A couple of good Heroics

Went to both H: The Culling of Stratholme, and H: The Nexus last night. Got what I felt were some very good results, as well.



Just a hair over 2k DPS. Given that I'm still in a mix of blues and quest greens, I don't feel that that is too bad.

By the end of the Nexus run, I'd dropped down to 1.3-1.4k, but earlier peaked at around 1.7k, and per-fight damage was recorded by someone else as being just under 1k while kiting Keristrasza.

I got some nice drops, as well. The Dragon Slayer's Sabatons from Keri, and the Spaulders of the Careless Thief from Grand Magus Telestra, which was a tough fight.

My next goal is the Drake-Mounted Crossbow from Heroic Utgarde Keep, and I'm also currently wearing the Argent Crusade tabard in order to get a Polished Regimental Hauberk.

I do not recommend my current talent spec to other people, however. As well as being extremely dependent on buffs and consumables, its' mana efficiency is absolutely terrible; I chug pots like a madman. I am using it because a dual EW/TSA spec is something I've been wanting to try for a very long time; since pre-3.0, in fact.

Although the total amount of RAP I get from it is genuinely wonderful, the Steady Shot nerf post-patch will also sadly mean that it will be truly non-viable then as well, at which point I will be going back to 51 point Surv.

Ding 80...and mixed emotions.

So at around 5:50 AM today, Eastern Standard Time, I hit 80. I'd been pushing as hard as I could for it over the last couple of days; I want to hopefully do Naxxramas before it becomes badge run territory. Although I know I've been a lot slower than everyone else I know, it feels good to have finally made it.

And yet...

It took me nearly 18 months to reach 70, all told. Mirsh is still my only 70+ toon; my second highest is my old main, a Mage, who I only recently got to level 40. I still remember the day I hit 70, as well; I came close to finishing in Nagrand, before moving out and doing some very painful last quests in SMV. I loved questing while I was levelling for the most part, but those SMV quests were terrible.

On that day I can remember commenting in General that it felt like the game was over, and I didn't like that at all. I love playing this character; both in-game, here, and on the forums...she's an alterego for me, now. Someone else answered me in General back then though, assuring me that it never really ends; that there's raiding, and end game PvP, and lots of other stuff...it goes on.

I think I can honestly say that I'm mentally ready for the raid game now, as well. When someone in gchat a few minutes ago said congratulations, I answered him that the reason why I'd wanted to get to 80 is because World of Warcraft isn't a solitary experience for me any more; and I don't want it to be, now. I either group with people, in terms of Heroics, or soon, raids, or I find that I lose the motivation to stop playing.

Ippon used to say to me that I had snowflake syndrome, and that I wasn't willing to do what was necessary to conform at least to some degree, and fit in, in a social environment. At the time, he was right, and although that was painful, it was feedback that I needed to hear. Although I haven't stuck with it permanently, trusting my instincts that eventually Survival would be a good choice for raiding in WoTLK, the amount which I've tried to adapt to Beast Mastery in recent months tells me that I am now willing to adopt an appropriate level of mental flexibility. I will still be myself and retain my own identity, but I think I'm a lot more open now to listening to people when they tell me to try alternatives that might be good for me.

I wasn't ready during TBC. All through that expansion, I still wanted to go off on my own, and do the quests in Nagrand or Zangarmarsh, or simply some solitary air farming in SMV. As Illidan said, "You are not prepared!" I wasn't.

Now, however, I genuinely do want to take this game to the next level. This isn't unexplored territory for some people, or maybe even most...but it is for me. I'm looking forward to it.

Another couple of instances

My apologies for no updates for a while. Real life has been a little more active for me lately, so not as much time for WoW. However, ding 79, and I managed to do two instance runs earlier as well.



This image is from the second Gundrak run. 1.4k DPS, farming spec, and I haven't even started to gear up, yet. When I do, I'm coming for you, Patchwerk! ;-)

Upgrades

Finally got Hemet's Trophy Gun this morning, and have started on the earliest Icecrown quests. I also managed to snag a pair of Swiftarrow Leggings from the AH, which will possibly help move things along a little more quickly.

I've resolved that I'm not going to blow all my money on gear this time like I did in TBC; I really want an epic flyer this xpack, but still only have around 1k on my bank alt atm, even though I've got Cold Weather Flying now as well...so then again, maybe I'm not doing too badly.

Orcish hugs and kisses also to Sumdumbracist, and my other current comments groupies, as well. ;-)

My dream for our class

In reply to this thread on the forum, I wrote the following:-

Now, hopefully, if Blizzard repair the damage they've done to Steady Shot as well, we will finally see a bit more genuine diversity among talent trees.

I want to see thriving miniature communities based around Beast Mastery, Marksmanship, and Survival; all three trees.

I want to see Hunters from all three trees be able to walk into a raid or instance together with a totally equal level of respect and civility towards each other.

Finally, I want to see Hunters choosing their talent tree based on what they as individuals truly love, and on what reflects their individual psychology and desired playstyle...not purely on everyone speccing in exactly the same way because a single spec has been discovered to put out 5% more.

--

I will never forget one particular instance run I did, which I'm pretty sure was at around level 55. I four manned BRD late one night as Survival, with a Marks Hunter, a BM Hunter, and a Warlock. We got almost all the way to the entrance of Molten Core, and aside from wiping once, we needed no healer.

The synergy between all three trees in this class, when natives of all three trees are present in a group, can be a beautiful thing to watch. I have only seen it a few times during my time playing this game. It needs to be seen much, much more often.

The obsession with the damage meter truly needs to end and be done away with; we as a class, and as natives of individual talent trees, are held back by it. By collaborating and co-operating with each other, instead of seeing every loss to someone else as being our own gain, and seeking enlargement of the epeen, we could become so much more.

Beast Mastery chewing through casters, Marks providing high burst to get through the armor of melee mobs, and Survival pulling, trapping, and helping to keep everyone's mana topped off. If you're willing sometime, get a tank and a healer, and do a Heroic with yourself and a Hunter of each of the other two trees.

Even though most of our WoW experience, like most of the rest of our lives, blurs into a haze of generic forgetfulness, if, like me, you love the Hunter class, then I promise you that it will be an experience you will never forget.

We're being nerfed

We just had this thread started by Ghostcrawler, (a Blizzard developer) where he announced some changes.

There is, of course, already talk of respeccing. As I said in that thread, Survival ended up with Marksmanship's proverbial poor, tired, and huddled masses during The Burning Crusade, as well.

It's genuinely ironic how much things with Surv within WoW echo people's attitudes towards Survivalism as a real world ideology, at times.

When times are good, the attitude is very different in the forum. Then when the nerf bat hits; metaphorically in WoW terms, the proverbial TEOTWAWKI scenario; guess where all the cool kids go? ;-)

The Hunter forum: Why it really angers me

I've just realised the single main reason why the official Hunter forum makes me so angry.

It isn't actually the utterances of, "lolsurvival," which are directed at me. I'm used to that stuff. I might not like it, but I can take it.

What really upsets me, however, is the attitude that is expressed towards newcomers who are trying to learn about Surv. Every single time a new Hunter posts a question asking what Survival is for, it is immediately deluged with vitriolic trolling about how useless the tree supposedly is.

Witness the fetid cesspool that this particular thread degenerated into, for example. Same scenario; a new Hunter asks what Surv is for, and immediately the trolls materialise.

I'm starting to think that the BM raiders who inhabit the forum are honestly afraid of anyone using Survival. I will never forget one particular thread where a newbie was asking questions, when the BM poster after me told the OP never to have anything to do with Survival whatsoever...and the tone of his writing was genuinely frantic.

I wish I understood what they feel so threatened by.