2009 November » The Brew Hall

New Ammo In Patch 3.3?

Nov 122009

I was going to do a post on some of the new hunter gear coming our way in patch 3.3. As I was doing my research I ran across what appears to be engineering recipes for new arrows and bullets. I couldn’t find anything on the finished products or the mats required to make them.

The recipes themselves are tied to the new Ashen Verdict reputation. What’s also interesting is that arrows require Gnomish engineering to make and the bullets require Goblin engineering to make.

It looks like engineers may have a new source of income. We’ll have to see how this plays out.

Calculated Risks

Hunters, Raiding No Responses »

Nov 112009

So there you are. You’re in a raid and a boss drops an item that’s an upgrade. While it’s a nice upgrade you know there might be better on the horizon. No only that but you’re competing with others for the same gear. So what do you do? Do you attempt to win the item, or do you pass and take a calculated risk that the upgrade you really want will drop? This is a common scenario that I, and three other hunters were faced with last night.

Our guild did it’s usual VoA and Onyxia 25 runs. It turned out that we had Wintergrasp at the start of our raid so we went there first. It also turned out that we were carrying four hunters, which is three t00 many if you ask me. All of us of course were on the hunt for upgrades.

We downed Koralon and the Windrunner’s Handguards of Triumph dropped. It was nice upgrade for all four hunters, but only three of the four hunters rolled (I was one of them). So why didn’t the other hunter roll? Was it to be nice and see someone else get some gear? No, he was passing on this loot hoping that Onyxia would drop the Rifled Blastershot Launcher, a very nice gun indeed. In fact I believe that it’s best in slot outside of Trial of the Grand Crusader. I can understand why he would want this. In fact I too was tempted to pass on the gloves and hold out for the gun.

Here’s the reasoning behind his decision. We like to spread the loot around, so whoever got the tier piece was not going to get another item from Onyxia. Also, one of the hunters already had Talonstrike which meant she wasn’t going to get the gun either. She also did not win the gloves. That meant a 50/50 chance of getting the gun if it dropped. Not bad odds at all.

Here was my reasoning for rolling on the item. I like to plan things out, and based on the content I’m running I have a list of items that I want to be part of the gear set I take into Icecrown Citadel. The gloves and the gun are on that list. All of the items work together to create a very nice set of gear. While there may be individual pieces that are weighted higher, it’s really the set as a whole that I’m after. I can’t control what will drop and when it will drop. So when I see a piece that’s on the list, I roll for it. Also, these gloves represent what is currently best in slot for my content. Not only that, but getting them saves me 45 badges and the need to get a trophy out of TotC 25. So for me, rolling on the gloves was a no-brainer.

In the end Onyxia did not drop the gun, or any other hunter loot for that matter (okay it’s all hunter loot, but nothing we could actually use). Oh and guess who won the gloves. Booya! See what I did there?

Windrunner's Handguards of Triumph - Booya!

Let’s Get Two!

Hunter Pets, Hunters, Pets No Responses »

Nov 072009

It’s a beautiful day for hunting spirit beasts…Let’s get two! So I decided to try my luck again and headed to Sholazar Basin this morning. As I was making my second loop of the basin lightning struck again and there was Loque’Nahak right by the Goretalon Matriarch.

If you’ve ever tried patrolling the basin then you know two laps doesn’t take very long. Once again, right place, right time. The approximate taming coordinates were (58,22) and I got him around 11:00 a.m. server time.

I’d say that Loque’Nahak is probably the second hardest spirit beast to find. Here’s why,

Sholazar is a great place to farm saronite and herbs.
Loque’Nahak has a lot of spawn locations and all of them are pretty much on the ore farming route.
Odds are that someone is going to run into him shortly after he spawns.

That’s two spirit beasts in under twenty four hours with about 1/2 hour of search time. Well time to switch back to my survival spec.

Good spirit beast hunting!

Well That Wasn’t So Bad

Hunter Pets, Hunters No Responses »

Nov 062009

I was bored today and decided I would see if I could find a spirit beast. After about 15 minutes of flying around Zul’Drak there it was. Other than the occasional heroic, quests and bank errands he probably won’t see the light of day, but it’s cool nonetheless.

Of all the spirit beasts I think Gondria is by far the easiest to get. Here’s why,

He has a very concentrated spawn area making it easy for you to cover all possible locations by flying around.
Other than quests (and spirit beast hunting) there is very little reason for players to be wandering around these parts. He’s in a low traffic area.
He’s easy to spot on the map, because he cons yellow and everything else cons red.

Like all spirit beasts you need to be in the right place at the right time. Oh and for all you coordinate trackers, I tamed him at 67,78 around 3:35 pm server time.

Good Spirit Beast Hunting!

Moar Ducks!

Guilds, Raiding 1 Response »

Nov 042009

Moar ducks is the reason why I love my old guild and it’s also the reason why I left it. On Saturday night I joined a group of folks from my old guild on an Onyxia (10) run.

We had to pug a one dps spot, but other than that it was filled with guildies and people that had all completed this instance previously. We did have one person who was off-tanking the encounter for the first time, another person healing the encounter for the first time. Both, however, had completed it on other toons and were familiar with the overall fight mechanics.

As we were grouping up and getting ready for the encounter the off-tank kept chatting away about Deadly Boss Mods and the “new” Onyxia encounter sounds she just discovered. For those who may not know there is an option to have DBM play sounds from the famous Onyxia wipe animation (if you click, remember it contains strong language).

After about the third wipe, she was still going on and on about the sounds and then asked why the person was asking for moar ducks and why he wasn’t seeing enough ducks.

Once we all stopped laughing I told her that it was more DOTS not ducks. I love this kind of stuff, even in the raiding situation. I don’t love it when it comes at the expense of completing a raid.

Although the incident provided some much needed levity to what was an otherwise trying experience, it was also troubling. The off-tank, who was struggling with her task, was not focused on figuring out what she was doing wrong and how to correct it. When helpful suggestions were offered she went into full defensive mode with claims of a laggy PC and retorts about the combat log being wrong.

Eventually the group got Onyxia down, but only after replacing the off-tank, a healer and a dps.

I contrast this with a run I did just the night before with my new guild (I brought my alt. hunter to the old guild’s run). We one-shot Onyxia, came within ten seconds of getting the More DOTS achievement and did get this one,

Earlier that evening we completed ToC (10). Things have gotten to the point where normal mode is easy enough that we tried and completed the achievements below,

Not only that but here is a snippet from guild chat on Saturday evening. This was from a tank who wanted to get some experience raid tanking.

In my new guild the raids are filled with folks who want to be raiding. We want to get in and out, and we have a good time doing it. My new guild’s vent conversations are every bit as pornographic as my old guild’s

I love the people in my old guild and I consider them to be my friends, but I’ve worked hard to progress my character and have content goals I’d like to achieve.

I would love to achieve them with my old guildmates, but that just isn’t possible. When it comes to raiding I have a fever and the prescription definitely isn’t…Moar Ducks!

Shock the Monkey, Stroke the Ego

Hunters, Raiding 2 Responses »

Nov 032009

Every now and then I like to remind myself that the Brew Hall is primarily a blog about hunters. Today’s post is from my beyond the button mashing series.

Now I don’t know about you but I especially like it when my fellow raid members compliment me on my dps. I like it even more when they compliment me on the other stuff too. One of those other things involves a situational spell and a giant monkey named Icehowl.

The other night I was in ToC (25) where someone had the misfortune of getting rammed by Icehowl. Luckily for our raid, I was ready for this and the King Kong wannabe only flashed red for an instant before he was returned to his more passive state. Normally we keep vent quiet, but this time silence was broken by the raid leader to say thanks and find out just who was this Johny-on-the-spot hunter that saved our bacon.

I guess my zeal to see how good our tanks are at generating threat, and my faith in our healers to heal me through Legion Flames as I stand there so as not to let Sniper Training drop-off probably eliminated me from consideration. But like they say even a blind squirrel can find a nut. So yeah, it was me

The key to this is raid awareness and planning. While I hope nobody will get hit by Icehowl, I play it as if they will.

What this means is once I’m stunned, I focus on DBM and wait to see who he’s targeting. Once I get a name I then move my camera around and try to locate that person. DBM is pretty good about placing a skull over their head.

Once I have this information in hand, I plan my route. I want to follow Icehowl to his location without getting in his way. As I run I have my finger poised on the Tranquilizing Shot button, so that I can fire it as soon as he enrages.

If you do this right, you’ll be in firing range as soon as he enrages, and with one press of the button everything will be back on track. No deaths and no extra healing.

It should be noted that accolades do not translate into any special loot privileges. It won’t net you a crusader’s trophy, nor will it prevent the raid leader from giving the feral druid the Lupine Longstaff even though you rolled higher.

Good Hunting!

P.S. – Yes I know icehowl is a yeti, but my raid group likes to refer to him as a monkey.

P.S.S. – Yes the Lupine Longstaff was given to our feral druid

Newer Entries

New Ammo In Patch 3.3?

Calculated Risks

Let’s Get Two!

Well That Wasn’t So Bad

Moar Ducks!

Shock the Monkey, Stroke the Ego

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