For The Pie

Moving on up...

2008-08-27T12:34:00.003-05:00

to the eastside!!!

Actually no. I am moving to Wordpress.

Save your fork, there's pie at http://forthepie.wordpress.com

I just couldn't get blogger to look like I wanted and I liked how some of the other blogs from wordpress looked, so I decided to give into the darkside.

The new site is still under construction. I have off next week so I'll be working through it making it look like home.

Why drops always happen in your offspec

2008-08-20T07:47:00.003-05:00

Last night a group of my guildmates and I attacked ZF. Yes, there are quite a few upgrades for a prot pally in ZF.

Too bad I got all ret stuff.

I was DPS as prot pally. That is not good. Okay we were fine. One of the nasty pulls in we had a runner and pulled too many, both I and the tank got petrified and the healer died and well...dead.

We pulled too many on the Hydromancer pull and I switched to sword and board and we powered through about 15 mobs, at once.

So, for the next couple levels I get to live in ZF. It's nice this time of year, just warm enough to keep the plate armor from freezing.

Wizard's First Rule

2008-08-18T17:09:00.004-05:00

Warning this post is mostly about life. But I am sure some of these people play WOW..in fact most of them play DPS classes in WOW.

Yeah..I recognize my highest character is a DPS class...and one that most folks find to be played by idiots.

Oh..for those of you who have never read the Sword of Truth series.

Wizard's First Rule: People are stupid.

Or as K said:

"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew that humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

For those of you who don't know, I work in customer service. I have heard/met all types of people. A person may be smart but once on the phone with a company they do business with they can turn ugly, mean and incredibly dumb.

For example:

Me: "Thank you for calling this is how may I help you?" (Sadly for 20 years of my life, this phrase has been uttered in most every conversation I've had with a customer...heck I've even answered my personal phone that way on occasion.)
Customer: (speaking rapidly or slowly or angerly or whatever) "Yeah I have a problem, something is wrong, blah blah blah." (okay numnuts, I just gave you my name, how about we start with Hi, Hello, Howdy, and maybe your name?)

Me: "Can I get your account number, please?"
Customer: "uh..hold on I don't have it memorized, or with me, or I am in the car and I can't be bothered to look it up." (Gah...how did you call a company and not know your account number, sadly I've done this myself, no I had my account number but by the time they answered I had set the paper with it down)

At my current job we have to verify who we are talking with, and we can do so with the last 4 digits of their SSN.

Me: "Could I get you to verify the last four digits of your SSN, please?"
Customer: "hold on, I need to find it, I don't have it memorized." (TBH, this comes from older folks normally, but still. How hard is it to memorize the number 25? /rimshot)

Okay little WOW tanking rant:

Normally, I explain to groups I am tanking for, that a paladin doesn't have a charge and needs a few moments of time to get aggro and positioning. Usually I say, "Hey DPS, count to five before you unload on the mobs. I have a simple rule, you pull it, you buy it." I exclude the healer from this as if they pull aggro, that's my fault.

Apparently counting to 5 is serious business...and is hard. I've had Lightening Bolts hit the target mob at the same time I got there. I've had DPS open with everything they had on the opening move. I've had ret pallies dropping consecrate to compete with me for aggro. Also, apparently downloading Omen is hard too. /facepalm

Oh and by the way, for those keeping track. Gert is now level 42. Uldaman is a cake walk. All guild run by folks who are BT cleared raiders and me. Fury warrior, Feral Druid, Resto Druid, Prot pally and me. The other pally was tanking. I was wielding two handers cuz I am just that good. ;)

Ding 40 A clean Plate is a Happy Plate

2008-08-17T12:07:00.002-05:00

Saturday Night I dinged to 40, put on all the Plate armor I have gathered over the past few weeks and strutted my stuff.

Okay not really strutted, but you know what I mean.

I am a Belf...so I sorta sashayed. kinda.

I shoulda picked a female model though.

Well, I am lacking a couple of plate upgrades, but again gear switches to a new type of gear are not new to me, coming from Hunter's ability to move to mail.

Sometimes it's not worth the upgrade. But, there is a chest piece in RFD that is way worth the upgrade and it drops from the first boss.

So I decided to go get it.

Alone.

4 deaths..or was it 5. I cleared the room and banged the gong.

First wave of 10 spiders no problems. 2nd wave, also no problems. Sit, drink, rebuff, wait for bubble to end cooldown.

Bang gong.

And the big boss walked right by me. Some circuit it seems he does, and when I caught him I ended up with a add of one of those boar PATs.

I died. Run back, boss is still there and I take him down. He's less hard than the pulls you have to do.

Seriously I could 2 man RFD, with a Feral Druid or even a Resto druid for sure. Any type of healer would work.

Oh and the cape dropped. Still a nice cape. http://www.wowhead.com/?item=10776

Aggro? What do you mean I shouldn't pull aggro?

2008-08-14T07:47:00.002-05:00

Last night Gert dinged to 35, I was questing in Arathi Highlands, realizing how much fun being a prot pally truly is.

Adds? heh I relish adds.

In fact, let me grab that mob and that mob and yeah sure that mob over there. Lay down consecrate for some front loaded damage and make sure no one comes along and steals my precious mobs.

Oh you run and get more mobs..niiiiiccccceee

I am working on getting the ability to switch mobs, Bring up Seal of Justice, Judge and move to the next. Big change from the focus fire pattern of Huntering.

I got the three heads from the Darybie Farm and headed back to UC to turn in the quest. I entered LFG to try to see if I could run some more SM. Yeah, I'd like the pants and chest from the Scarlet Armor set. And Herod's Shoulder. And Ravager just for giggles.

Finally get a group together. Resto shaman, Feral Druid, Ret Pally and Enhance Shaman. 2 pulls into Armory and the Resto Shaman has to leave group due to buying gold. Freakin nub.

The Feral druid switches to healing when needed.

And the ret pally and enh shaman try to see how many mobs they can pull off me.

I have more health.

I have more armor.

I am a prot pally.

They did not understand that I needed to be the ones the mobs hit.

I marked pulls, they attacked X.

The ret pally kept dropping consecrate. And not giving out blessings. And kept ret aura up.

And wondered why he didn't have BoK.

/facepalm

The druid was good. I'd be happy to run with her again.

Herod dropped his helm, which I have.

Lvl 35 Prot Pally LFG......

Which way do I go?

2008-08-13T15:43:00.002-05:00

Gert is level 34. I really want to keep running SM until I get enough levels to run some RFD, then move to Uldaman, etc.

But this is slow going, getting a group together is hard work.

Prot Pally looking for group for SM just isn't cutting it.

Ya know I've never done RFD...heh.

WTB a whole bunch of undead mobs.

Tanking, yeah I can do that!

2008-08-11T08:13:00.002-05:00

Last week, I gained enough honor and marks to get the stuff I wanted for Gert. I decided to pick up the plate stuff for 40, since I plan on leveling quickly and my stuff is pretty good as of right now.

I am running FTP through the Barrens to pick up the last of his PvP rewards and someone whispers me to see if I will do RFK. I tell them I would rather do RFK on my pally. They could use a "tank" and I log over to Gert.

Tanking RFK is a matter of trying to get as many as the mobs as possible to focus on you. Priest healed, enh Shaman, Fury Warrior and a hunter. Well...we didn't lack for DPS. I ended up tanking everything with my two-handed axe.

The hunter left and we got a higher level rogue to come in, did a quick run through SM-GY. This time I actually tanked most of the instance. The rogue left and a guildmate brought his rogue in for a run through SM-Library. Tanking not a problem, but we did have a couple deaths....but No wipes.

Afterward, I spoke with the guild's pally tanks and respecced to Prot. I swapped my 18 stam enchant for a Mithril Shield spike (mostly to help leveling) and tonight I hope to tank SM again. At close to 33, I might be able, with a good group, to get into Armory.

Long time no blog

2008-08-06T17:24:00.003-05:00

I've been busy with work and yard work and trying to stay cool...

Bleh..

I can't Plurk much anymore because I can't use the internet at work unless on break or lunch.

I have pretty much relegated Halkale to farming gold and earning a bit of honor in the dailies and maybe an AV or AB weekend.

I am going to focus on Gertbfrobe as my main for a while. At least until Wrath. The hunter changes make me excited. So do the pally changes. Not sure what I am going to do with Forthepie. FTP is cool to play but not sure on the changes to them in Wrath.

So I need about 250 honor and some AB marks to settle Gert's trinkets and some things that won't upgrade for about 10 levels. Then, I am going to maybe respec to prot and start running instances as a tank.

Well Equipped Pally tank LFG for RFK and such!

Although I will miss Seal of Command. OMG!!! that rocks in PvP.

WTB Shoulders and Legs of the Blue rarity

2008-06-25T12:14:00.005-05:00

So FTP is at 26, trying to get my last bit of armor upgrades before I make the final push to 29.

I want:

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=13114 Troll's Bane Leggings

http://www.wowhead.com/?item=7727 Watchman's Pauldrons

None on AH. I used Halk to do a full clear of SM, no blue drops except the BOP from the bosses.

Apparently the of the Eagle pants I had attahed clefthide armor kit to disappeared, probably vendored them on accident. /flails

I need to beg someone to run me through the Raptor Mastery quests in STV to get the chest from the end.

I am not going to go all out on the enchants, probably stam on the shield and the other areas I can get them. (i have plenty mats for level 35+ enchants) speed on my boots and some more strength.

I have used, mostly, the equipment I had for my time at 19. A few quest rewards were upgrades or really good deals on stuff in the 20's. I'll probably keep my gear through mid 30's and will start to upgrade into mail. I may not stop at 39 but press to 49 to gather more honor and marks.

Battlegrounding in the 10-19 bracket is...meh

2008-06-19T20:06:00.003-05:00

I have 1399 HP, don't really use elixirs or food buffs. It's just a waste in my mind.

I really should have had someone run me through deadmines before I got to close to leveling. that Axe from Smite would have rocked so hard.

So I use a staff, it's not as sexy, but it's a good staff. Currently I am 8-3 in WSG. I am seriously considering getting a few more marks and heading to 29.

My new character's name is.....

2008-06-17T11:40:00.003-05:00

Forthepie.....

Yeah...original no?

Pay no attention to the FTP pally on Drenden, ok..that's me too, but the FTP you should see is on the QD. Quel'Dorei...armpit (supposedly) of WOW servers.
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Quel%27dorei&n=Forthepie

I made 19th last night during a run through Wailing Caverns and after a run through SFK by a guildie.

Decent gear, need my enchants, which I am going to get today. My plan is to spend a few weeks gathering some honor and marks, then when I have enough to get the 28 level WSG gear, move on to 29. Once there, I'll gather enough marks and honor for the 39 gear in both WSG and AB and then move up. Apparently 49 seems to be where most folks think Shamans rule the world so I think I'll try it out as well. At this point I may try to gather enough honor and marks in WSG and AB to get everything I might need at 70, except for the gear that needs AV and EOTS marks.

Of course I may get so frustrated in the BGs and may just level up.

-----
Some observations of Shamans:

1) The more I play other classes the more I realize how jacked up the hunter combat system is.

2) I need to retrain myself to get away from keyboard turning. It works in PvE, don't let anyone tell you different. It doesn't work in PvP and as a melee person now, it won't work even worse.

3) I forget to drop totems. all. the. time.

4) Not having a pet hurts...must learn a different playstyle. I am learning how many adds I can take and how to best wear them down.

5) Shamans are cool. Seriously, they are a fun class to play. Not quite as sturdy as a pally (OMG it takes a ton to kill one of those) easier to solo than a pally (hello no range pull) and I like mana over rage.

6) I die a lot. A. LOT. Why? Because I don't stop to drink/heal/buff between pulls. As a hunter, there wasn't much need. With pallies and shaman, there is.

Sweeps and mops and cleans the place up....

2008-06-10T08:46:00.004-05:00

Welcome..

If you've linked over from BRK, welcome. :wave:

A small update on my adventures in Azeroth and beyond.

As you can see below I just left the raid team in my guild. It's sad, I enjoyed raiding and seeing new content, but at this time I couldn't put in the 4 days 4 hours a raid time. My guild is great and very supportive of each of our desires in game.

I've rolled up a few alts to see what there is to see from the eyes of other characters in the game. I am really liking the shaman. Many of my alts have been on a different server to keep me from giving the new character a bunch of gold and breezing through the first levels. I wanted to re-experience what it is like to start out with nothing. Oddly enough, on the new server, I ran into someone who, I believe, reads this blog. This person gave me some gold and we quested together for a bit. In fact, I was leveling up a pally and they were leveling a shaman. Sweet combo by the way. And thanks for the help!

No more raiding

2008-06-09T10:28:00.002-05:00

I officially resigned my position as class lead and raider for Fire and Blood. I cannot afford to put the time that serious raiding requires. In addition, WOW just doesn't have the hold on me as it once did.

I have been rolling alts on different servers (to keep from pushing alt after alt into my current guild) trying to find a new class to perhaps rekindle the fire for WOW.

I have a level 20 pally, both alliance and horde and just rolled up a shaman. I really like the shaman so far. It combines some of the hunter parts and some additional skills. But wow, I die a lot still.

Archi Down

2008-05-31T09:46:00.002-05:00

Fire and Blood took down Kael while I was sick last week. We finish the week reset with the next two bosses in Mount Hyjal and then take a good hard look at Archi.

This week, we down Doomwalker and Kazzak, then Friday night, we finish MH. Yes, Archi is down, the world tree is safe on our watch.

On QD, we are the second Horde side guild to take down Archi, according to the server forum progression thread. Horde side guilds tend to blow up during progression.

Sunday night is BT. We are hoping to take out our normal first three bosses and then move on to Terron Gorefiend. Oh Mr. Gorefiend, you gave me an ugly hat, but I want more stuffs. Drop loot!

3/9 BT now

2008-05-12T23:07:00.001-05:00

2 shot both High Warlord Naj and Supremas and 3 shot Shade. No loot for me though. Closing in on the badges needed for the chicken on a stick.

Notice to Kael: Prepare to meet Fire and Blood!

2008-05-02T11:10:00.003-05:00

Hey you! Blood Elf, are you prepared?

Fire and Blood is bringing it's A game and we are going to take you down, steal your vial and your loot and (if I can swing it) your legendary bow.

6/6 SSC and 2/4

2008-04-28T23:45:00.003-05:00

Last week we ventured into Mount Hyjaal and this week we did a complete clear of SSC to finish off Vashj. No loot for me other than T5 pants Friday night on the Karathas fight. 3 months and a few days after the guild rerolls and starts gathering folks and we are 6/6 SSC and 4/5 TK and 2/4 MH.

5/6 SSC and 2 T5 for this here hunter

2008-04-14T23:07:00.004-05:00

Okay so tonight we had another raid night. Leo two shotted. Fathom Lord downed (that pull sucks btw) and then on to Lady V. That fight is going to take some time as it's about timing etc. Leo gave up his T5 glove token. Woot for me!

Oh and look!

Yes, I caught Mr. Pinchy on Saturday. My first time was the weaksauce Furious Mr. Pinchy. Second time was the pet.

2 out of 3 ain't bad.

2008-04-09T23:25:00.003-05:00

Well wasn't our best raid night, but we got bosses down and got good loot. I got my T4 Chest and my T5 Shoulders.

How do I look?

After jacking up the gemming of said pieces and spending way too much in gems to fix my mistake, here's my setup:

Wish List: Raids and such

2008-04-09T13:31:00.005-05:00

Time for a wish list I have.

At least 2 pieces of T5 as quick as I can get them. That T5 bonus for pets is just too nice to pass up. T5 is within reach for us and of course the guild had to shard two of the shoulders last week when I missed. Tonight is Gruul's, Maggy and TK for Void Reaver and Solarian. Here's my wish list from NEED to upgrade slots.

Chest Maggy just needs to drop this token tonight and I need to win the roll, if there is one. My normal raid chest is Haha for some hit rating and to activate my meta gem. Other than that I am running the S1 Chest (boo!)

Shoulders Currently using the Beastmaw or the S1 shoulders (S3 is not something I can ever get with my skills in Arenas. I know there are some nice shoulders in ZA and that is a raid we are doing on a regular basis for some upgrades etc.

Feet Okay here's where the stars have to align and no shamans want this item. It's in some cases a sidegrade to Shadowhunter but I would like the ability to gem these as I swap armor in and out. I won't cry if I don't get them, because I think they would be a nice option for me. My other boots are the PvP boots. To be honest the Vindicators may also be an upgrade to the Shadowhunters, armor ignore is still a hard concept for me to understand.

I need a new helm, T4 helm is okay, my PvP helm is from HKM

I am saving badges for a crossbow and a new stat stick plus a nice ring (although I need to adjust my hit to replace one of my rings)

May the loot gods be good to me tonight!

2 more bosses down in SSC

2008-04-08T09:58:00.002-05:00

Last Friday was my birthday and I had some family obligations. So, of course, Saturday, the guild drops VR and Solarian. And yes, T5 shoulder token drops for hunters and they end up sharding 2 of them. WOAH is me....

Monday night I chose raiding over watching the KU Jayhawks win the national championship. (I did get to see the end of the game though) We one shot Tidewalker on our first try and move on to Karathress. Okay bad crazy pull. Takes us a few shots but we finally down the entire council.

No loot for me. :(

Ran MrT on normal to help a guildmate get his heroic opened up. We got to the pull before Kael and one of the locks said, you know Halk, I appreciate you much more after grouping with a Huntard, because of how much you don't suck. High compliment to me in my mind. Sure it's probably harder for a hunter to wow the rest of the raid, but sometimes, folks get to see what it's like to work with a huntard and appreciate how good they have it. ;) This probably easier to accomplish in 5 mans than it is in a full blown 25 man raid.

How does one avoid the Huntard label? In no particular order.

1) Know your role.

Sure BRK has claimed that the role of the hunter is to provide mass quantities of sustained ranged dps and to be sure that is true. But, there are other roles you may or may not have to do. For example, I don't trap much on our raids. Most of the time, my responsibility is to MD the tank on pulls, and provide the raid with good solid DPS. If you don't know the role you are set to play, ask. Don't wander through a raid wondering if you are supposed to do more or less. Find out beforehand what the raid leader expects of you. Sadly, the role of the hunter is probably limited by the amount of trust your raid leader has in you. Which leads to ...

2) Learn from your mistakes and the mistakes of others.

As you learn a fight, you will make mistakes. Heck you'll make mistakes in fights you know real well. One mistake is forgettable (unless it's falling off the bridge in SV before the mech boss--cuz you never live that one down) Two of the same mistake is forgivable, but three starts hacking into the trust factor. Let's be honest, in most raiding guilds DPS is something you have in large quantities. Sure having a hunter along in some fights is a good thing but not necessary. DPSers have to EARN their spots. Can your raid leader trust that you'll target the mobs in the kill order? Oh and btw, if you are the hunter mark hunter, remember your raid leader gets to see the bouncing arrow tattling on you.

3) Learn your class and your shots and what works and what doesn't.

This includes controlling your pet. Know what resistances to spec your pet for the raid. Know when and where to stand. Know how to get the best DPS you can from your rotation and use macros when you can. I know some folks hate the macros, especially the shot rotation ones. That's fine, I don't judge them for not using them, they shouldn't judge me for using them.

I am not saying you need to know all the theory craft or what minute percentage you'll get from X hit or whatever. Know the concepts of what makes the hunter class tick. Understand that in a raid you have a great lot of tools to bring to the table, providing mass quantities of sustained ranged dps to the raid is one of them, but also remember that DEAD DPS is ZERO DPS.

Badges?? We don't need no stinkin' Badges...

2008-04-03T15:31:00.003-05:00

Oh but yes we do.

Kara badge runs net us around 22 badges per week (depending on if we have someone who can summon the big ugly fire dragon who hates me or my pet...or both)

25 man raids now drop badges. 8 last night alone from the raid boss smack down. Do you smell what the hunter is cooking? /hunter's eyebrow

So I am looking over the 2.4 badge loots. Oh some very tasty stuff in there. If you aren't a hunter. If you are, you are probably drooling over the crossbow (linked below) or possibly some of the armor pieces.

So all you tons of hunters who read my blog, yeah that's it, what gear are you looking forward to picking up? Okay you other class folks have permission to add your comments too. ;)

Lvl 70 Hunter 2/6 SSC, Gruuls and Mags downed

2008-04-03T08:10:00.004-05:00

Oh yes, it's Fire and Blood's version of Wednesday night fights. Let's get ready to RUMMBBBBLLEEEEEE!!!!!!11onetwothreefour!!!11

Gruul's one shotted (bastage Gruul killed my pet early though)

Maggy one shotted

Hydross one shotted

Lurker 2 shotted. Main tank dies and we scramble to get another tank to aggro lead right before submerge. We struggle to get the adds down, got one on our side of the main island, oops sheeped right before the shot from our bow hits him. Dead hunter. Raid wipes due to a couple folks disconnecting at during the fight.

Both fights I actually got the fishing pole to axe swap done. Still need to work on the timing to get the MD on the main tank done right. Lurker has a huge hit box and it's hard to get the shots off without getting in the water. Perhaps swap axe, put up mark, send kitty, get to my island and then do the MD thing?

I have over 70 badges now, so I am getting close to being able to upgrade with the new badge loot. I am thinking of going with the crossbow. There are a few other things I would like to have, mostly in the area of items for PvP or when I need a ton of stamina, but that crossbow is the only thing I really drool over.

Raid Night is awesome

2008-03-29T23:41:00.003-05:00

So, tonight was raid night for Fire and Blood.

As you recall we downed Gruul's lair last time and moved into Maggy.

This time it was SSC. First we did the fishing pull for Lurker down below. Oh and BTW, got to 375 Fishing earlier in the day. We wipe a few times, I die on a spout that hits me while in the water, blah blah. But Lurker is down.

On to Hydross. Not a hard fight for me, but it is taking some work to get the timing, dps and such down. Omen being finicky doesn't help either. Overall, I am sure we'll take him down soon. Then probably we'll go after Void Reaver and friends. Kinda hoping they fix a few of the bugs first.

25 mans? did anyone say 25 mans?

2008-03-26T21:37:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday went in and cleared Gruul's Lair and then tried Void Reaver. Oops, learning the orbs for the loss.

Last night, patch night, we went in and cleared the Magistrates Terrace on 5-6 groups.

Tonight, began our raid schedule. Gruul's cleared. Maggy down. Wiped on the High King twice due to bad timing on the pulls. Gruul was one shotted. Maggy the raid leader missed a call on the cube clicking, but second time was Maggy down!

Pics? I has them..let me show you them.

Gruul's from last week and Maggy's head on a stick from tonight!

Question from the comments

2008-03-20T16:32:00.003-05:00

This was commented on one of my posts about my Ghost Saber and the red she becomes.

Anonymous said...
I know that the "red" appearance comes from the Beatial Wrath. Did your Ghost Saber learn this over time, or did have the ability when he spawned? I have a one and she doesn't have the ability.

Bestial Wrath is a talent learned skill in the Beast Mastery Tree.

Here's the tooltip:

Bestial Wrath
10% of base Mana 100 yd range
Instant cast 2 min cooldown

Send your pet into a rage causing 50% additional damage for 18 sec. While enraged, the beast does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot be stopped unless killed.

The 41 point BM talent is called the Beast Within, which makes the Hunter Big Red and Mean. It reduces your mana costs and gives you the same immunity to crowd control as your pet.

If you look to the side over to the left you'll see a link to the Beast Mastery Hunter blog called Big Red Kitty. He has tons more info on this spec.

Fire and Blood Group 2, Kara one night clear

2008-03-18T00:41:00.006-05:00

So this guild has been recruiting and getting a great group of folks, over 80 members now. I sign on tonight and some of the new transfers wonder about a Kara run. Heck yeah!

4 1/2 hour run only missing Nightbane because no one can summon him. 3 wipes, 2 on prince and 1 on Curator. Yeah I caused one of the Prince wipes. FD dumb huntard. 2nd wipe was someone else's fault. Curator was an odd thing. Tank got crushed twice because we had blown through his health so fast and mistimed it.

20 badges is nice. A couple more weeks and I can get some more badge loot. Although I have the Rip-Flayer so we'll have to see. Also picked up the Tier 4 helm and the necklace from Attumen.

Congrats to the raiders of Fire and Blood

2008-03-17T11:55:00.002-05:00

Fire and Blood did a first run into Kara this weekend and did a full clear on the first try!!!

I think they had a couple of wipes, but nothing major.

I suspect it is because they didn't take a hunter. :(

NO actually, I am pretty well geared from Kara and only have a couple of upgrades I still would need from there. I worked on fishing while they raided. WOOT I made 350 in fishing!

OMG where the @#&@($ have you been FTP?

2008-03-14T15:24:00.002-05:00

Well...

I've been looking for a new guild. I found one. Amazingly enough I am still one of only a couple hunters, one of which is an alt, I think. Saturday, after getting all the people keyed and somewhat geared up, we are hitting Kara for the very first time. Stay tuned as I'll post kill shots if I am in there.

Guild has a lot of folks who are rerolls from other servers or transfers from other servers so in many ways a very experienced guild.

Welcome to http://fireandblood.yuku.com/directory Fire and Blood.

My guild leader is an enhancement shammy (yeah I know shammy gear as quest rewards blahhhh Go check out his blog. http://enhancementshaman.blogspot.com/

Timid? We don't do timid now!

2008-01-23T01:06:00.000-06:00

We kicked the front door of Kara open tonight and
and

And somehow Maiden and Opera screenies didn't save.

and lastly...

Opera was Oz, but before hand I am chanting legacy, legacy...

Only hunter in raid...I roll. I win. I am happy.

Timidly, we enter Kara

2008-01-20T23:37:00.000-06:00

My new guild, Death by Healer, had been working through Kara earlier in the week, but tonight they had Hal go in with them for the final three bosses to down.

Nightbane, Illhoof and Netherspite were on tap.

Nightbane..well let's not talk about him, shall we?

Illhoof is next, cuz Nightbane can have his silly ledge.

A couple of wipes later, cuz we are learning and bad things happen when the healers get chained. :(

Illhoof is down! Woot. First kill in Kara..woot go us.

On to Netherspite but first a hearth to Shatt City cuz I am at 0 durability. Woops.

2nd wipe kills the group because it's late and folks need to run.

But but...we have our first kill in Kara, life is good. Even if our bank account is depleted. We will never get an epic mount. (sigh)

Pics as promised!

2008-01-16T23:53:00.001-06:00

Hanging with the peacekeeper
Trying to get the boar to go do his business on the grass. Notice the stylish Helm?
See! I can fly
Ahhhh waterfalls are so relaxing.

If'n I were any happier, I'd be twins!

2008-01-16T13:09:00.001-06:00

Okay so the computer saga comes to an end.

What saga you ask? Read back in the archives, it's faster than me typing another post up.

(waits)

Okay so after replacing the motherboard and still no go. Buying a new power supply and that not working....I realized I was at a point I needed help.

Professional help.

A local computer repair shop treated my aunt and her teenagers' computers well (imagine viruses on laptops they don't have protection on...duh). So I dropped the behemoth off. Okay some backstory--My computer case is a CoolerMaster Server case, all metal, has wheels. For. A. Reason. It is a monster! But it's so sweet. They called last night. Yep, the motherboard AND CPU had gone bad. Both under warranty. Luck has it they have a slight upgrade and it's in the other motherboard I bought and 20ish bucks in labor plus the CPU and I am picking the computer up tonight. WOOOOOTTTTTT. W.O.O.T.!!!!!111one.

I should be back to maxed settings and 60 FPS except for major towns (oh Shat how our Video hates you). OH and I've been eyeing an upgrade to the video card too. 8800GT anyone?

I shall be updating the screen prints I need to show myself in all my 70 splendor don't you know!

Armory Bug I has it, let me show you it.

2008-01-07T14:51:00.000-06:00

Apparently Halkale is one of the few...err many folks whose characters aren't updating well on the Armory.

Suffice to say, I am 70, have my flying mount. I'll post a great screenshot I got in Hellfire later today (of course I am sure it's nothing new for all of those who have had their mounts since 4 days after TBC release).

I am one successful run in Black Morass and a Hearthstone to Shat from being keyed for Kara.

I finally finished Ramparts. Go me! I believe it was 2 months from start to finish for that quest.

I've done all my frag quests. I've got my god-awful ugly looks like an orange octopus died on my head.Stalker's Helmet of Second Sight

I need to go farm for Beast Lord Pieces and Sonic Spear. Mostly the spear so I can gloat to BRK.

DING!!!!!! 70. Okay now what?

2008-01-02T23:10:00.000-06:00

Get my training, which surprisingly wasn't too expensive. Equip my new bow. And...now what?

Oh that's right...800 gold for flying rider training, plus the mount.

Up to 300.

Working on quest chains that I never attempted before now.

Found an active guild on QD. I am now a Pup in the guild Underdog. We have 12 70's and growing. They are just where I need them to be, readying themselves for Kara.

I went into Blood Furnace Tuesday night and it wasn't too bad. The backup computer didn't lose it's mind and I did well I think. The pig off tanked or tanked a lot of it, I just couldn't trust the warrior to keep aggro or know what he was doing. PUG for the

Been questing in Shadowmoon Valley. Anyone got a few spots that pay well?

Oh, made a mistake and chose Scryer on Halkale. I am now rounding up stuff to switch to Aldor.

Happy New Year, what are your resolutions?

2007-12-31T16:49:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to each and everyone.

My resolutions are:

1) To get more active and get more exercise to help me lose some weight.

2) Drink less pop and more water to help with the above.

As to WOW:

1) Find a good guild, since my guild has basically been put on life support.

2) Get into Kara and beyond.

3) Learn to control my character better, using macros and keybindings instead of clicking. Not sure if I am going to go mouse movement or remap to use the numpad to move with.

Oh woah is me for trying to do BG daily quests

2007-12-26T21:41:00.000-06:00

All night long we horde were either outnumbered or full of tards, but after 3 AB, I was able to complete the daily quest. Of course I had to get a couple WSG in and an EotS, the EotS was a nice quick loss as I joined in progress, but I got a mark which I don't have a lot of.

I need to read up on the strat for EotS too. OH and the AB "fix" has broken the horde side in my battlegroup. I haven't been in on a win yet. I am sad.

Anyway, I am back into WOW, now I just need to get my good computer back up and running. I am about to turn it over to a professional.

WTF? my Monitor is going crazy

2007-12-17T21:57:00.000-06:00

Okay so tonight I watch a little TV after work, then come in to check email and my monitor is kinda fuzzy. Could be me, my blood pressure is a bit high due to not eating right and being way overweight, but it's odd. Could be the position of the monitor, it's a bit too low, needs to be raised up but it's too late to mess with tonight.

Dick made a comment about maybe the new job getting me back into WOW a bit more. Actually what's really keeping me down in WOW is the computer issue. I just need to get the MOBO replaced and I think I'll play more. Single digit FPS is just not a good thing. That and my server being a bit odd kinda makes for hard times. Anyone else see one side running the zone PvP stuff in Outlands and no one on your side wants to take it from them?

On another positive note, I traded in my 05 Kia Optima for an 07 Suzuki XL7. Payments went up but much bigger car. Seriously I am 6'4" and that Optima was way too small. What was I thinking?

Anyone got any cool plans for the Christmas Holidays? My family pretty much lives around here and we'll have Christmas over at my aunt's house with the big family and mostly just hang out here when not over there. Plus, I don't have any day off but Christmas Day, so that'll limit any cool plans.

My name is FTP and I cannot jumpshoot

2007-12-12T21:48:00.000-06:00

Okay, sadly, I am a keyboard mover. I don't move with the mouse, can't get it to work right, it feels so...awkward. Heck, sadly, during my days in DragonRealms (text based RPG for the olde) I used to use the numpad for moving room to room and all the keyboard for macros and such. Sadly, I cannot do it in WOW. I am ashamed.

/stands
Hi. My name is Halkale and I cannot jumpshoot.
/hangs head in shame.

Oh yes, I know the idea and the process and can do it if I want to, but like I said, I cannot do it in the battle. Hence, why I probably suck so bad at the PvP thing. (although I usually do well because I know my class)

Here's what set this off. http://www.bigredkitty.net/2007/12/10/dont-shift-blame-solve-the-problem/

Please don't hurt me if you read this Shifttusk. Plug: http://roarhunterpvp.blogspot.com/

Back In PIE!

2007-12-12T21:01:00.001-06:00

Okay I am back!

The previously mentioned new job is going well. I have a lot of opportunity for advancement there and they seem to like me. Yeah, strange right?

I still don't have my main computer fixed and it has really put a damper on my WOW playing. It's just hard to play the game at the lowest settings and almost come to a standstill in the major cities. I haven't even tried to do any instances.

I made 69 but dang what used to be most nights 3-4 hours has come out to be very little play time and barely even playing on the weekends.

Rant on:
My server's economy sucks bad. I put on a bunch of greens from the outlands and sold very little of it. Oh sure the runecloth and lower healing pots sold. My first server was pretty new and after about 6 months it started settling down especially after the transfers were opened. My current server transfers have been open for many months and still the economy is horrible. Rant off:

My guild is not going well, we keep losing folks and not really gaining as many. Of course, I haven't been around much so part of the problem is I don't think we are recruiting. The server seems to be very small especially on the horde side so that adds to the problem.

Oh for those of you who don't know, BRK has moved. Link has been updated.

My cat is falling so far behind. I try to bring her out when I am grinding mats for leather working and primals but it so hard to get her caught up. Plus, that charge aggro is so very nice. The Boar appears to be my main pet now.

Here's a newish pic of me and him.

Happy Thanksgiving to all...

2007-11-22T12:16:00.001-06:00

For those away from their families during this time I hope you get a chance to speak with them on the phone. Just remember to tell them you love them every time, you never know when you won't get the chance again.

I am very thankful this year because I have a new job and I start December 3rd. Woot!

My main computer is down, it's the motherboard and I need to remove it and the CPU and memory and all the other stuff and get an RMA and send it back to the manufacturer. This sucks.

Got a new video card for my old computer but it still isn't as good as it needs to be to make WOW enjoyable.

I found out I could get a decent FPS by starting a new character. Apparently the lowbie zones don't have quite the FPS hit the outlands zones do. So, I started a Druid. He's now 22 level. I die a lot. A LOT!!!!

I plan on getting him to 29, getting economy twinked and getting some good amount of honor and marks from there.

MEDIC MEDIC!!! Computer down

2007-11-09T08:26:00.000-06:00

I built my first PC with the help of my brother in law. It is a good computer. Sadly, apparently the power supply died. I have tried to play WOW on my older computer and it's so frustrating.

I cannot step foot into a city or get 15FPS. Combat is fun because all my macros and key bindings are on my other computer.

New Power supply on the way, hopefully I don't find more problems once it's installed. Sadly, I have to order the power supply as the one I want isn't carried locally.

Squad 51, this is Rampart.

2007-11-05T09:11:00.000-06:00

And it was a wipe.

So, Ace of Spades--okay 3 of us, Shadow Priest, Rogue and myself and my boar pig, plus a Pally for healing and a warrior. I was running the group, marked the first two just inside the instance and bam grabbed aggro on the PAT guy. We adjusted and got through it.

Overall, this was a good group, flexible and when a pull went bad or something odd happened, or someone screwed up (and we all did) we overcame it and moved on. A few deaths, the rogue had to vanish the first time on the 2nd boss to prevent the wipe. Warrior went to sword and board and I kept the healer in the back to heal him up. Of course a dang blue mace dropped. No loot for me.

Dragon boss, oh the huge mannatee. We wiped, twice. Apparently, the warrior wasn't geared well enough to stay alive and the minute he lost aggro, the priest goes down or the pally and usually meant I was the last one standing, with the rogue vanishing to keep the wipe from occuring. OH wait, that boss resets anyway.

Anyone have any idea of a plan for that boss? Do we just need to find a tank that can stand up to the dragon? How do we transition from the humanoid boss to the dragon boss?

Of course, I turn in the letter you get and DING, 62. Oh and I am now honored with Thrallmar. Woot, Leatherworking recipes! and now to get honored with Centarion Expedition.

GAHHHH more WSG marks

2007-10-31T16:54:00.000-05:00

So last night I look down at my stacks of marks and realize (incorrectly) I only need 5 more WSG marks to get my Kodo! The first game is like a root canal with no drugs and a blind dentist. We lose 3-0 because we have less than zero offense. Is it just me or does WSG tend to attract the morons of WOW? Like all the morons waiting to jack up every PUG are waiting in WSG to mess that up?

So I get my five marks and rush to Org to turn them in and get my kodo and get to Outlands to build my bank up for the Epic riding skill. Wait...what? it's 30 marks each. (fist shake)

So, tonight I get to hang out in WSG. I am sooooo very happy.

Anyone playing the PTR and have word on the changes to AV?

Where in the world is Hal the hunter?

2007-10-30T09:02:00.000-05:00

Okay it's been a few days since my last post. Ooops.

Well life has been busy for me. Work sucks, what's new... My friends and I left Blood Line and created our own guild called Ace of Spades. I've been developing our forums and working on a website, so I have that going for me. ;)

As you can see I also made 58, ran through the portal and made 59 a few hours later. Upgrades are plentiful.

Yes, I have had my first Fel Reaver death. That is a funny story actually. I avoided Fel Reaver deaths during my time soloing over the weekend. Yesterday, our 58 priest walked into Outlands and we were getting him caught up to me. We avoided a Fel Reaver and I called it a bad word and it NO LIE came back for me!

As soon as the website is more than just a filler website I'll link it.

Are the Epic PvP rewards worth it at 60?

2007-10-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

I enjoy playing in the battlegrounds and would really like to spend some time in there as I get closer to 60. Maybe when I hit 60, I'll go hang out in AV for a long time.

So my question is this, are the PvP epic rewards worth it? Or will a few hours in Outlands replace them quickly?

Edit: Thanks for the responses. Yes I've been to Outlands on my dwarf hunter and noticed how quickly I moved from sucky old world greens to OL greens! I just wasn't sure how quickly one might replace the "OMG PURPLEZZZZZ" epics from PvP, since I didn't really do PvP on my dwarf.

Is that a shiny spear on your back or are you happy to see me?

2007-10-14T23:16:00.001-05:00

Well earlier today I snuck into AV and got a win on my first time in the battleground. So, yes you see I have the Ice Barbed Spear. I had a guildy throw a +15 Intel on the spear too. Why? Well, I have a goodly amount of agility already and mana consumption is normally my problem.
I think you should have your enchants and armor/weapons be a complete set instead of pieces. In other words, does the totality of the "set" work for your playstyle. End game I probably wouldn't do this, but that spear will carry me through a long time and now if I see stamina/agility type armor I can work on that and still have a decent amount of intel.

Lost in a guild, how do you avoid this?

2007-10-09T14:40:00.000-05:00

Blood Line looks like a really good guild, lots of activity, the 70's are working on getting everyone keyed for Kara and it seems the lower level folks are helping each other.

That's all well and good for me as I am used to working solo until I need help with an instance.

But, the question before us to day, is how do I not get lost in the guild. How do I work through the leveling process and not become just a member or a number? How do I become a positive addition to a guild and still have the ability to do what I want to do? I want to get into later instances and do end game stuff. I suspect I'll have plenty of time as I don't doubt I'll be 70 for an extended period of time prior to the new expansion coming out.

Merge to a new guild

2007-10-07T09:57:00.000-05:00

I am level 49 now and finally got the Grimlock's Charge to drop. While farming the back part of Uldaman for it, we got an invitation to merge our guild with another. Most of us joined the new guild, including most of the higher level folks, as I see.

The problem? I went from being one of, if not the, top hunter in my smaller guild, to middle of the pack in a larger guild. Time will tell if I can make a spot for myself.

Apparently the armory thing above didn't update on last night's exit. hrm..

Cooking and fishing....

2007-10-06T16:55:00.001-05:00

Okay so I have 169 Fishing and 295 Cooking. The only real yellow recipe for me is one that uses Mightfish, which apparently take over 400 in Fishing.

Seriously, why does a recipe that takes 275 Cooking need an item you need 100+ more in another skill to get?

I do suppose it's not horrible since you can skill up fishing by just catching fish. Heck I can skill up fishing for deviate fish so I can get my pirate or ninja mojo!

Brew Fest

2007-10-04T23:22:00.000-05:00

Well they finally got the "Barker" quests fixed on QD. I was able to do the run my first time. I did okay on my barrel quest, but let the darn ram go into exhausted too many times.

I will have a ram though, if I keep this up.

Building a Hunter

2007-10-01T10:02:00.001-05:00

First and foremost, you want to know the best talent build for a hunter, look no further than http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com There is just no reason not to build as you level exactly the way he tells you to in the first 40 points. Want to build for a battle ground twink? Well maybe BM isn't the way to go early in your life. Most WSG/AB battles are quick and you need damage output in short bursts, so MM might be the way to go. After you get intimidation though, you cannot stay away from BM. In fact, depending on how you play AB or WSG, it might be best to stay BM. I did, until the last week or so in 39 and I switched over to MM to try it out.

What build determines the best build for you? Playstyle mostly. Of course, this is a moot point until you reach up into your higher levels. BM has been considered the best leveling build by most hunters. It buffs your pet, makes him an effective tank and your pet does enough damage to hold aggro well. As a MM, you can crit a few times and grab aggro. Survival is really an end game type of build, it requires a lot (read 600+) agility to really shine.

But build discussion isn't my main concern here. That you can find everywhere. My main concern here is what armor, stats etc should I look for as I build my hunter.

Here are some facts. Hunters are designed to do their damage at range. They are designed to use their pets to help them stay at range. A hunter uses mana. In a perfect world, a hunter should never take damage except when stealing aggro or adds or those pesky casters that suddenly switch targets.

Let's examine the facts.

Hunters are designed to do their damage at range. Okay so why do we carry melee weapons. Well, for one thing, you at some time, will have something get to melee on you. For the first 10 levels you don't have a pet to tank for you. But the real reason we have melee weapons (ok how about the nicest reason) is for you to be able to bonus your stats. What stats you ask? Agility, Stamina and Intelligence. Also, Ranged Attack Power (or attack power), Hit, Crit Chance, etc. For the most part, as you are moving up through the levels you will see plus to Stats though.

Notice that in this there isn't a need for strength. Or Spirit.

So, what do you need to look for on the AH etc?

First things first. Once you pass level 10, you should be working to not pull aggro off your pet. Keep it trained with the highest level of claw and growl, or gore, if you go with the ravager or boar. After that your armor doesn't matter as much. Work on saving money because at the very first you will move through levels so quickly, spending a ton of cash on armor/weapons won't pay off.

There is one exception. Your ranged weapon of choice should always be as up to date as possible. A point here: Range weapons with special procs or some such won't be as nice as additional stats bonuses. If you get a nice drop, certainly use it, but don't drop a bunch of gold on it. You want to save for your mount and have cash left over for a nice enchant if you get a nice blue. See, a blue might last you 5-6 levels, if nothing else is good out there.

I try to spend nothing on armor/weapons until i get to the capital city through questing. As a hunter you can use leather and cloth, get a cloth drop and it's an upgrade to your armor area? Put it on. Especially early when they don't soulbond.

As you begin to progress you might notice armor starts to get stats added to the areas. You should be looking for of the Falcon, of the Eagle and of the Monkey armor pieces. These carry your top three stat needs. Falcon is nice due to bonus to Agility and Intel. Monkey is nice for Agility and Stamina. And Eagle is Intel and Stamina.

A point here. Try to work your entire armor and weapon set as a whole. In other words if you find a piece that bonuses agility heavy on one slot, put intel or stamina in another. Oh and another point, single stat pieces don't usually sell for as much as multiple bonus ones. Might mean a good deal can be had on a of Stamina or of Intel piece.

I have more to write but I am rambling now so I want to end this and think things through a bit before continuing.

Friday Thoughts: Patch 2.2 Hated it!

2007-09-28T10:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my new Friday post recurring thing. Random thoughts like other folks do, but purely my own. Or sometimes I steal them.

This new AH thing...it sucks. Strike that, it sucks and blows. It sucks and blows more than an F5 (enhanced) tornado. Currently it messes with 2 of my addons. 2!

BRK is detailing the new hunter pet here. http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com/2007/09/patch-22-aint-even-cool-yet.html

yes, fel reavers will rock.

Apparently we are going to be able to tame Warlocks later in the patch sequences, so will that be taming cross faction? I would love to have a little gnome warlock. mmmmm

Okay, my Royals suck. They suck less this year than last. They suck less than the new AH thing. I have tickets to tonights, Saturday and possibly Sunday's games. Tonight is a Buck night. Hot Dogs, small peanuts and the sip of pop cups are only a dollar. Good times. Oh it's also Fireworks Friday. They put on a good show and Fireworks are always good.

Next month contains Customer Service week. Be sure to be nice to them.

Did I mention that the new AH mail thing sucks?

Why is there a lack of bows and guns and 2 handed axes in the mid 40's to 50's area?

Woot 45 and the pet caught up!

2007-09-27T23:44:00.001-05:00

So I dinged to 45 and the pet dinged to 44 right before I dinged. Finally, all the work is done and the cat is up to my level. Put her in the stable and picked up prowl 2 from an elder shadowmaw while I was in STV.
Next stop, Feralas.

Of course, there won't be much time to play this weekend as I have things to do this weekend. Oh well, I accomplished my goal of getting to 45 this week.

New guild....

2007-09-26T22:38:00.001-05:00

Here's hoping that we found a new guild that has a bit more activity than the last one. So far looking good.

Technology can sometimes be difficult

2007-09-26T13:41:00.000-05:00

So, Tuesday morning early, we have a set of thunderstorms roll through and take out the power for a few seconds a couple of times. In the end no major harm.....

EXCEPT

Our home gateway for our AT&T U-Verse (cable TV) and internet goes down...

HARD

An hour and half later last night and the tech says, "We need to send a tech out to swap the gateway."

Bummer. No cable. No internet. No WOW.

So, I watch the last couple of discs in the Band of Brothers set and the documentary on the real Men of Company E. Wow! Those men were heroes. I highly recommend the set and reading the book by Ambrose.

Oh, the gateway is like a really big modem, it controls the cable and the internet and the big red flashing light was very annoying.

Szablya dings 40!

2007-09-24T22:45:00.000-05:00

My guildmate and I decided I needed the Carrot on a Stick, so we found 3 other folks to roll through Zul'Farrak. Well during the run, Szablya dinged to 39 then 40. WOOT! So here she is in all her prowlness! (I had to retrain to get claw 6 done)
Just prowl, greenish background, pet not selected.

Prowl pet selected, background is whiter.

Prowl on, Big red Szablya. Hard to see isn't it!??
So I dinged up to 43. Need to finish up some quests in Arathi and up to the Hinterlands and such. I also need a few more quests done in Dustwallow Marsh. Then I suspect I need to go to Tanaris.

Introspection

2007-09-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I spent the weekend at my aunt's basically making sure her 18 didn't have a ton of kids over and burn the place to the ground. Didn't get to play WOW much.

I realized I am most likely not going to stop and play the battlegrounds in the 40's bracket much. I just want to get to outlands and such.

My ghost saber just dinged again and is slowly but surely catching me. This is good because as I begin to run out of quests to finish up before I head into new territory, I need it to hold aggro better. Luckily, I do have some quests to finish in Arathi Highlands and surrounding areas that are still yellow to me, which means I make up for the lack of kill exp with some decent quest exp. Funny thing is, as a hunter, if the quest is orange you can usually do it solo.

Names for the Ghost Saber

2007-09-21T08:26:00.001-05:00

Okay so I have narrowed my choices for names to two.

DieSpitze = German phrase die spitze meaning vanguard. I would pronouce the name Deh-spit-zy

Szablya = Hungarian word meaning to cut, possible origin for the word saber. I would pronouce the name Zaab-ya

What you think?

Not sure I like this new template

2007-09-20T07:31:00.000-05:00

I think this template has a cool background but it sorta smooshes everything together. With the new bigger wider monitors I think templates with wider columns are better. I may have to switch back.

Update: Okay after getting to work and looking at this template on my old 17" CRT monitor it doesn't look as smooshed as it does on my home 22" widescreen LCD.

What say you?

Update 2: Okay found a 3 column version I like much better. Yeah posts are in the middle, but I like this format. Lost all my "widgets" so I am recreating them as I think they fit.

Ghost saber in Red!

2007-09-19T21:45:00.001-05:00

Okay so figured I should put up some screen shots of the ghost saber in all his transparency. I have taken him through an almost full run of SM and battle satyrs in Desolace and taken down 40 elites with him.
Here's the pic of him and I relaxing in Thunder Bluff.
And here's a pic of him in all his big red coolness.

It's hard to see in the pic I think, but even red he's opaque.

BIG RED GHOST SABER =

As you can see, he's been trained with growl and claw. In addition he has avoidance and cobra reflexes and Rank 2 of each of the resistances. I might change that later due to wanting him to have a bit more health. I plan on putting prowl and dash on him for those times when those will come in handy.

I have a few more quests to finish up in Desolace, then I am on to Swamp of Sorrows. I am looking forward to that run, since you have to run through Duskwood to get there, although I think I can do it and not get gang tackled by the guards as I did on my way to Redridge. Heh.

ARRRRR it's pirate day!

2007-09-19T21:41:00.000-05:00

Some silliness for Talk like a pirate day!

Dude where's your kodo?

2007-09-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Okay so in the past I said I was going to work on getting to Exalted with Thunder Bluff before 40...well I failed. So, I am the proud owner of a Dire Wolf Mount.
One of my friends and I ran through SM last night so I could get all my quests in there done. I netted big cash! It's amazing what you can do when you have a 70 shaman running you through. My ghost saber gained 4 levels and is now closer to my level, might even help me level!

WeBe40!

2007-09-16T19:19:00.001-05:00

So, after a couple of frustrating games in the 30's bracket (and we won, go figure) I decided enough was enough. I had enough gold to get trained and be well on my way to get a mount, so I leveled. Still working on the ghost saber so right now, here's Whitemane in all his Big and Redness.Wasn't it nice for Holgar Stormaxe to want to pose with us?

Couple upgrades from PvP rewards but still mostly leather. I need some gold as you can see for the mount, but I am off to try to get to high 40s as quick as possible so I can enjoy that bracket. I might try to save up honor and marks for 60 epic PvP set.

Arathi Basin Weekend..then hello 40!

2007-09-14T15:56:00.000-05:00

So, this is AB's weekend for bonus honor. So I figure this will be my last turn through the 30's bracket and I am off to make 40. I have enough rested to get me there and the pet is about 1/2 to 39. I will most likely move to my ghost saber, so I need to name him/her. If you are reading this and haven't posted a comment, shame.

I am tired of having this stuffy nose and blowing it all the time and not getting to a sinus infection so I can get the drugs needed to kill it. I'd kill it with fire, but let's be honest, facial burns would not be worth it.

Would it kill some of you who visit here to post to let me know you do? Really??? Please?

OMG I miss Beastmaster.

I rolled up a rogue setting up for a 29 twink. Yeah I got issues.

I hab a cowd

2007-09-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

After fighting allergies for the past few weeks, I finally have decided this is turning into a sinus infection. Gah! I hate these things. Better call the doctor and get the drugs ordered so I can nip this in the bud.

I can't breathe through my nose, which sucks at work, but sucks worse at night. I have sleep apnea and have to use a CPAP machine and it blows air through my nose to keep me breathing.

As you can see below, I hate my job. It sucks. Really sucks. Too bad it doesn't suck the congestion out of my nose. yeah, that was a gross thought, but hey I cannot breathe. I look like a slack jawed yokel ( no offense to the slack jawed yokels reading my blog) sitting at my computer wishing I could breathe normally and my eyes watering. Grrrrrr.

Sigh, work...it sucks

2007-09-13T09:10:00.000-05:00

We won't forget.

2007-09-11T09:28:00.000-05:00

Help me name my new ghost saber!

2007-09-06T11:08:00.000-05:00

I picked up a ghost saber and now I need a name. I suck at naming things so I need your help. I won't name him/her until I get some good suggestions so, please help my "Cat" get a name.

Stupid me didn't take a screenshot of him/her so...head to Petopia and see screenies of them there!

Over the rivers and through some hills to grandma's house I go.

2007-08-31T10:23:00.001-05:00

Well I'll be gone all weekend to my grandmother's house. Not a bad deal due to great food and time away from the hustle and bustle of city type life. It's much better now since they upgraded to satellite TV a few years back. Of course, I'll take a few guns and kill a few cans and rabbits, but it's what I do.

Is it time for a new pet?

2007-08-30T09:58:00.000-05:00

Okay so I have the white lion from the barrens that you get with a quest. I thought I was being different. I am not. I am sad because I have this white lion and I keep seeing tons of them running around. Well...I go to Petopia (see link in my favorites area) and check out the special pets section. Hrm. There are pets with unique skins. Hrm. So....do I travel around and try to get a special skinned pet or hope that the other huntards will drop their white lion skinned pet for something else.

On my dwarf, I ran a raptor almost all the way up through until I could tame King B. Then I tamed the Raptor King and ran him through to Winterspring, then went with a bear. I am digging the cats though.

Working on my UI a bit

2007-08-22T19:07:00.000-05:00

Okay working on my UI a bit, what do you think?

Revered with Thunder Bluff!

2007-08-21T20:41:00.001-05:00

Okay I've moved on from the 20-29 bracket and starting to level. Turned in a quest in 1KN and woot! Revered with Thunder Bluff. Just 20988 rep left and I'll be able to buy my kodo. Maybe when I reach 40 even!

Braggin' That's all..nothing more.

2007-08-10T23:46:00.001-05:00

Okay, maybe more than bragging. WTF is wrong with these rogues? I have tons more damage and played Defense and rocked the world of the ally and they have 20k less damage than me? Sneaky is one thing, not doing crap is another.

First group. Dang I'd BG with them anytime. They flat out rocked. We just could not be contained. Second group. WOW, they showed heart. Big freaking supersize heart. This match started out poorly, we were outnumbered, then we caught up, then we lost a few thinking we were going to lose. We didn't we came back from 2-0 and won. Yeah, this is a group of fighters. They can go to battle with me anytime. Except Matrim. You let a hunter beat you by 20k points and well..that's a shame.

I am so digging playing the Battlegrounds. They are a rush if you get in there and mix it up. There are some freaking great Alliance folks playing these days. Badman or Badassman. Warrior. Wow, he topped me in damage during a match. He just kept coming.

Dude! I want my kodo! Leave me alone!

2007-08-10T10:47:00.000-05:00

Okay so I am 29, inching up with enough savings to get close to being ready for 40th and the mount buying time.

Well... I want a Kodo. Yes, I am an orc, but I want a kodo dangit! So, I am grinding rep in the TB area. Screamed through the Tauren starting quests and moved to Mulgore to do the Bloodhoof Village ones.

Out gathering my stones and seed/nuts for the quests, killing swoops (how much I hated those things as a young tauren) and raising up my unarmed skill. Yes, I was punching all my mobs to death and my pet was just sitting there on passive. MUNTARD FOR THE WIN!!!!

So, minding my own business and such, when the defense channel starting spamming:

Bloodhoof Village is under attack

Hrm. Hey don't kill my quest givers you silly alliance dudes. I am on my way back to the village anyway and a 5oish level Warrior runs by on his way too. So, I go check it out.

2 mid 20's level NE hunters. Interesting, both flagged.

I don't really want to get into world PvP I am rep grinding here. But one of the NE decided to chicken cluck me and then challenged me to a duel. Did you know dueling cross faction flags you when you kill the other person? I didn't. So...I kill the higher of the two hunters because. They suck. Although they do have one of those spitting snake things. Hate those. But I digress.

Whitemane is my cat. He's white and he loves to chew on tasty mobs and allies and NE and gnome are he favorites. I send him to chew on the NE, I ice trap the spitting snake and start the pew pew. Oh did I mention I had been battlegrounding before that day? And I am set up for Battlegrounds with my gear is stamina heavy. And my pet doesn't have growl active, but bite? Perhaps I should have mentioned that to little NE girl/boy. Don't both of them have girl type looks?

The other hunter just stands there as the first goes down. Um..hello, I just flagged. You don't stand there. I rip the 24 lvl hunter apart. Really, he's toast.

I was all good with them being dead and me going back to turning in quests for rep. BUT no...they gotta attack me again....before they are fully healed back up. Both go down again. About the same spot too. Really, run away, seriously.

They come back and are smart enough to move away before rezzing. We find them and I attack. Forgetting that I am low on HP too and that stupid snake gets me. Normally I ignore the pet, but this time I decide to be a jerk and kill the pet first. Stupid Stupid Stupid. I die. come back and rezz and the warrior is chasing the higher of the two (the lower apparently wasn't rezzing after 4 deaths, by me)

The hunter is running across Mulgore (heading toward TB for some reason), weaving around mobs so as to not pull aggro. She's got a head start on me and she has cheetah and so do I. What she doesn't know is Whitemane has Bestial Swiftness. So he can run just as fast as she can. He doesn't have to weave like she does because he doesn't care about aggro. He cares about a NE snack. He catches here and stuns her. That brings her into my range and she gets a concussive shot to make sure she understands life is about to get ugly. Long story shorter, she dies. Her fourth death at my hands and I decide I've had enough and head back to the BH village. Apparently that was enough for her because she came back unflagged. Heh.

Woot! Made 29

2007-08-07T07:54:00.000-05:00

Okay so as you can see above, I made 29. Now it is time for me to wander back into the Battlegrounds and soak up some honor and marks.

I am currently raising up the Ravager, named Howdy. The white lion Echeyakee, whom I named Whitemane, and the boar formerly known as Bellygrub, whom I haven't named. Since Gore and Charge are about to enter the dead zone, I suspect I'll be dropping the boar and picking one back up when I get to 48. I doubt I'll do enough PvP to really need that charge immobilizing thing.

While I am not in the Battlegrounds playing on Halkale, perhaps I'll bring up Hawka some. Or, maybe I'll roll up another hordling..or go visit my dwarf hunter on the other server.

You don't have to be twink to do damage.

2007-07-23T11:54:00.000-05:00

Apparently a well geared hunter can still hand out the damage in a 10-19 level WSG. Still a lot of deaths, I need help staying alive in BG. The boar's name is Howdy. I got him from Redridge. Bellygrub got me once and him and I once. Bellygrub will get tamed by Halkale once I hit 24.

im in ur reckage stealin ur ravagers!

2007-07-18T22:14:00.001-05:00

So after thinking about it last night and today, I decided I wanted something different. Something like a cat that would eat faces while I pew pew. What is more different than a Ravager! Oh noes, the only ravager is over in the blueberry's starting areas. So, after many deaths (I only died in Darkshore) I am the proud owner of a Ravager. Working him up to catch up to me, so he can be used for lovely carnage!

2007-07-17T23:14:00.001-05:00

The Rake, he's bad, he's different and he's mine. Well Halkale is his. Cats tend to view non-cats as possessions.

I suspect when I get a bit higher and can train the white cat that's a quest and I won't even try his name, I'll switch. White goes with my hair!

Upgrades for Hawka

2007-07-12T08:26:00.001-05:00

The grind to 39 is progressing. Hey, I like that..the grind to 39!

So, Batgik, 61 lvl Shammy in my guild Questionable Content, helped me finish off the troll tusk part of the Whirlwind Warrior Weapon quest. He also had previously grabbed the charms from the elementals in Arathi Highlands for me too. We go to the quest giver, do the things we need to do and he summons the cyclone.

We are victorious! With Batgik's help, of course. So! Here's my new axe!

Whirlwind Axe
Binds when picked up
Two-Hand
Axe
102 - 154 Damage
Speed 3.60
(35.6 damage per second)
+15 Strength
+14 Stamina
Durability 100 / 100
Classes: Warrior
Item Level 40

Over at Arms and Fury http://armsandfury.blogspot.com/2007/07/mace-spec.html the talent for mace specialization was discussed. Well, on a previous run of SM, I picked up this lovely little weapon.

Mograine's Might
Binds when picked up
Two Hand Mace
87-131 Dmg Speed 2.80
(38.9 damage per second)
+17 Stamina
+16 Spirit
Durability: 100 / 100
Requires Level 39

The stamina rocks, spirit is...meh. But for running the Battlegrounds, this might be a nice weapon. Throw an enchant on there and we are good to go.

So I need to get my 2hand Mace skill up. I am just using a basic green 2hand mace, no biggy. So after hitting 37 during the troll killing spring, I put 1 point in Mace Specialization. The tool tip says:
Gives your melee attacks a chance to stun your target for 3 sec and generate 6 rage when using a mace.

Hrm..interesting. Okay but we all know how much a chance is eh?

But wait! In SM, against the elites, it procced a goodly amount. It loves to do it when the mob runs too, so it's nice to keep runners close. I am definitely looking into taking the last two points I'll get and putting them in that Talent.

Let's revisit the axe. I have been trying to keep my 2 hand skills up to par, knowing this axe was coming. So both mace and axe are almost maxxed, sword is limping behind a bit.

So, we go into SM, I have the axe in hand(s) and we start in the cemetery. Come on Ironspine 1) spawn and 2) drop that chest piece! He spawns, but drops his ring...boo. We move over to the library to finish up a boss and get the books I need for my quests. Nice blue drops, can't use so they get vendored. We get to Herod and he drops his helm. UPGRADE!

Raging Berserker's Helm
Binds when picked up
Head
Mail
213 Armor
+13 Strength
+8 Stamina
Durability 70 / 70
Requires Level 37
Increases your critical strike rating by 14.
Item Level 42

Crit strike is nice, more deep wounds for you!

How did the axe perform? Oh, it is nice nice nice. I use TopScoreFu and it was lighting off a lot during the runs. Of course, the windfury and Strength of Earth Totems had a huge part of that. I had several crits over 650 and several hits over 600. My highest Crit is now 711 and my highest hit is 647ish. The green Mace I am using until I get to 39 was hitting hard so that tells you how much those totems work! Go shammy go!

The axe hits like a ton of bricks. It's huge! and I need a really good enchant on it. I hear it lasts for a few levels, for when I start leveling after 39.

In the library on one of the last little rooms (with the groups in each corner and books on benches) we had a runner pull the entire room. Totems were down and I had the mace in hand. I had retaliation, sweeping strikes and cleave up, so I put up retaliation, then sweeping strikes, waited for some rage and then cleave and then spammed Thunderclap. My screen looked like the Fourth of July. Wish I had a screen print. The shammy was like WTF was that?

It was a good night. We cleared the remainder of SM and only died once, in the armory from being kinda dumb.

Have a great day!

Time for Hunter goodness!

2007-07-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Okay, my guildmates whom I try to play the most with, have given me their blessing to begin leveling up the hunter. So, expect more posts on the goodness of hunters as I level up and gain new skills and pets and such.

I like the change of pace of playing the warrior, sometimes. Gah, I just can't get into the flow of things with him though. Warriors are definitely harder to play than hunters. As for mastering both classes, I am not sure. I am leaning towards saying once you learn how to play a warrior, mastering the class is much easier. It seems opposite of how hunters play. Playing a hunter is easy, mastering..not so much.

My altitis might rear it's head and I'll roll up a pally. Except...I hate to roll up a Belf.

Ya know, I've wondered how a warlock would be to play.

Formatting this blog

2007-07-06T09:15:00.000-05:00

Formatting this blog and making it look nice is sure taking me a lot of time. I start looking at it, then I don't like how it looks, or I want to add some things and what?? it needs to be changed again.

Please leave a comment if you would about things you like about the blog look and things you don't.

Update on Rant

2007-07-02T09:38:00.000-05:00

We didn't make our numbers. Oh, the warehouse had enough orders to make the number and then some, but couldn't execute. Sad, sad sad.

Update: Okay perhaps we did make our numbers but only by the hair of our chin..or skin of our teeth...

Still, soon I shall be out of here, hopefully in a new job.

Respec for Hawka

2007-07-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

Okay, based on a few thoughts on Arms and Fury blog, I respecced Hawka to total arms. Hawka is going to be my warrior in the BG. I suspect Halkale will do the BG too. I like it as a change of pace from grinding and questing. Plus at lower levels, the rewards tend to be better than other things available.

Got to my beserker weapon quest yesterday. Now, I need the help of a couple of my friends to farm the tusks and the charms from the elementals. 39 level elementals vs 34 warrior = not good for warrior. Apparently, hunters are overpowered. ;)

Rant!

2007-06-29T16:25:00.000-05:00

Okay so, I work for a sporting goods manufacturer, of sorts.

This week was close week. That time of the month where everyone loses their freakin' heads and we try and try to push more product out the door, because..well...we've sucked the previous weeks getting said product out the door and we need to make numbers. Wow...that was a long sentence.

So this month, we have 5 weeks to make our sales number. And of course, being the company lead by the insane, we wait until this week to push out over half of the number. WTF?? 5 weeks and we ship 1/2 of the sales number out in 1 Freaking week!

Seriously, you can't make this up.

So, here I sit at work at 4:30 wishing the clock forward, hoping an email or voicemail will come from my next job. Yes, I am looking for a new job. These people are dumb.

One definition of insanity is: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Hence..my calling them insane.

Warriors have a voice now!

2007-06-29T09:31:00.000-05:00

Big Red Kitty. http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com/ has a friend who has a new blog himself. It's a warrior blog. I am really excited about a warrior blog because I feel so lost sometimes as a warrior. Having played a hunter most of the time, I find myself hesitating to attack as a warrior. Oh and my other big mistake as a warrior. Trying to take on too many mobs. Yep, I keep forgetting I don't have a pet to help or ways to get out of jail.

Go visit http://armsandfury.blogspot.com/ and support a warrior blog!

Clarification of sorts

2007-06-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

For those of you who are new to this site (at the time of writing I suspect that is everyone), this blog isn't just about WOW, it's about other things, as well. In real life, I am a hunter as well, so I might talk about stuff that pertains to that. Or Pie. Cuz pie is good.

Howdy!

2007-06-28T11:22:00.000-05:00

Okay this is my first post. Thought I would detail my voyage on a new server and switching factions and returning to my primary class. I just recently created a new Orc Hunter and am leveling up with some friends. We are looking toward doing battlegrounds and also end game instances, as well.

I am on Quel'dorei-US server. I currently on this server play a 6th level Hunter named Halkale. I also have a 33rd level Warrior named Hawka. Our battleground group is Emberstorm. My guild is called Questionable Content, I was invited by my friends when I came to this server to join them. Our guild is pretty laid back, some of us want to raid and do instances, while others just prefer to play around and learn new stuff.

If you are ever on QD, shoot me a whisper!