A couple of nights ago, I dragged my undergeared Dwarven butt through a  number of instances, Heroic and otherwise, specced out as BM, and while I can’t claim to have output to rival our first-tier raiders, my output was consistent enough to warrant a comment from the GM. A month ago, I was struggling to maintain 2K dps. This weekend, 3K was consistent and I peaked at 4K at one point.

So what’s the deal? What am I doing differently?

In essence, I’m playing this true to what I love.  Rather than struggle with SV, I’ve fallen back into the warm and familiar embrace of Beast Mastery, and as a result, I’m getting numbers that are at least satisfactory enough for me to be happy.

Now, I will say up front that I have conducted objective tests on this, and SV is still a higher damage bringer than BM, but the margin is slim. I could widen that margin quite a bit by regemming and so forth, as right now I am emphasizing RAP, as is right for a BM hunter. Survival depends more on Agility to give its numbers a boost.  So let’s get that out of the way right now: I am not claiming that BM is better than SV.  I’m saying it is better for me.

This is where that “being true to yourself” part comes in.

I started out as an MM hunter, and Fai for a while was SV (pre WotLK).   But when BM became a viable build in BC, and I gave it a try, I knew I had something special. I’m comfortable here. I know the nuances, the tricks, how to move around and keep it delivering, how to get more from my pet than just have it chewing on the boss’ ass, and so forth. It all just clicks in a way that neither of the other specs did.

SV and MM may give higher numbers, but only if played right. I can technically play both “right”, but it’s always been a struggle to stay in the groove with those two builds. They feel haphazard, strung together out of odd parts that don’t quite fit together well, but at a distance give the illusion of being integral.

The other thing that I think affects this is my playstyle. I can be a little more mobile as BM, it seems, without losing as much output as I would with MM or SV¹. The rotations are longer and more involved, for example. After each move, there’s always a brief period where you have to evaluate whether your stings need refreshed, and so on. There’s more of that going on with SV and MM than there is with BM.

Yes, I am saying that BM’s rotation is simpler. Only an idiot would say otherwise. But that does bring some advantages with it other than appealing to the Alfred E. Neuman crowd, as someone has hinted without coming right out and saying it.  Simplicity has its benefits, and I don’t care if someone feels the need to look down on me for liking it. Complexity isn’t better unless it brings solid benefits. I think the benefits are somewhat less than are hinted at, though the numbers won’t back me up on it.

A long time ago I mentioned our MM part-time raider’s propensity for pulling aggro at the drop of a hat, his ineffective trapping technique, and so forth. Well, this isn’t BC anymore, and trapping is something that’s fallen by the wayside, but the kernal of the statement remains true; a good BM hunter brings more to the table than just damage. Damage without pulling aggro, for example. The ability to peel the beast off the boss and onto something chewing the healer’s face, without stopping DPS. The ability to break things up a little with one or two well-placed traps².

So, the bottom line for this long and windy spiel is that sometimes, you gotta say screw the stats, I’m going with what fits me best. For, while there may be a 20% gap between SV and BM damage statistically, that will never be the case, once again, for me.

I think that’s true of many people for many specs. Maybe you’ve always fancied Affliction as the most fun spec for your warlock.  Maybe you prefer Frost for the mage, and always have.   If the gap isn’t that huge, and your raid isn’t marginal, what’s the harm?  So it takes just a little longer to down the boss … but the boss, it is downed.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The consequences of this choice are immediately obvious to me. I had a blast, a really good time bounding around with the stompasaurus, following my heart.  No, not so much as to want to change my mind on raiding – that’s gone too sour for me – but if I were called, at least I’d be more enthusiastic ³.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Trinkets!  One thing I am sorely lacking is trinkets!  I am toting a blue and a green around, and I haven’t replaced them in forever because there are no trinkets out there with RAP.  I was very excited when I saw that Scattered Shots was covering this topic, but then I was sad when I saw the conclusion that there just wasn’t anything up there with RAP. But at least now I know that I should give up on that and find some suitable compromise.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Last night, I obtained my first real holiday achievement; Call me Elder Grimm if you must, for that title is mine. I was hoping to complete the Love is in the Air achivement, as well, but I encountered a problem with the rocket achievement that required me to retry it four times before I got it. That was sixty tokens out the window, which set me back on the other components.  Well, maybe next year.

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1. I know, that makes absolutely no sense at all considering that the three big guns for SV are insta-shots [↩]
2. Did you know that if you MD on the tank, and then put an explosive trap at his feet, that the trap damage all MDs to him? True story! [↩]
3. Yeah, there’s some behind the scenes politics I’m not talking about here. It just is, and that’s that, and blogging it just isn’t appropriate. [↩]

I call it that since I wouldn’t be surprised if it was done again next year, assuming all goes well.

If you didn’t read about it on BBB’s Blog, today we had a joint Horde and Alliance run in support of a guildie of his in the Sidhe Devils that was diagnosed with breast cancer. Well, in support of all who have it or are at risk, really, but that guildie was the person that inspired them.

In preparation I rolled a doppelganger up on the appropriate server and proceeded to level up. I had to have me a white bear, see, so that meant I needed to be level 12 by then. And once I got there, I thought I should make level 20 for my mount, too. The latter didn’t happen.  Just short of 18. Bother.

My sweetie was there, too, on her female Dwarf Hunter – isn’t that sweet? She DID manage to out-level me, and I have to tell you it’s weird being the one being offered help through tougher quests.  Total role reversal from our main server.

So this is what I took into the run. Don’t laugh. Or at least be polite and avert your face while doing so.

The knickers are charming, aren’t they?

So we gather, and I see all sorts of names pop on. Hydra, Fuubaar and Fulguralis, Squidly and Miss Medicina come immediately to mind. I had a little bit of a fanboy moment.  I apologize for not mentioning any that I did see, it was chaotic and so is my mind afterward.

Finally, BBBBBB called it, and we were off!

Out of the starting area, over the rise, and down into the valley we went!

And tearing through Teldrassil we go…

I wonder what they thought of us as we passed through Darnassus.

We waited on the dock for the boat to come; that’s a lot of pink shirts!

Hydra must have been running behind, as she met us on the dock in Auberdine. After a brief /cheer we were back on the road, pouring through Auberdine like a stream.

With several Sidhe Devils flanking us all the way, we streamed through Darkshore. At one point we caught up with some confused fellow that was running the Sleeper escort. I don’t think he had a problem getting that one done, nothing stood upright for ten yards each way. But it had to be unnerving.

At the double time, you can really see the difference between Auberdine and Ashenvale.

A brief rest in Astranaar (I didn’t get any good pics since everyone kinda spread out), and then off we went for The Barrens.

Remember, you have to SNEAK around the guards, no matter how many of you there are, or the number of you wearing bright pink shirts. SNEAK.

And we were OFF THE CHAIN in the Barrens!

“Everyone – VEER LEFT! DO NOT ANGER THE GUARDS!” I’m guessing there was a treaty in effect for this event, so we had to watch our P’s and Q’s.

We hooked up with our counterparts outside of The Barrens. A mighty sight it was. I looked for Jong, and didn’t see him. /me sad, since I knew he had planned to attend.

Finally, our mighty army of pink shirts was unleased, and we headed for Rachet!

As we waited on the dock, I noticed Hydra getting excited. Why? JONG! I gave the customary fanboy /cheer.  Here’s a picture of us together.

Finally, the boat arrived and we piled on. This is the best shot I could get out of four, but none of them do justice to the tide of bodies.  The amazing thing was – no real lag, to speak of.

Once we arrived in Booty Bay, everyone piled off to the inn. If you look closely you can see people leveling up all over the place.

At long last, we arrived at the in, ran through it, and commenced to party atop the bank while someone ground faction against Booty Bay.

This was a wonderful event and a great opportunity to rub elbows with some people I seriously admire.  Just standing on the dock with Jong was pretty uber. But of course the big thing was to show in some small way a measure of support for someone going through a hard bit of life right now. I hope things turn out well for Julie, and I hope that someday we find a cure for this and other forms of cancer.

My thanks to BigBearButt and his guild the Sidhe Devils for getting this all together. It was awesome.

Our guild stepped foot into Naxx last night for the first time in weeks. I think it was a combination of (a) the Naxx-25 experience aftershocks, and (b) the summer festival consuming the time of some of our more OCD officers in pursuit of flowers to buy things with.

Myself, I could not face that awful grind again. None of the clan could. So in some cases we downed quests for XP when convenient, we did not pursue the whole thing at all.

At any rate, our foray into Naxx met with some setbacks, but we cleared three wings, with only Military left.  Our newest Shadow Priest and Hunter obtained many drops, as there were few takers for the other stuff.

Unrelated but important topic …

One thing you can say about the Argent Tournament is that, while no less grindy than normal faction grinds, at least it’s convenient. For the past few weeks I’ve been doing two valiant and two champion quests each day, and that has gotten me a shiney new title and three new mounts, the latest which you see here outside of the used Elekk dealer’s garage at The Exodar.

I have some loose ends to tie up but I am almost done with the valiant quests at this point. Then the long agonizing grind for pets and mounts.

I do it this way because I don’t want to become like some others I’ve read, who can’t bear to even look at the place anymore because they’re burnt out from running all the quests every day.  That would burn out a saint.

Children’s Week is a fun bit of fluff that requires nothing of you but to travel from point A to point B and then pick the pet of our choice. Easy money.

But of course, someone, somewhere, will find a way to make it a Hell. Enter the Achievement Hustlers.

I like that term.

Grimmtooth Approved.

Blizz and our general WoW Blogosphere are well known for some epic pranks on Fool’s Day.

(in order of discovery)

• P1mp My Mount (via I Sheep Things) – Nicely done, good mock up.
• WoW Insider does their own thing: Swanson Gamer Grub. If they’d left out some of the less believable bits (lion meat – O RLY?) I would have totally had to go check it out at Swanson’s site. But they blew it.
• Blizz has RP’d the forum rats – and the RP forums get special treatment. (WoW Insider) – Last year’s was fun, but this looks like real work. But we still can’t search posts? WTFBBQ guys?
• Blizz introduces Dance battle system – Hmmmm, that sounds somewhat familiar. (WoW Insider) – As Insider points out, this also highlights the sad fact that a promised feature still hasn’t made its appearance.
• WoWInterface spills the beans on the WoW Addon Store. Should I be flattered, or demand a piece of the action? (WoWHead Blog) – BTW, Blizz got painted as more greedy than Apple, which is hard to achieve! (60/40 vs Apple’s 70/30).

I also have to tip my hat to NCSoft for their golden-age interface. Well done!

Some well-known sites are not on my reading list, so if I missed them it was because I’m a jerk, not because I’m stupid. Just want to make sure that’s clear.

I hope your Fool’s Day was good!

Dear Event Drama Llamas,

“Achievement” means it’s supposed to be hard. While the random number generator does not favor your little nook of the world, that does not mark the Love is in the Air event as a “fiasco“, nor does it justify petty name calling¹.

If you insist on working my side of the street, please be aware that we have standards. While whining about Warlock nerfing or Ret Palli OP are barely legitimate, we generally require better subject matter and, well, skill on the part of the whiner² .

Since skill is probably not possible to fix, please limit yourselves to something that matters, at least within the limited scope of a fantasy RPG in a client-server configuration based on a RTS from the 90s. I mean, if you’re going to crai about things not dropping, how about a little Flora love with regard to Tier drops?

Love,

Flora

PS: Try to have fun. I know that’s an alien concept to some people, who view WoW as a second job, but please review Yahtzee’s comments on that subject if Unclear On The Concept of Recreation and Fun, for I share similar if not identical views³.

PPS: I’m too lazy to post the Angry Baby picture. But it belongs here. Oh, yes.

PPPS: I’m very proud that I avoided all references to “big purple drake-shaped strap-on”.

<.<

>.>

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1. BTW: WTF does “Wang Blue” mean outside of the Watchmen movie, anyway? Your guess is as good as mine, but looky looky, we got scatalogical, ain’t we special. [↩]
2. Note: memorizing the names of certain Blizzard employees and spewing them in a blog post does not constitute actual Skill, nor does merely generating page views. Thanks for playing, stick to the SEO career track, kiddo. [↩]
3. WoW Insider worker bees are not excused since part of the job is understanding the difference. [↩]

Oh noez!

The stone of ice, it has melted!

True story.

This is made of win.

And so is this.

And you can bet your bippy that this is.

That’s right – last night we made another foray into Heroic Nexus for the best pre-naxx mace in the game, and it dropped. There were wipes a-plenty, and we had to break in a new tank that is just a wee bit on the squishy side (we’re working on that), but the upshot is that we actually made it through all five bosses.

The mace plus Telestra’s Journal give me a 200-point improvement in bonus healing over my staff, unenchanted. I think I’ll keep it¹.

One of our other priest’s alts got the undead charger from Rivendare on his first try. Grimm’s 0/19 now. Next time she rubs my nose in it, I’m whipping this baby out and saying, “Sorry, couldn’t hear you over all the AWESOME that my War Mace of Unrequited Love gives off!“.

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Anyone looking at my armory profile might be surprised to see that I was mixing it up in Wintergrasp and actually got a few achievements along the way. This was not intentional, really.  I just wanted to go talk to the quartermaster. However, I can’t just walk in there and not help out, so once the battle was joined, I joined the battle.

I’ve found a kind of zen when it comes to battlegrounds, and that is to not care. Don’t worry about objectives or getting people to work together or anything like that. Just go out there and live in the moment. See a guy that needs heals? Heal him! See a hordie? Lay a few DoTs on him, and if he’s foolish enough to let that pass, hit him with a few smites. I wracked up quite a few HKs in there from people that had no idea that a healing priest would get that … shadow … on thier ass.

The zen is kinda growing on me, so maybe I’ll do that more.

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1. And I didn’t even think the journal was much of a healer off-hand, either, so that may get vastly improved [↩]

Next year we get to make contact; so sayeth Arthur C. Clark.

A year ago I was wembling over how our guild might beat Maiden and Moroes, and celebrating our final addition, that being the lovely Yarley, our token Druid.  Of course, she wasn’t the last, with Fai joining shortly thereafter¹ .

Today I am wondering if we’ll ever see the inside of Naxx as a guild. I’m fairly content with “no” but the distress it causes others is … distressing. Not to mention the white-hot hatred I feel for certain … induhviduals.

At any rate, here’s hoping for an  upward slope for the year to come.

All the best from myself, Flora, Jasra, Slithmere, Kutath, Orlee, Amus, Yarley, and Fiaella. May your lewt be epix.

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1. … and who is still not being all that talkative about her whereabouts [↩]

From the day I was old enough to pick up a weapon, I have trained towards the day I could confront those that have cost me and my people so much misery.

I have dedicated myself to the Light. I have learned to be proficient with any weapon within reach. I have trained to such an extent that I single-handedly worked my way halfway through both the Dead Mines and Shadowfang Keep before I turned 25.

I am a Soldier of the Light. Nothing can stand against me when I am full of righteous fury.

And yesterday, this Soldier of the Light … was asked to serve his people by fetching milk and cookies for a bleary old corporate shill of a Dwarf on a three-day bender. He practically coughed up a hairball on my armor.

There are rare days – and this was one of them – when I consider why people actually side with Arthas against the rest of us. Things like this, bring understanding closer.

Milk and cookies.

Bah.  :: mumble mutter mumble righteous fury, my bum mutter mutter ::

While overall things are going well for me, there are a couple of things I want to share, because they could happen to you.

The Violet Hold

OK, this one is a lot like Black Morass, with a couple of twists. Personally, I think the design is flawed, but that isn’t relevant to the problem.

There is a bug here, so listen up: if you cannot finish this instance without anyone dying, don’t go in. Once the event starts, the doors are locked, and that means even when you’re doing a corpse run. So if your healz die, you’re screwed.

Blizz knows about it. Hope they fix it soon.

Wrath Gate

The first WTF is mine – for some reason I though the rescue-the-villagers quest was a very annoying daily and skipped it – and thus missed out on 99% of the quests for that quest hub, including the Wrath Gate ones.

So I went back, and got that out of the way, and got to the point that I addressed Fordragon, and started the quest, and …. BOOM. WoW dies – “memory error” it says, but I noticed that just before that, it hit the DVD drive. I’m guessing it was looking for the cinematic there or something. So maybe you need to make sure the DVD is in before starting this quest.

When I logged back in, the quest was over and I had the follow up to take care of.

Apropos of something, I think Wrath is taking up WAY too much memory. I’ve 2G and I’m seeing the HD light up like a Christmas tree when I zone. I’m upgrading to 4G, so maybe one of the other toons will get to see the spiffy cut scene.

At least I got to go watch it on Youtube. Sigh.

Update: Tuna has a handy tip in the comments. Thanks!

And here’s something spiffy

One of the follow up quests involves a diplomatic mission to Orgrimarr. When you do it, and if you are Alliance, don’t take the portal back. Go out into town and go fishing. Then go solo Ragefire. This is a gimmee for the Fishing Diplomat quest, and getting all instances done. I imagine the Horde has a similar mission that will get them to the Stockades, but I can’t say for sure.

I failed on the next follow up. Pro tip: don’t go into UC until the King arrives, then stick with him like glue. Seriously – you’re not a player in this event, you’re just tagging along for the quest. King Wrynn will not be playing by your rules and neither is Proudmore.

Remember that post I made not too long ago about negativity and how some people can’t seem to post anything but negative stuff all the time?

Well golly gee, it’s me!

Not that I had myself in mind when I wrote that, but over the past few days you’ve seen karma working its magic. As a result, I’ve become my own worse enemy. I still feel I had a valid reason to be unhappy – as many are – with what is going on, but some counterpoints to all that negativity are really needed, such as:

Things to do while waiting out the zombie plague

1. Obtain “explorer” rankings in all zones you can reach.
2. Complete all instances that you can in order to gain the achievements for them, too.
3. You gatherer types stock up on crafting items!
4. Form a palli/priest/shammi/druid posse and establish “safe zones” in the capitols, and then spam /yell about it to frustrate the griefers! “Come to the bank for protection!”
5. Chase necropolii around!
6. Farm motes!
7. …

The list goes on and on. Point being, there are things to do out there, if you’re high enough level and willing to trade death for tedium.

So, sorry for the QQ. This thing really irked me and I guess the griefers really did win since I gave them exactly what they wanted – my delicious tears.

Meanwhile, in the news:

1. There are around 8 or so new bosses in various instances, good for only a few days, so go get them!
2. The Argent Dawn now gives out quests related to the invasion, plus if you wear your Argent Dawn trinket, you will get scourgestone drops.
3. Oh, and hey – the plague ends today. Tigole has confirmed.

The Scourge invasion has really annoyed a lot of people, to the point that they are quitting or thinking of quitting. There are times when I wonder what they are thinking at Blizzard. As an example, you would have to be living in a cave not to realize that there is a very large chunk of the population that consists of a bunch of immature jerks that enjoy making other peoples’ lives miserable above all things.

And Blizzard gave them the tool to do this with great effect.

The only way Blizzard can repair this faux pas in my mind is to reveal later down the road that the more times you got zombiefied, the less effective you are against Scourge for some predetermined amount of time. Oh, that would steam the griefers, but it would without a doubt redeem Blizzard in my eyes.

Meanwhile, the event moves on. Amus sent me this striking photo of a Necropolis outside of Ironforge, and he also saw the same outside of Stormwind. Things are moving.

With the expansion 18 days away, I hope they get the event done with so they can go about stabilizing things before they have to deal with that impending disaster.

Yes, I am a dreamer.

Here is the covenant between zombie lovers and keepers of order.

We understand that for whatever reason, you have the compulsion to aid the enemy. Fortunately this is Azeroth and not America, so you won’t be sent to Gitmo as a result. We don’t really care what your motivations might be (though most assessments are less than charitable).

You must understand that there are those among us that will remain true to our chosen affiliation, and part of that is the maintenance of order around our auction houses, banks, and so forth. As followers of the light, it is entirely correct and consistent for priests and other healer-types to try to protect what is ours.

It is a game, a completion between two different mindsets. As long as you accept it for that, I have no problem with what you are doing, and I’ll be fighting the good fight and putting down zombies wherever I see them. It’s consistent in my idiom, the same as inconveniencing your own faction is consistent in yours.

However, if you insist on harassing and insulting people that thwart your plans, the line has been crossed. Here on out, you will be reported. Blizzard created this problem¹ , they can damned well deal with it.

Play nice, and I will, too. That’s the deal.

Message ends.

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1. What were they thinking? They must be pretty out of touch not to realize this would happen. [↩]

As the MC Frontalot song goes, anyway. Had me a charming encounter today with a charming night elf named Melerra¹ .

I was in Rachet getting Halloween candy – candy! – when these zombies pop up and attack the honest, hard-working shopkeepers. Being ever the helpful sort (especially since I hate zombies – I mean, with parts falling off and all? Disgusting), I set out to put them down.

I didn’t expect a parade, but what I got instead was this² . Oddly, that “lol” seems to have frozen him/her up. Who knew? I recommend it.

So to quote the Front:

If you’re dissing on my homos
then this censure’s what you’re risking
(I’m insisting on containing my temper but listen up):
you shouldn’t ought to be intolerant about who queers like to fuck!

Anyway, I’ll try not to get fag germs on y’all.

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1. Ooo, nice PvP gear there (wow, what a big surprise!). You might also wanna gem your gloves, sparky. [↩]
2. Note: some editing done to remove lines containing unrelated text [↩]