Another milestone

In other Ahn'kahet guild run last night, I managed to hit 3000 AP with Expose Weakness when both group and self buffed. I am not entirely sure whether or not that is still lagging behind most people, but it felt good for me. ;-)

This is the spec which I am currently planning to initially test with instancing/raiding at 80. An offline friend wants me to go straight Marksmanship, although for me that would probably translate to something like this. With lesser gear at least, I'm aware the latter spec would probably do a lot more for me, but really being able to see what a combo TSA/EW spec could also do is something I've been wanting to do for a while. I'm also aware that deep Marks is probably going to give me better mana efficiency than a hybrid, even with 3/3 ToTH, so we will have to see.

Also, Rilgon; as far as the Cobalt Slicer argument is concerned, while I may not be aware of the particulars of the argument, my own experience would lead me to suspect that from his own perspective at least, BRK is right.

The modification to the Agility/AP ratio in TBC (1 Ag = 1 AP, rather than the old rule of 1 Ag = 2 AP, as well as the fact that in itemisation terms, it often ended up being closer to 1 Ag = 2-2.5 AP) introduced a tradeoff effect between Agility and pure AP. With the PvP gear in particular, this was even more the case; the S3 Axe has no base Agility at all. Hence, if you tried to itemise primarily for Agility, you would end up with extremely low AP, comparitively speaking.

It may also not be true in WoTLK, but in TBC anyway, Blizzard overwhelmingly itemised for Beast Mastery (pure AP) rather than the other two trees, (just as they tended to balance us around BM in PvP as well) especially in terms of the PvP gear, as mentioned. It remains to be seen whether or not Blizzard's focus on Hunters will continue to be primarily BM-centric in WoTLK, but the amount of base Agility which I'm already starting to see on new gear gives me cause for optimism.

As I've said before, the TBC Beast Mastery monoculture has not been in anyone's best interests, and it is my earnest hope that as we move into WoTLK, it will start to gradually dissipate. It certainly doesn't serve users of the other two trees, and it doesn't even really benefit the minority of genuine, skilled natives of Beast Mastery either, such as Pike or BRK, because the tree's social reputation is tarnished when it is used by flavour of the month types, or as a crutch by novice players.

To illustrate the above mentioned tradeoff, though, I had 800 base Ag pre-Kara, but was struggling to maintain 1500 base AP, and the tradeoff was never really resolved before T6 gear, which, admittedly, I myself never got. (Although I was still able to observe that by looking at various numbers) Nearly everyone I saw with 2k+ AP during TBC (pre-T6, anywayz) had south of 700 base Ag, including Surv.

To some extent this tradeoff has been alleviated for Survival in WoTLK with the addition of Hunter VS Wild, but because Beast Mastery has nothing like this, the tradeoff is still going to apply until they start to get gear where the numbers of Agility and AP become close to equal, which, if the historical pattern holds true, will not happen until the very end of this expansion.

Thus, although they are still going to need a minimum of 7-800 base Ag (primarily for crit actually, more than anything else; but also to give them a decent base for scaling with raid buffs) I am estimating that before T8-T9 gear at least, once they get past that minimum Agility requirement, pure AP will be much more important for Beast Mastery.

Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom

In a new guild, (which, it turns out, is actually the old guild in terms of people; I transferred off Thaurissan last week to Saurfang, a Normal server) and just went to this instance for the first time.

Nothing good dropped, but it was still fun; did several bosses etc. Here's a shot of me and the other four people from the group at the end of the run.



You know, people on the forum keep telling me that Survival can't generate decent damage. We're lucky to have the forum, where we can learn such things...because if they hadn't told me that, I wouldn't have known. ;-)

It's been nearly a week again

I apologise, but unfortunately I really don't have all that much to say right now. I'm still levelling, probably far more slowly than I should be, although I'm up to the Wrathgate sequence, now; just got to finish up a group of quests I'm doing with some goblins.

I tried to do Azjol-Nerub two days ago, which should have warranted a blog posting, except I guess it really wasn't all that interesting. I had a lot of difficulty getting a group, and then we wiped repeatedly on only the first few pulls, which was embarassing. The place seems harder than just about anything else I've ever done before, though.

Has anyone else here found Azjol difficult?

Pike shows more and more that we are of like mind

Pike has a post up at the moment about how she hasn't dinged 72 yet, so in being slow myself, I feel as though I'm in considerably better company now, I will admit.

It is interesting, that although she is a native of Beast Mastery, the more I read about Pike's own playstyle in the game, the more I realise that she and I actually have in common.

I could, at this point, digress into a long, deeply geriatric rant about the virtues of conservatism, patience, delayed gratification, and being a kindred spirit of Treebeard ("Now, now, don't be hasty, young master Mariadoc!") more or less in general, but I already did that probably only two posts ago. ;-)

I therefore will not belabour the point, other than to link to two pages, one about Echidna, an animal totem who I feel that I (and perhaps Pike) resonate rather strongly with, and which I feel is relevant here, and another which I feel is even more relevant; Snail.

I will also quote the last line from Aesop's fable, the Tortoise and the Hare.

"Do not brag about your lightning pace, for slow and steady won the race!"

New blog added to my blogroll

I just discovered the blog of Thracyyus, a brother Survivalist who is also levelling through Northrend currently. He's apparently just hit 74, so he's moving at a somewhat faster clip than myself.

He has apparently only started on the seventh of this month, so I would humbly request that some of you possibly go and give him some encouragement.

I've hit 100 subscribers

Another subscriber milestone has been reached. I first hit the 100 subscriber mark last Monday, but according to Feedburner, just hit it again on Friday as well.

I thank Mania of Mania's Arcania in particular; her link to my levelling guide has been a huge boost to my readership, sometimes accounting for close to 50% of my traffic. With her help, I have gone close, once before, to having 100 subs and 100 visitors in a single day. Although I do not really like champagne, and also cannot drink alcohol any more for the sake of my health either, I think when I actually do pass that mark, some type of champagne equivalent will be in order. I don't mind non-alcoholic fizzy dark grape juice...so maybe some of that.

I thank the rest of you as well, for your continued visits to the humble Lair. ;-)

Ding 73

I'm one bubble into level 73 now, almost exactly.

I'd probably be halfway to 74 by now, but I did a Molten Core run this morning as well because one came up in the LFG channel and I still want the Ancient Petrified Leaf. From what I've read about it, this quest chain qualifies as a genuine Rite of Initiation for a Hunter, and I still haven't done it yet.

So my levelling is progressing slowly but steadily. I will reach 80 in due time; probably in about another week at this rate, as I am trying to average one level per day.