3/9 BT now

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!

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.

5/6 SSC and 2 T5 for this here hunter

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 more bosses down in SSC

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.

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

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.

Question from the comments

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.

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

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!

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

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!

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.

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

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?

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.

My name is FTP and I cannot jumpshoot

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/

Squad 51, this is Rampart.

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.

Where in the world is Hal the hunter?

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.

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

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?

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

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..

Brew Fest

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

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.