A Player and No Longer a Fan

What a difference a month makes.

I've been playing World of Warcraft for over eleven years.  I have been subscribed the entire time and never really stopped playing.  I like many features of the game.  I like many mechanics of the game. I like various changes they've made. (Though, I usually don't like it when they take something away.) Over the years, my main has cleared the hard if not hardest raids before they were an easier instance.

I played some Hearthstone, Starcraft, and Diablo and have tried Heroes. A few months ago, I would have called myself a fan of Blizzard. I was also trying to get tickets and fly across the country to Blizzcon.

I'm now thinking I'm glad I didn't get tickets.  It still would be neat and an experience to go. But I'm less interested and that would creep in. I'd feel like an observer instead of someone participating. I will still play, but my interest is fading.  I don't think I can call myself a fan. I'm just a player now.

Sure it's normal that the interest fades when the content is old and done.  And there are many contributing factors.  Garrisons are great and terrible.  6.1 is what 6.0 should have been. The raids are old. The zones are empty because everyone is in their garrison. But all that is a bit beside the point. It's something else.

It feels like there is a lack of respect to the players.  The idea that all that raid farming and hard won achievements yield mounts that flop around on the ground is ... garbage. Our flying mount rewards have turned to garbage.

I think Ion's justifications around not allowing flying are flawed. But the wow fan blowback on this is strong.

If you're curious about this, look into:

• http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17908690989 (Over 17,000 sometimes heart-felt comments about flying future in many capped threads)
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/BringBackFlying
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/LetUsFly
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoFlyNoSub

The HPP Live Show In-Game Event (Pics too)

I leveled my Kheldul <WHU> hunter from level 12 to 20 and got riding just before the show, but it turned out to be easy to get my main cross-realmed into the party.  Things started out pretty neat and orderly, but then dissolved into a drunken chaos.  This was fairly easy given the drinking party podcast rules (i.e.- IRL consumption) and in-game blur-to-the-max placements of pony kegs of several shapes and sizes (including the pet).  I didn't get enough of the wild party shots, but it was fun.  After about three hours of this (yes, really), we all hit the Gurubashi Arena and slaughtered each other.  Being cross-realmed, I had to stay with a half-dozen folks in the pit and it was great.  I did a dozen or so target a competitor and "death from above" plummet with a disengage right at the end to join the fray.  After an hour or so of that, we moved on to Booty Bay for more beverages.  The podcast was still in full swing but I had to bail to make some IRL dinner.  Below are a few pics of the first hour or so.

All lined up.

Over 130 in the live stream and at least 100 hunters at the party.

W H u

Similar transmog as above but a different person.

The last caption before things got a bit crazy.

Kheldul and I

[Stream of consciousness inc.]

Before Wow
The first character I made in a modern MMO was Kheldul.  I had played and programmed in pre-MMO MUDs.  But this was my first MMO.  It was Nov 2004.

You see, I ran a pretty popular MUD ("Multi User Dungeon") with 300+ players back in the early 90s.  It was coded in C and was pretty amazing.  It was a glorified text adventure system with global world-movement, tactical movement, object manipulation, and classes and spells.  My good friend even strapped in a Spell Description Language that players would code in.  (It was an extension language based on Scheme.)  It's also important to know that most players could freely create objects, rooms, containers, etc. within the world for a world currency.  A lot of different people were running MUDs back then and I got an API to bridge people between MUDs where they used the same client.  Anyway... it's a long story.   It was a lot of code written on the fly.  It was a lot of fun in the pre-dawn Internet era before HTTP.  I also had a history of playing D&D.  And I hung out on Steve Jackson's BBS in the pre-ethernet age.  I had heard a lot about other MMOs.  So suffice it to say, I was eager to take in this MMO experience.

I think I was hooked before I played.

Kheldul
Throughout my computer gaming and pen and paper gaming life I've most often gravitated toward a ranger archetype.  The thought of being able to use rifles in the game and have a large pet really hooked me on the hunter and specifically a Dwarf Hunter.   The most recent character I had played in D&D had been Grantil Obergraff, a Dwarf Fighter/Cleric who was part of an Ursine Cavalry.  Kheldul was not only the first character I played; Kheldul was the first wow character I created.

Except for vacations and normal life, I haven't stopped playing and I haven't stopped playing Kheldul.  This means semi-daily play and raiding three nights a week.  A year or so I typed, "/played" and it was scary.  I haven't done it since.  It's also worth noting that I don't stand in town or do auction sales on Kheldul.  /played is scary and I can't easily dismiss it.  It does make me think.

In addition to time played, I've spent countless hours on guild forums, community posts, blogging, and now twitter.  This is my 560th blog post here.  It's almost all about Hunters.  I've started to do most of my trivial posts to twitter.  Kheldul and I have crazy amount of time invested in a thing that does not have a physical form.

Alts Never Mains
In the early years when I rolled Kheldul, I had other characters.  But most didn't get past level 20.  In early Cataclysm I started a few more again.  This time I happened to pick "Khel" as a prefix to their names.  I have Khelark, a pretty good i508 Resto Shaman and part-time Auctioneer.  I'm quite comfortable healing with her, but I don't like Elemental DPS and can't see building up a full Enhancement set again.  I farmed and farmed a nice Scarlet Crusader set for her before MoP retired that gear.  I have Khelarghast, a new i490 mage who I leveled from 20ish to 90 in what felt like record speed.  I could be good with Khelarghast if I bothered to apply myself, learn the ins and outs and fix up my UI a bit better for him.  I have Khelune, a level 86 (but ilevel 415) Guardian/Feral Druid.  I have a Worgen Prot Warrior who is level 85.  I have really nice transmog sets for all of them.  The one exception being my 85 Blood DK, Khelduwath.   I am tired of him completely and haven't even bothered to spec him since MoP began.  Kheldul, i539 is my main.

Beloved Pets
Kheldul is a pretty bad-ass dwarf hunter, but he's really a softie - most especially with his pets.  Over the years, he's had many favorites.  Before the modern stable changes, he had to let three of them go back to the wild at different times.  His first loved pet was Mokral, a temperamental brown bear.  His second was an ornery boar named Bacon.  Third was a the briefly loved Chipotle the red scorpid.  Fourth was his silverback great ape with green eyes, Jason.  Then came his albino T-Rex, named Chuckles. Lately he's been using many different pets based on the need, but this year when running as BM, he will default to his spirit beast porcupine pet, FITE, who comes in three different colors depending on the mood.

Be a Groover
I love the current hunter game-play.  On farm fights, I often have Kheldul hop and move unnecessarily while DPS'ng.  This isn't to say that I don't always give it my full effort.  I'm usually on the top of the damage chart, and normally have the highest "active time". I move and hop because it is so enjoyable.  I do spinning jump shots for no practical reason except that they feel awesome.

Better to Look Good Than Feel Good
Kheldul enjoys the transmog scene and often changes things up.  He's had green suits, blue suits, black suits, and red suits.  He's had gear sets for pet-tanking that look like shining white plate armor, one that looks like a two legged turtle, and lately one that looks like a red samurai.  He even has a full set of red shaman gear from the Dark Moon Fair vendor.  Each set has a matching tabard and gun.

And finally, what more do you need to know about Kheldul, other than he still has every nice looking gun he's ever owned. (With one exception, and with some re-acquired after the fact).  He keeps them safely secured in his gun locker within his bank vault.

Kheldul on The Full Hunting Party Podcast #177

It was quite fun to geek out.  I'm the big eye-ball guy. ;-)

Hunting Jin'rokh - Tips and Recommendations for Melee Hunters

Jin'rokh is the first boss in the Throne of Thunder raid instance.  He has four very nice drops for hunters.  I have received four of the same drop from him and haven't seen the other three.  This is over the course of many many raids.  Possibly because of this, I recommend you raid this as BM with the following talents:

Recommended talents for battling Jin'rokh.

You may choose to use Lynx Rush instead of aMoCs. Any level 30 talent may be taken because none have any applicability.  Fervor is a reasonable choice if you want to gain focus for more Kill Commands, but Dire Beast is a nice attack.  Thrill of the Hunt is always wasted on melee hunters.

As far as weapon selection, I recommend you further shame Jin'rokh by not using a very good melee weapon.  In this regard there are a few options.  First, you could wield a profession oriented item or something more exotic.  This might not pack enough oomph and the line or brew may not be suitably strong enough to land the boss.  I have vendored all my polearms, so my personal choice is to dual-wield two pumpkin swords. Thank goodness we can still dual-wield melee weapons!

Make sure to out-dps the rogue and demand to roll on the obvious upgrade to celebrate in a purple euphoric haze.

If you happen to be a ranged hunter then you can use whatever specialization, talents, and glyphs you want and you'll do fine.  You could also decide to equip a ranged weapon and attack outside of melee, but use your discretion.

Photos in a Theme

Kheldul in his orange mail set with new pets.

Kheldul in his shaman dungeon two costume with his new pet, "FITE".   Oh and thank you GC and Taeliana for making it possible.

Reminiscing through photos of the not so long past. 

Ghost Kheldul.

An Improved Aspect

This is just for fun.  Sorry no cleave aspect dreamcrafting.  Relax and enjoy.

Happy Red White and Blue Day

Costumes

My Pet-Tanking Gear.  Somewhat modeled after a green turtle.

My New Pet-Tanking Gear.  Modeled after looking like a tank.

Every-day-ware.

Need MOAR Hunter Music

Support Frostheim in getting us some more hunter music videos!

If you love these, and want to contribute to the cause, give a little love.  I did!

Dressed for Success

A couple weeks ago Kheldul came across the Stylin' Adventure Hat.  The concept was good.  A hunting hat.  It's mail.  Transmogrifyable.  He thought it was neat and was taken by the abstract notion until he looked in a mirror and saw a dwarf pimp.  Not a good impression.

The big game hunter hat with wide sun-protection brim.

Then Kheldul came across a very interesting rare spawn and got a very interesting drop.  Very interesting.  So interesting that he decided to transmog his wolfsniper rifle into a steam-punkish zapper and clean up his comb-over.  He now was considering going all steampunk.

A snug fit. Very monogoggle.

Kheldul is not an engineer.  The solution to the monogoggle issue was not at hand.  All mail goggles are made by engineers and only wearable by engineers.  The simple solution would be to drop mining and level engineering.  But that would be too simple.

Kheldul did some research.  He found that the 25man Ulduar Flame Leviathan boss has an interesting and unique drop.  He drops the only mail goggle/glasses in the game that are wearable by non-engineers.  So that's where he was last night.  They appear to fit quite well.  For now.

Kheldul cares about proper eye protection.

Blazing Saddles

Porting Around Azeroth Without A Mage

Before the beginning of Cataclysm, I knew there would be a lot of moving around across the globe. I didn't realize portals would be in Stormwind (or the Horde's Orgrimmar) such that people would just move in there.  Because I was dumb, and not a mage, I started acquiring a few items. I've added a few but they all seem to come in handy for various activities. Here's my list.

[Direbrew's Remote] - Need a quick pitstop? Need to smelt some dark iron?  Want an ugly hearth between Ironforge and Stormwind?  It's better than a boat or zeppelin. Just don't be a jerk and use it a BG and ask people to click it for a present.

[Baradin's Wardens Tabard] - This is a wonderful secondary hearth.  Land in the quest hub and click on the portal to Stormwind.  Or you could actually do your dailies if you're going for a mount or pet.

[Wrap of Unity] - Another wonderful secondary hearth that level 15 Cataclysm guilds can provide. There are Horde and greater / lesser versions.

[Band of the Kirin Tor] - How often do you need to get to Northrend?  Or Dalaran?  No?  What about going to Dalaran and taking the portal to the Keepers of Time and Dragon Soul instance?  This thing used to be considered expensive.  Now a few thousand gold is pocket change.  There are other styles and upgrades, but there's really no point to them other than the hearth.

[Blessed Medallion of Karabor] - Need to get to Outlands and not near a portal to The Portal?  This will get you there nicely.  And if you're doing dailies for your drake mounts you'll crave this item.

[Argent Crusader's Tabard] - Would you like another Northrend port?  How about to that dailies hub that has all those mounts and pets?  For DPS waiting in a queue, this is a nice immediate activity.

[Hearthstone] - The list wouldn't be complete without this handy item, right?  Level eight guilds augment it with[Hasty Hearth]. A long time ago, I accidentally dropped mine.  I was quite relieved to learn I just needed to talk with an innkeeper for a new one.

[Stormpike Insignia Rank 6] - If you're a BG'er, this can have its uses; This is especially true if you're going for achievements.

And there's simply hoofing it.  But hunters should do it in style: [Master Riding], [Mount Up] and a [Blue Dragonhawk] (ss).

If I was an engineer, I'd have a generator or two, but alas I'm stuck in my ways and not going engineering.  I'm also not interested in expensive consumable hearths to Deepholm since I'm not an alchemist.

And if you're in a group, you should show that you're extremely fast and a gentleman to the lesser classes by tossing a [Have Group, Will Travel] summon.

A Hunter Legendary Questline

Hunters know that we haven't had access to a legendary in years.  The other classes have all had their shot.

Legendaries used to be a horror of a chore and/or farming bosses for literally a year for either the actual legendary as a drop, or a single ingredient for the legendary.  That incredible rareness was not fun in the least.  Recently, we had the healing mace, Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings which required lots of drop acquisition.  It was somewhat reasonable since the drops did drop.  It wasn't particularly fun.

Shadowmourne acquisition was the start of legendary questlines that weren't as much of a grind in-that they had a bit of a story and quests and special stuff you needed to do to get it.  You also had to be a bit of a pro.  It of course was available for the plate dps.  The quests activities for it were kinda neat.

Dragonwrath, Taregosa's Rest was a great and still great for dps casters.  It rocks the socks off anyone that doesn't have it.  Because of 25mans, the ease of FL, and it not being locked to a class, there are some guilds with most caster dps with them.  Forgotten Hunter woes aside, this was a rather excellent legendary because it had very special quests, special group activities and solo'ng challenges.  In addition to the staff having bad-ass stats, it has bad-ass procs, and it can be a special mount.

Tiriosh, Nightmare of Ages and Golad, Twilight of Aspects supposedly have amazing quests and bad-ass solo'ng.  Like the previous legendaries, you do have to gather things from the dead bosses over weeks.  But the quests sound completely excellent.

So I can only yearn for the old days of when I had to solo the demons for the Rhok.  It was tough.  Of course hunters can't even access those quests any more.  It's no longer in the game.  It wasn't a legendary.  It was replaced pretty quickly.  It was a hunter quest series.  It did have other drawbacks of the demons being rare spawns on long timers.  It allowed anyone to spoil the kill.  And then the kill itself wasn't cake.

We have pet-taming challenges.  That's great.  My stable is full.

We could use some class-specific quests that challenge our skills and gear to the limit.  What skills would we need to stretch?  Kiting.  Pet-tanking.  DPS burning.  Trapping.  I don't need legendary stats.  I'd love for hunters to have legendary looking gear that makes it clear that the hunter is a bad-ass.

Transmogrification Gear

I think I will transmogrify my stylish Firelands and Conquest PvP gear.  But I'm having some second thoughts.  This is the plan.  I'm feeling tentative...

My current PvE Firelands gear (heroic and non).

My rustic look for transmog PvE.

My "I am a bozo Pet Tanker" transmog set.

My current PvP gear (Ruthless and Vicious).

My black shaded transmog PvP gear.

Loot Reaver Loot Fail

I'm looking for the Merciless Gladiator's Chain Spaulders for one of my transmorgrify sets. Every hunter should solo Loot Reaver once. The nice thing is that it's easy. ;-)  Click any image for a slide show.

Very simple fight.  I was already in T5x2
so I didn't even need to use mend pet or pull him out for stomps.

The mortars he throws are of course "old school"
and don't have those ground target sign effects.
But with the MM self-heal you don't really
even need to move around unless you want to dance a little.

The trash is more difficult than the boss. 

This raid is configured for 25man only, so you get
three T5 tier tokens. Of course no hunter tokens.
So, I guess I'll come back next week.
As a consolation gift you get 250g cash too.

Looking Good vs Feeling Good

I already wrote about my shoulders and how I hate the T11 and opted for the PvP ones.

Well here's the visual of what I raid with, PvP with, and what I think I may transmorg to.

Raiding color assault.

PvP gears not especially stealthy.

A nice authentic Dwarvish look.

Kheldul's Silly Gear State and a Night's Raiding Progress

This post is just about Kheldul's gear. Feel to ignore.

I've been really jones'n to get rid of my extremely ugly, goiterish merlock scavanged shoulders resembling a bubonic plague attack.   I had missed a few pre-nerf Thursday raids where we usually took down Domo.  So anyway, as a backup-plan to not getting any love from Beth'tilac or a fifth T12 token I started dumping Valor into Conquest.  After yesterday's raid I went and got my backup PvP item.  The phrase, "It's better to look good than to feel good" may apply until 4.3 drops.  Of course the agility is nothing to sneeze at.

Oh and in the raid, I got our first heroic upgrade, so my plans on getting the 378 gun are history.

We had putz'd around and killed the spider boss, Bael, and Aly.  We had Heroic Shannox in mind but were hoping our normal raid leader would show up.  But we were standing in Baelroc's cleared room and I suggested it might be a nice place to fight Shannox.  It so happens that it's the place Shannox spawns (right in the middle).  And it was a very nice place to fight him.  There was no clutter, a lot of symmetry, and ranges were easy to understand.  We got Heroic Shannox on the second try.  On the first try our Riplimb tank was using immobilization traps all over (and sometimes way out of range) and not leaving any for Rageface.  That wasn't too bad.  The mage and I kited Rageface to drop stacks, but then there was a rageface on our Riplimb tank who was at extreme range.  But the second shot was pretty simple.

Which Transmorgrification Will You Use?

I'm fairly stupidly excited over the transmorgrification news.  I was just looking over some of the gear I have kept and was considering throwing out stuff.  Now I'm wondering what I did throw out over the years and will miss.  What I know I do have is a very full gun rack.  Now I can pick things just based on their model.  But which?  My gun rack has increased a bit since two years ago.

Woodchucker

Crazy.  It seems like a April Fools day item, but that was a while ago...  It seem that I'll need to listen to the Hunting Party Podcast before I figure out what it is.