Fangs

A different kind of Halloween treat.  I did run this specific instance a decent number of days.

PTR OUCH

Ugh.

Bestial Wrath no longer grants Hunter pets immunity to crowd control effects, and instead now breaks existing crowd control effects when activated.

If this actually goes through, this is a pretty ridiculously heavy nerf to PvP.  I can't burst at all with my beloved SV spec and MM is pitiful and useless.  So BM is the thing.  But my pet is my damage.  My pet can be CC'd and indefinitely chain-feared .  Except during the small window of time I can Bestial Wrath.  Well, no more. Now it's a trinket that I can use if I'm not CC'd.

This is a huge nerf.  Yes, there's bullheaded.  But really, it's like we're multi-boxing with all these counters for our pets instead of driving our damage through our pet.  BM has a ridiculous number of buttons to press compared to other classes.

Fuel, Farms, Fun, and the Bleak Future of Dungeons

I'm not exactly sure how Blizzard made cooking so fun.  I think it may be that they were completely okay with adding a crazy complex smorgasbord of stuff as long as the end products never unbalanced the game.  And it is crazy complex and lovely.  And I think we players have been have had some complexity removed from the game, so its refreshing to have something too difficult to explain in a couple sentences.

I think the best part of cooking is that it keys into the whole personal property thing with your own little personally improvable farm.  I really really do have to hope that this can lead to other property; Guild houses, player housing, etc.

I know housing would be the antithesis of getting players out into the world, but it would be a helluva fun.  The one thing I don't like about all these dailies is that they are essentially making a one-player game in a multi-player game.  Yes, they get people out in the field, but they don't get people working together.  So perhaps guild houses could have associated guild dailies.

I like running dungeons.  But running dungeons is not getting people out in the world.  It is slotting them into an instance.  Running dungeons feels like it may be coming to a close.  There are not enough incentives.  I personally want to get valor by completing heroics.  (And I could use a couple more i463 drops.)  But last night seems to be a foretelling.  We had no problems, no wipes, no issues.  But I went through three tanks in my LFD random just to kill the last two bosses in Scarlet Monastery and three tanks in the Brewery.  Their gear didn't drop or it did and they left.  Or they didn't want to possibly roll against someone else for gear so they demanded to be kicked even when we couldn't.  It was very tiring waiting around and knowing I don't have an insta-queue. I think after I'm done with gear there will be far far more efficient means of getting valor.  I suppose I'm also a little jealous about my inability to be a Primadona tank while playing my hunter.  (Though the way some of these guys tank I think my turtle would be fine if healers noticed pets.)

Gearing Up

I missed out on about a week of MoP so far because of travel, so I'm not exactly cutting edge.  Still I thought it might be good to have a rundown on what and how I've been gearing up.

Step 1: I bought the crafted gun (not terribly cheap) and a few cheap items off the AH.  I didn't dip into PvP gear right away.
Step 2: I visited one of the MoP Justice vendors and dropped as many Justice points as I could and filled the really bad holes first.
Step 3: I realized ZOMG Brewfest trinkets and did that until I had the appropriate one and another just for the possible need. You can do this at level 89.
Step 4: I kept queuing for instances and doing quests.  At some point my queuing started becoming heroic queuing.  My goal for quests is to clear out as many zones as possible.  Since there isn't much of a cap on dailies, I'm not particularly worried about falling behind there.  I managed to get about 7 hours in one day and got a lot of nice 463 upgrades.
Tip 1: I had just bought a new Justice item and got into an instance in 15mins.  We cleared it pretty quick and I got an upgrade over the Justice item I had just bought.  I was a little bummed because I had enchanted it.  But then I noticed that I still had an hour to return it to the vendor for a Justice point refund.  And it worked.  I'm sure the same thing can be done with PvP gear.
Step 5: I filled in a weak spot with a PvP boot upgrade, nudged up my iLevel with one final Justice purchase, and managed to finally get a heroic helm (with the meta gem slot).  This brought me to i459.
Step 6: Gem, enchant, and reforge everything.
Tip 2: You can equip junk you will not use in a LFR raid just to be eligible to queue.  I swapped out my i463 heroic agility trinket for an inappropriate i470 Brewfest trinket and was able to queue for the LFR instance.  I suspect that the overall item level of a character is rounded down.  In any case, as soon as I was in, I switched to the right trinket and it didn't boot me or anything.
Step 7: I ran the LFR bosses and scored a belt.  I'm not sure if the quality of LFR is good now but it didn't hurt that I was with a guild tank another good DPS and good healer.
Step 8: Fight the Sha worldboss with 39 other people.  Win nothing, but collect the quest item from the boss to get a nice pair of boots.
Step 9: Ran a whole bunch of quests and closed out two more zones and opened up the Golden Lotus Faction and the Gate.

Starting Golden Lotus Faction

 

Notes for myself from a blue post via MMOChampion.

 

We've seen some confusion about how to gain access to the Golden Lotus faction dailies in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. In case you've been having trouble getting where you need to be, below are some detailed steps to ensure you're on the correct path.

Spoiler Warning! This guide shares some details about the associated quest chain that takes you to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and the Golden Lotus. If you'd prefer to naturally find your way there during your adventures, the first couple of bullets should be sufficient for pointing you in the right direction.

Here is how you get into the Vale of Eternal Blossoms:

• At level 87, go speak to Anduin/Dezco at the Temple of the White Tiger in Kun-Lai Summit and complete “A Celestial Experience.”
• Accept the follow-up quest, “A Witness to History.”
• Find Anduin/Dezco at the big gate north of the Vale. This will start a cinematic that opens the gates.
• Turn in “A Witness to History” to Zhi the Harmonious at the Golden Pagoda in the center of Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
• Accept and complete the follow-up quest, “The Shrine of Two Moons,” and “The Shrine of Seven Stars” (Horde/Alliance respectively).
• If you're not level 90 you'll receive no further quests.
• At level 90 you should return and pick up the quest chain again. Note that you must have trained flying to proceed.

• Pick up “The Ruins of Guo-Lai” and complete it.
• This leads to “Out with the Scouts” and “Barring Entry.”
• This leads to “Killing the Quilen” and “Stones of Power.” While in the ruins, you should also get “The Guo-Lai Halls.” If you don't get this quest near the entrance to the crypt, you can return to Anji Autumnlight to get this quest.
• These 3 quests must be completed before you can complete “Leaving an Opening.”
• Turn in “Leaving an Opening” at the Golden Pagoda, and this should lead straight into the dailies.

If you have any questions or concerns, or if you're still experiencing issues accessing the Vale of Eternal Blossoms or the Golden Lotus daily quests, please let us know.