Explosive Shot added to my blogroll

As Arde just requested, I have added a link to his blog, Explosive Shot. The blog is apparently brand new; he only just made it from what he said, so please go and give him some encouragement.

Bikutanda added to my blogroll

Just found a link to me on Technorati from "Liming" in WoW, the blog of Bikutanda of Nazgrel, so I thought I'd share the love. ;-)

He seems to have quite a lot of stuff on how to level a Hunter and such; lots of guides. Go look, and give him traffic. ;)

Added Gaming Diva to my blogroll

Another blog which I should have added some time ago now, as I have been aware of its' existence for a while:- Gaming Diva.

Also, I am in agreement with a statement in her latest post, that Orcish women can indeed be very beautiful. My first character in this game was a male Forsaken Mage.

After a while I became a leader of a levelling guild, which before a coup and disintegration, had close to 100 people at one point. Because of this, I felt perhaps it would be good to have a character who was more physically striking; and on visiting Orgrimmar on a few occasions with my Mage and witnessing some of the female guards walking around, my reaction was the same as that had by Jim Gordon in Batman Begins, on seeing the Tumbler.

"I've gotta get me one of those." ;-)

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.

Two new additions to my blogroll

Just got two new sites for the blogroll.

Maevet's blog, and Mania's Arcania.

You probably know about both of these by now. Maevet is a BM Hunter who's been reading (and commenting!) me, Rilgon, and Pike for a while now. Mania's Arcania is a big pet site apparently written by one of the same people who writes for Petopia, which is another really useful site.

The Leavitt Family added to my blogroll

Hey everyone,
I admit that I've got a non-WoW related addition to the blogroll this time, but it's one that made me smile.

I discovered through my incoming links from Feedburner that the Leavitt Family are linking to me, and on going to have a look, discovered a number of photos of their children from Halloween, a visit to a petting zoo, the Pumpkin Patch, and even a trip to Disneyland.

It's been a long time since I've known what it is like to be part of a nuclear family; nearly ten years, and even what I had back then was generally traumatic. As time moves forward, and I grow older, parenthood (and possibly even another relationship) also becomes an increasingly unlikely proposition. So I can see this blog at times being a very welcome ray of light.

It is, truthfully, extremely comforting to know that, despite appearances being generally to the contrary, the nuclear family still exists, and that at least hopefully, for some of us, it is a positive and gratifying experience.

/hug added to my blogroll

Many of you possibly already know about this one, but when looking at Kestrel's Aerie, I came across /hug, an interesting blog put together by Aurik of Bloodhoof-EU. The two linked screenshots which he pulled out of his archive were good examples of in-game scenic photography in WoW; he seems to know a fair few other people in the game's community as well.

If you haven't already been to his site, I recommend checking it out.

Big Red Rhino added to my blogroll.

Just added the Big Red Rhino to my blogroll.

His blog is one of the more interesting ones that I've seen for a while; he offers guidance and extensive analysis in the area of pet tanking, with the Tenacity pet talent tree. From what he writes, Tenacity pets are substantially more capable than we may have initially anticipated. Apparently a Tenacity pet recently main tanked Gruul.

Since, as I have already written, Tenacity is likely to be my own primary tree of interest where the new pet talent system is concerned, I will likely be keeping a close eye on his site. It is recommended.

Added Awlbiste's Thicket to my blogroll

I just realised a terrible oversight; Awlbiste's Thicket wasn't present on my blogroll. It now is. :)

Also, something else to mention, apparently Sisutar is back, and playing WoW. Her blog is still linked on my blogroll; please go and welcome her back, if you haven't already.

One good link deserves another

I just discovered I had a blogroll link from Boozsha, although truthfully I have already visited his blog before, as well. So I've given him a link in my own blogroll, as well.

Boozsha is a fellow Hunter who often writes thoughtful postings about his activities in WoW, from what I have seen. He has expressed a fair degree of humility regarding his level of ability within the game as well, which is always welcome, and will give you a positive change from my own usual narcissistic bluster. ;-)

So if you're not already reading his blog as well, go and check it out.

WTF, are you Survival?

I just discovered Kordwar's blog. If any of the rest of you don't know about it, you can also find it at http://wtfareyousurvival.blogspot.com/. It seems he only started last month, so I figured he could maybe use a little exposure. :)

If you haven't yet, though, go and check it out. :)

Rilgon's back

Just read Rilgon's last few posts. It seems he's back in the game, which is great. Welcome back, Rilgon. :)

New Raiding Hunter Blog

Just had a link on Technorati from Rick's Place, so I figured I'd give him a shoutout here in order to return the favour. Doesn't seem to be a whole lot there yet; apparently he's only just started.

Still, thought you might want to go and make him feel welcome.

Zeherah's Survival Guide

Just found a link to a guide Zeherah has put together for Survival.

It seems to be more oriented towards end-game raid DPS rather than levelling with Surv, particularly since it contains a recommendation not to begin using Survival until you have 600 base Agility.

Zeherah is one of a very small group of raiders on the Blizzard forum who are polite, humble, and generally civil. Although I'm of course not a raider, her gear choices (at least in the past, if not currently) have been an influence on my own. (the Necklace of the Deep and Belt of Deep Shadow in particular) As such, her writing is recommended.

My new hero

Have a look at the Armory profile of Mynithrosil.

He made a thread on the forum, which predictably got buried by the, "DPS is the only thing that matters," crowd.

All political correctness aside, however, (although his spec isn't quite what I'd do myself, and I'd probably also go for another hundred or so Ag) as far as I'm concerned, this guy represents what Survival is really about. Read the OP, and if you can, wade through the other garbage in the thread for his followup comments. It's great stuff.

You're awesome, Myn. Don't let those who can't see it get you down.

Great Green Hunter added to my blogroll

Truthfully I've actually been meaning to do this for a while; I first learned about GGH through Technorati, and having been looking in on her blog periodically.

Her link is there now though, so those of you who haven't seen her blog yourselves can check it out. She writes well; her preview article on Warhammer in particular is interesting.

New Blog:- The Temple of Survivalism

http://bansplace.blogspot.com/

I admit; I don't normally like it when Hunters engage in hero worship on the forum. However, in this particular instance I'm going to unashamedly engage in it myself.

Trackhoof has referred to me, in his description of my blog on his, as a master Survivalist. While I was flattered by that, in truth it is definitely not the case. The person whose blog I am linking here, however, can truthfully and without hyperbole be referred to as such.

I linked to Bandet's PvP videos in an earlier post here; they are simply amazing. The Hunter class is one of the least-represented in the Arena currently, and Survival the least of that. Becoming truly effective with Survival in the Arena, therefore, is something that very few among us have managed to do.

I know that for some time, people have looked for a Survival-based equivalent to BRK's blog; and it has been my privelege to at least attempt to serve in that capacity. However, in addition to my own continued writing, you will now be able to draw on the guidance of a Survival Hunter infinitely more skilled than I.

Bandet's specialty, as far as I know, is PvP, so for other aspects of the game, the writings of others can still hold much relevance; however in the area of Survival PvP specifically, I know of none better.

Added Rilgon's blog to my blogroll

Hey guys,
Just added Rilgon's blog, Stabilized Effort Scope, to my blogroll. He's apparently a dedicated Marks Hunter from what he's told me, which is interesting.

I haven't run pure Marks myself for a while now, but I was using 0/31/30 for a period of time before I broke 600 ag; TSA gives more AP up until that point, and truthfully with RWS I'd probably still be doing more damage with a heavier Marks build even now.

I did, however use a more or less straight Marks build for a while in HFP, at probably around level 62 or thereabouts. It doesn't have anywhere near the melee viability of Survival, of course, but at the time anyway my ranged damage was considerably higher with it, also...so it balanced out. It's a very solid farming tree, but I did find mana efficiency to be a minor issue, and given that that has also been reported by people in raid scenarios, I'd be interested to hear how Rilgon manages to cope with the mana problem.

Probably the single main thing I enjoyed about Marks was that, given that it is a lot more Hunter centric than BM, I could focus on personal damage output, and still have the pet primarily for defense.

Marks could do with some attention from Blizzard, IMHO. Efficiency could use bumping up to around 30%. TSA also needs to scale, a la EW; scaling with Int would make the most sense, since CA already does. I'd also tweak Barrage and friends so that they buff Arcane as well as Multi; since currently if CC is around, due to no Multi, a Marks Hunter has to go without a fair portion of their damage output.

CA, RWS, Master Marks, and TSA are all still as sexy as they've always been, though; if Blizz made the above changes and also put Resourcefulness higher up in the Surv tree than it is currently, I'd definitely consider going a bit deeper into Marks than I traditionally do currently.

Added Sisutar to my blogroll

I'm not sure how I missed this, since I've been reading it for a few days now, but I've also just added Sisutar's Hunter Tales to my blogroll. :)

Scholo farming is also still going well for me; This beautiful piece of armor with a few agility gems is next on the gear list. My goal is to become truly, horrifically OP. ;-)

New Blogroll Link: Mama Druid

Was just having a look at Mama Druid, a blog whose author commented on my post about moving to Wordpress. Her blog is interesting; she's apparently been playing WoW for a long time, so I'm guessing she knows a lot about the ins and outs of the game.

Anywayz, some of you might be interested. :)