserve cool stuff like this in the game.

I think these two go hand in hand. You know what I would say to this? There has never been a better time to play WoW and everything we have gotten during this expansion has been awesome. Remember the Core Hound? He is a badass, and free. Remember the Perky Pug? He is a badass, and free. Onyxia mount anyone? Free. Invincible's Reins?!?!?!?! Free.

I made my point.

• The fact that so many people have a cool mount make it cheap looking and lame.

The BEST response to this I can find: Here. I couldn't have said it better myself, but I still plan to try. ;)

When you buy a car, chances are you aren't going to be a unique snowflake. Even if you buy a Ferrari, if you join the right circles, you will see plenty of them. This goes for ALMOST every rare mount in WoW. Some rare mounts (raid achievement mounts) you have to be in a group to get, and then EVERYONE gets one. So why is it that the more people have something, the less cool or desirable it gets for everyone else? Seriously people? Are you that pathetic of a person that you play WoW to have more things than other people to make yourself feel better to the point where something that you personally think is pretty cool suddenly isn't when other people have it? Your E-peen must be HUGE!

I have two mounts currently that I think are two of the coolest mounts in the game: The Great Brewfest Kodo and The Black War Mammoth. One of them is a semi rare drop and the other is purchasable by anybody with 300 stone keeper's shards, yet I still ride them both and love it and don't give a crap what people think or how many other people have them.

Just because things are common do not make them less useful or cool (iPod and iPhone).

• The mount is actually cheap looking, lame, and feminine.

The mount is very cool looking, in my opinion. My favorite part is that stars appear behind you when you ride it around and even on top of you if you just sit there. It is a really cool effect. I can't speak for the feminine part, other than people are saying that because it is a horse/pony/"My Little Pony." To each his/her own. And as Blizzard showed us, there are well over 100,000 people and counting that don't share the feeling. I guess I could have used that previous line to debate all of these points, which makes me feel like it was a cop out.

• The misleading info that it got you a 310% mount. (Untrue.)

I felt I should mention this because it brings up a great point. If this mount was a 310% mount and it was purchasable with real money, I would call that crossing the line. I don't know if it would be enough to quit the game for, like selling gear would be, but it would be very hard to take that lightly. That being said, it was just a misinterpretation and will scale to 310% if you have it, but will not give you a 310% mount. I also brought this up to take a moment and cover a topic that was going to be a separate blog, but this was a good segway.

Blizzard is planning on making 310% flying speed purchasable ingame with gold. There are already nerd rage tear puddles on keyboards all across the world over this change. "Blizzard catering to casuals" and "I am not a special snowflake anymore," you know, the usual. In my opinion, it isn't a bad thing. I am sure Blizzard is going to make it a ridiculous amount of gold and I AM FUCKING POSITIVE that if you already have a 310% mount you won't have to learn it. Some people were raging over the fact that would need to learn it even after already having a 310% mount, pull your head out of your asses people! The reason I don't think it is a bad thing is because I still don't even have the epic flying skill. So guess what people? You will always be a special snowflake in my eyes because I don't have 5k+ gold to drop in an insane gold sink. So you got to be a special snowflake for a long time, you still have awesome 310% mounts no one else has or will have access to get, AND you didn't have to buy it like everyone else. You are still a winner with a huge E-peen to everyone like me, so please calm down.

• This is one I forgot to add but some people actually do believe this gives you an ingame advantage, because you no longer have to purchase a mount ever again.

This point has been shown as a lame reason proving that the amount of money maximum that you would spend on one characters mounts combined in 161 gold. So you save 161 gold per character that doesn't have any mounts yet. So technically, yes, this mount does give you an ingame advantage. You get to be 161 gold richer than all your friends. However, what if you only had one character, only ever planned on making one character, and only used the mount on one character? It doesn't change a thing. Furthermore, you could say multiboxing gives you an unfair advantage because you don't have the resources to do it and level up that fast. It's all relative.

• All of these Microtransactions are okay when Blizzard does it, but not okay for any other company. Basically, gamers are two faced and Blizzard biased.

The final boss of them all, Seraphina Brennan's remark. She is getting the point treatment as well.

• But, no matter the topic, one thing seems to stay the same: people really, really, really dislike microtransactions overall.

No, SOME people that FREQUENT YOUR SITE possibly dislike the current microtransactions as they are today. I am not going to lie, even before company sponsored microtransactions, they were happening EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Don't try to make a statistic out of thin air.

• It seems that people really hate microtransactions, yet Blizzard's newest buyable mount doesn't have people quitting the game left and right. In fact, it seems everyone is cramming in to buy one!

You are right, I doubt anyone quits the game over a stupid mount that you don't have to purchase. Who is this "everyone" you speak of? 100,000+ people when Blizzard has how many active accounts?

• The store offers optional cosmetic purchases, like pets, for what is a pretty steep price.

Your opinion. But as I have made clear many times, it is a fair price conjured up BY REAL ECONOMISTS. Or pretty much anyone with half a brain. $10 - $25 really isn't that much money in the grand scheme of things (which yes I realize is my opinion). Agree to disagree on that?

• While there are certainly naysayers intermixed with the excitement, that comment page looks nothing like, say, one of our comment pages when we talk about Cryptic's item shop. Even WoW.com's poll is pretty much in favor of the mount being in the store.

So how is it that Cryptic could be so fail and WoW be so win? Oh I know! Because they are two completely different things! Cryptic is making you pay for things WoW gives you free. Two character slots? Is that a fucking joke? PAY REAL MONEY to respec your character? Fuck that. Paying real money for more inventory slots in Allods Online? GTFO.

• Bullshit

Ok, fine, yes I just linked the whole second page. BECAUSE THAT WHOLE PAGE IS BULLSHIT. There is so much BULLSHIT on it, I don't know how she can say on her blog that, "We at Massively like to take a neutral tone with our news stories. Even when our opinion as a staff swings the other way, we’ll put out a story that will more or less recite facts and leave the speculation up to readers." Seriously?

The problem is, and she has made this same comparison before and I was telling myself this then too, you can't compare the thoughts and complaints of the vocal majority without knowing the feelings of all the people who don't visit the websites and read the blogs. Just because this certain demographic of gamers does, I can name a handful of hardcore gamers I know who have never visited a site like Massively, let alone read my blog. (lol)

Also, WoW is in a league of it's own. This isn't fanboi speak either. This is the truth. So when you said, "Cryptic's item shop is sucking the consumer dry with both a subscription and microtransaction business model, but it's 100% ok if Blizzard does it, right?" And then asked the question, "Why is Blizzard allowed to do what so many other companies can't do?"

You can consider that answered.




In closing, I will leave you with a quote.

"You're both yo-yo's. Shut up ya yo-yo's."
- Master Shake

Microtransactions pt. 1

I went with the broadest title possible because I have a feeling this will turn into a 100 page novel of some sort. This blog specifically is an overview and my opinions on Blizzard selling in game items for money AND THIS RIDICULOUS IDIOTIC CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING IT.

Overview

Blizzard recently started selling in game vanity items, such as non-combat pets, for real money (as opposed to in game money). The latest of these items, is a mount called the Celestial Steed, which is a one time purchase that goes to every current character and future character on your WoW account. The mount scales at whatever riding speed you have and functions as both a ground and flying mount where applicable. It cost $25 dollars.

My Opinion on the Current State of Blizzard's Microtransactions

(See how I carefully worded that? I can only talk in the present because some people think it is a slippery slope and only a matter of times until Blizzard will let you pay real money for an in game advantage.)

I think the current system is great. You have the option to spend money on in game items that are neat and look cool and offer no competitive advantage. Therefore, should you choose not to buy these things, you are not at a disadvantage. Meaning, WHO THE FUCK CARES?! I will tell you who, a portion of Blizzard subscribers, that's who. These people say, "it is a slippery slope" and, "it is only a matter of time before they sell in game gold and gear." Do I really think that will ever happen? No. You know why? Because Blizzard does closely monitor the forums and the actions of players and know just how far they can go until they go over the edge. Anywhere you look there are people saying, "it is fine as long as they don't get an advantage." Blizzard knows this and will not alienate their subscribers by doing something as insane as that.

The Money and Numbers Section

There are overwhelming number of people complaining about the cost of this mount. Here is why Blizzard is smart. As I said before, Blizzard knows what it going on around the internet. They know that any mount loot card they come out with will EASILY sell for about 100 bucks on Ebay. Not to mention, some of them go for HUNDREDS of dollars. So what does Blizzard do? Funnel that revenue to themselves more directly. Make cool pets and cool mounts that people want and sell them for significantly lower. If they can get $100+ on Ebay they should have no problem going for $25 in the Blizzard store. And no, they didn't. Blizzard made over 2.5 million dollars in one day. Easily.

You know what Blizzard also knows? That people pay $15 dollars a month to play their game, most of them will pay the $50 to buy the expansion as soon as it hits shelves, a lot of them will buy $150 tickets to attend Blizzcon (enough to sell out the venue), a lot of them bought Blizzcon for $40 when it was on DirecTV two years ago SOLELY for a mount, a lot of them bought Blizzcon last year for $40 SOLELY for a Murloc Marine non-combat pet, a lot of them bought a spot in the arena tournament SOLELY for a Murloc Gladiator pet, and a lot of them bought non-combat pets from their online store as soon as they hit the digital shelves. So why exactly is it a stretch and an outrage that you spent real money on something virtual (since everything above BESIDES attending Blizzcon) is virtual?

The Controversy

The following list are the problems people have with Blizzard selling this mount and people buying this mount.

• The cost of the item, $25.
• A bad use of money or a waste of money.
• That Blizzard will only ever make cool things for real money now and not in game achievable.
• That Blizzard already has $15 a month from us and we deserve cool stuff like this in the game.
• The fact that so many people have a cool mount make it cheap looking and lame.
  
• The mount is actually cheap looking, lame, and feminine.
• The misleading info that it got you a 310% mount. (Untrue.)
  

And in the special case of Seraphina Brennan, an author on Massively.com

• That all of these Microtransactions are okay when Blizzard does it, but not okay for any other company. Basically, gamers are two faced and Blizzard biased.

This is the end of "pt. 1." Stay tuned for the immediate and exciting follow up where I address all the concern and controversy, right after this short commercial break.

/cast Resurrection

BACK FROM THE DEAD! Introductory and obligatory post on why I haven't blogged in a while.

A little while back, WoW.com needed a new Hunter blogger. I applied and didn't get the position. After I sent in the sample blog and waited for the response I didn't want to post anything on here and use up and future ideas I could have used to WoW.com, should I have gotten the position. Like I said, I didn't get it, but the person who did is much more qualified and has been doing GREAT. I don't think I have a copy of the blog that I sent them, but should I find it, I plan on posting it here just to add to the collection.

After that, I just didn't get around to blogging. It wasn't because I had hard feelings. It also SURELY wasn't because there wasn't anything to write about. Honestly, I just had a busy last few months. Also, first post of the new year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR! How many have failed at the resolution by now? (This guy has.)

Now to the comeback.

Like I said, there have been so many things I have been privately nerd raging about, even sharing a few rants with my friends. So much news about the future in Cataclysm I have wanted to post on. I had a very hate filled rant planned about the current state of WoW that drove me so close to "picking up the pen" again. However, it wasn't until today, when the rage filled up to the top and spilled out over the edge that I knew something needed to be said. I need to put my opinion out there again. I need to rant, vent, share my views, and expose the moronic opinions that push me to this rage filled state. I feel like I sat in the penalty box for 2 minutes after getting into a fight and watched the game go on. Now that I am out, I am making a beeline back into the game to inflict serious pain, ultimately leading me to feel better about the 2 minutes I was out of the game for.

(I apologize in advance for sharing opinions on "old news," should they be some of the things I write about.)

It feels good to write again.