Bloggial Wrath: A WoW Player's Blog

Come... We Have Much To Discuss...

2009-04-22T19:41:00.000-07:00

Hello, and a pleasant day to you.

I once again must apologize. Due to school and certain obligations I have been unable to keep my word of reporting on 3.1.0 over a few days. However, this does not mean I can't still do some reporting now on Ulduar.
Before I begin on the Patch, I would first like to point out some changes to the site I have made both graphic and functionality wise. First of all, you may notice that there is now a button on the right hand column for Feed Subscription. The graphic for the button is not entirely mine, but I am the one who added the ice to it so as to make it more WoW oriented.

Secondly, you may notice in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Please scroll over it now. That's right! This is my new feedback button! I feel that many people are not impressed by my writing and in an effort to improve myself I have added the feedback functionality. Now you can tell me exactly what is wrong! Please do, by the way, for I am always trying to better myself. Also, do not hold back from giving me positive feedback as well. It is always a treat to hear that my work is appreciated!

Now, finally, into the heart of today's topic: The Argent Tournament!

I must say that I have been excited about this new event ever since I heard about it on MMO-Champion. What's that? Cool new mounts and gear? Jousting? A Hippogryph? FOR 0 GOLD?! EVEN I CAN AFFORD THAT!

However, it is unfortunate that I now say that I am disappointed. I came to the Tournament eager, willing, ready to joust! But all I got were some lousy dailies that sent me flying all over Northrend, grabbing swords, killing a few scourge... boring. And then I saw Up to the Challenge and said "ok, it's not too bad." Let's see, the three dalies per day give you 5 seals total - the quest calls for 15. So only three days? I can wait that long. "Ok, Blizzard, I'll play your game," I said to the non-existent Blizzard rep, afterward staring up towards the sky (really just the ceiling) thoughtfully.

Finally, three days of doing the dailies had past. Finally, I can joust and win some rewards! I went and finished off the Argent Valiant and dashed back to the quest giver. AWESOME! You can call me Valiant, sucka! Now time to win some rew- whoa, whoa, wait... what this? Another quest?! Valiant's Seals? What the |-|e77is this? OK! NOW IT'S GOIN' DOWN! You want me to collect 25? But that'll take another FIVE DAYS! Oh, hold on, there's another quest here. So that mean's I can get more seals a day right?

WRONG!

Now I still get five seals but I have to do another daily to get them. My patience is wearing thin...

So it is obvious how I feel personally about the Tournament, but I feel that there is a summary to made.

Ok, all in all, the Tournament is semi-interesting and provides some decent gear rewards to those too lazy or too busy to raid. The mounts that can be purchased with the seals are pretty cool, especially the Hippogryph, and I look forward to obtaining them. However despite these nice rewards, I feel that the process of obtaining the champion status that is required to start gathering seals takes too much time. It takes 8 days in total just to obtain the champion status. Hopefully this time can be made up for.

-Zolton of Stormrage

P.S. Another problem I see is in the jousting. Jousting requires the jouster to have good control over the mount and be able to use their abilities as soon as the cooldowns are up. This means that if you have lag or a low fps then your pretty much out of the running. This, I feel, gives an unfair advantage to those players with better computers.

Patch 3.1.0 Post: Part One

2009-04-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

As the title says, time for part one of my analysis of the new game content and mechanics in Patch 3.1.0.

Now for the topic: DPS

Not just any DPS, mind you, but Pet DPS. The changes in Ulduar really hit home here, as I am a faithful Beast Master hunter.

The story begins in January 2009 with patch 3.0.8, a.k.a. The Great BM Hunter-Nerf of '09.
As the name suggests, patch 3.0.8 nerfed BM hunters up the wazoo (yes, wazoo). Steady Shot's damage lowered? Both the Unleashed Fury and Kindred Spirits damage increases knocked down by 20%?! Reducing my pet's haste from Serpent's Swiftness by 10%?!?!? It's like they hate us!

3.0.8 spelled dark days for Beast Masters with its almost halving of DPS. Many simply switched to Survival and its now superior damage, but some like myself decided to suffer the DPS decreases and ride out the storm.

Well fortunately, Blizzard realized its mistake.

Well, at least they acknowledged it.

As you know, there weren't any real noticeable buffs other than the return of the pet haste from Serpent's Swiftness.

On and on...

Would it ever end?

Well it has!

Patch 3.1.0 adds a new treat for us Beast Masters: A New tier of damage-increasing pet talents, almost exclusive to the Beast Masters! For ferocity pets, (the only ones I bother with) these new talents are Wild Hunt and Shark Attack. Utilizing these new talents brings Pet DPS at about the same amount it was pre-nerf for the Beast Masters. Huzzah! I personally like Wild Hunt. First, the 40% increased stamina contribution means you're pet will have more health. "What's the big deal? It's only health," you might say. Well I'll tell you what the big deal is-

More health means that:
1. Your pet dies less, meaning increased up-time of the pet and therefore more DPS.
2. Your pet requires less healing, which saves you mana, meaning less time in Aspect of the Viper and using Viper Sting in place of Serpent Sting, and less time waiting on the global cooldown after the heal to fire the next shot. This gives you, once again, more DPS.

Secondly, Wild Hunt increases the contribution your pet gets from your attack power by 20%! While the obvious benefit is the increased damage, what people don't seem to understand is that as the effect is that the pet has increased contribution, the increased damage it deals scales. In other words, as your shots get stronger, so does your pet's attacks! It's for these reasons that choose to put points in here rather than Shark Attack.

While BM DPS is still not as high as before, at least we can be legitimate raid contenders again.

That's it for part one of the official Zolton Patch 3.1.0 Analysis.

See you later,
-Zolton of Stormrage

Umm... Oops.

2009-04-15T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well hello there! I didn't notice you come in.

...I was wrong. I admit that.

My last post about Viper Sting seems to be incorrect. The new Viper Sting really is 4% drain; as I said in the first post. This is not bad at all - 4% drain up to 8% return is nothing to sneeze at.

For those of you who got excited like I did, thinking that it really was 18% drain, I am sorry. I used an... outdated resource to base that post on.

On a lighter note: PATCH 3.1.0 WOOOO!

That's right! After months of testing, Ulduar is live!

Over the next few days of posts I will be analysing some key improvements, as well as some disappointments, in the new patch.

Hoping your enjoying the new content,

-Zolton of Stormrage

No way...

2009-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Woah... just like... I don't know what else to say... it's just... woah.

It seems that my last WoW post (the one about Viper Sting on the PTR) is now obsolete.

Blizzard has decided to change the working of the Viper Sting that was on the PTR... and made them INSANE!

The New Viper Sting.

That's right, it drains not 4%, but a whopping 18% up to 32% of the hunter's maximum mana! Regen made amazing.

Bask in the glow that is this new spell.

Signing off,

-Zolton of Stormrage

I'MA CHARGIN' MAH LAZER!!

2009-04-10T08:06:00.000-07:00

YAY! Well, Happy Birthday to me!

15 years old and growing!

Woah... it's been a while...

2009-04-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

Hello to those few who may be reading!

Obviously it has been a while since I have posted. This is mostly due to the fact that school has been keeping me so busy that can barely ever find time to play.

However, I return to you today to hit you with some knowledge:

Now, some of you may already know of what I'm talking about as it is a bit late. I come today to speak of some new Hunter-spell workings in 3.1.

The new Viper Sting. Well this is some definite good news for the raider and PvE fan. It is now much easier to regain mana on a boss if the boss uses mana. Let's say you're fighting Malygos in EoE. Malygos has 212,900 mana. 4% of 212,900 is 8516, so you automatically drain 8% of your total mana from Malygos, as that is obviously greater than 8% of your mana. Now, let's say you have 17,000 mana, 8% is 1360 mana. Now multiply that by the whopping 300% you get back, and that totals to 4080 Mana! That's AWESOME! Combine this with Aspect of the Viper and you can be back to full mana in no time.

Second of all, I have some hunter-related news outside of the game. It seems Daniel Howell (a.k.a. BRK) the man running the popular Big Red Kitty blog has decied to quit WoW for family reasons (you can read more about the subject on the blog). For a long time, BRK has been what is likely the best hunter resource around. Matching up-to-date hunter news and analysis with humor and wit, along with charming stories about his real life, BRK developed a following of readers that I am proud to say I am a part of. Daniel, we'll miss you. Good luck in life and all of your endeavors, fo'shizzle.

That is all I've got for now.

Signing off,

-Zolton of Stormrage

Good News!

2009-02-28T14:26:00.000-08:00

Finally, good news for BM hunters!

I decided that I would go on PTR's myself just so I could test out these hunter changes myself. After transfering my character I quickly respent my talent points (in BM of course!) and headed for stormwind to do some tests.

The Results: Promising!

I was extremely glad to find that with the new pet talents, my pet was back to doing pre-nerf damage. Isn't it great?

Something else from the PTR:

Call Stabled Pet: This new spell allows you to access your stables from anywhere once every 30 minutes. This is great! Honestly, its absolutely necessary to have, seeing as so many hunters will be dual speccing BM and SV. If you're going to switch you have to be able to switch out that exotic pet of yours.

That's all for now!

-Zolton of Stormrage

A New Opportunity

2009-02-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

Hello all!

Today's post is about two things, hunters and gold.

As you all know, patch 3.1.0 is currently being tested on the PTR as I speak. According to Blizzard,"Ammunition: All types of gun and bow ammunition now stack to 1000. All quivers and ammo pouches no longer provide haste. 15% ranged haste is now built in to Hunter Autoshot."

So why am I telling you this? Well for one I am a hunter and I have been hoping for this for a long time, but also because it represents a unique gold-making opportunity. How? Bags. Once this patch hits our hunter quivers and pouches will be gone, so what will we all do? Fill that missing bag slot like we've always wanted to. All tailors start farming for the cloth now so that you can be well stocked when the patch hits. You're going to want to make Netherweave Bags, Imbued Netherweave Bags, Frostweave Bags, Mooncloth Bags, Primal Mooncloth Bags, Bottomless Bags, and Glacial Bags.

Tailors, don't miss out on this unique gold making opportunity because it will never come back! Prepare to make some Gold!

Always lending a helping hand,
-Zolton of Stormrage

This sucks...

2009-02-26T14:10:00.001-08:00

I hate being sick. I came home from school early today after barfing in the bathroom. I just feel like total crap. Unfortunately, it may be the flu.

Today was completely and utterly boring. All I did was lay around on the couch and sleep. But, if this is the quickest way to recovery I'll take it.

Sorry but no WoW info today due to the sickness. I just haven't been able to do any research. I'll try and get something either tomorrow or Saturday. That's all for now.

Feeling terrible,

Zolton of Stormrage

The patch notes are lame...

2009-02-25T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well there goes the SV tree...

Some of you may have seen the patch notes for Ulduar and so far it seems that they just crushed the DPS of SV. For those who play SV (I don't but I do know how it works) you already know that one of the biggest parts of your DPS is the 2 free Explosive Shots you get from Lock and Load. However it seems that the former increase in DPS caused by this talented is getting nerfed.

For those that do not know, Lock and Load currently works like this when all 3 points are placed in it: there is a 100% chance upon trapping a target and a 10% each Serpent Sting tick to proc Lock and Load, which allows for the firing of 2 Explosive or Arcane Shots with no mana cost, no ammo consumption, and no triggering of their cooldowns. As you can already see this leads to some MAJOR DPS.

However the structure of Lock and Load in patch 3.1.0 is being changed. Now, Lock and Load will, "have a 33/66/100% chance when you trap a target with Freezing Trap, Freezing Arrow or Frost Trap and a 2/4/6% chance when you deal periodic damage with your Immolation Trap or Black Arrow to cause your next 2 Arcane Shot or Explosive Shot spells to trigger no cooldown, cost no mana and consume no ammo."

First of all, what in God's name is Black Arrow? Secondly, only Freezing Trap/Arrow and Frost Trap triggers the effect? That's nearly useless! What happened to Serpent Sting?

"New Talent: Trap Launcher: When activated, your next Trap will be launched instantly at the enemy target. 1 minute cooldown."

WOW! What an awesome talent! Now you wont have to run in to trap dance! Now you can just fire that Immolation Trap from range and proc Lock and Lo- Oh wait that's right... YOU MESSED UP LOCK AND LOAD! Due to the changes this talent goes from super awesome to total waste. Yeah, I totally want to send my traps flying at the target - not. The only place where this would be useful is to throw a Freezing Trap at the target for easy crowd-control, BUT since we already have Freezing Arrow that doesn't even matter.

NOTE TO BLIZZ: Stop trying to fix the problem by adding useless talents or removing ones that work perfectly well. Instead try addressing the problems with the ones you ALREADY HAVE. For one, fix Trap Mastery, not just move to tier-2! Regardless of where you put the damn thing the talent is still bad.

/rant-over

/trying-to-calm-self-down

/somewhat-under-control

Well that's all for now. Hopefully these issues will be addressed properly. See you later!

-Zolton of Stormrage

Alts

2009-02-24T19:50:00.000-08:00

So I've been leveling a new character, a Troll Hunter on Fenris. I'm actually in the guild from dominateyourserver.com.

Things are going really well. I'm level 30 now and am halfway to 31. My professions are really easy to level as well as the guild bank is constantly supplied with mats (being a veteran I have access to the first four tabs). So to anyone out there reading this, if you are ever looking for a good guild to roll with, message me and I'll throw you an invite. My character's name is Zert.

Cya,

-Zolton/Zert of Stormrage/Fenris

Unexpected Results!

2009-02-24T19:24:00.000-08:00

Time for my first IRL post! Today's topic pertains to school happenings.

Over Mid-Winter break, I along with my class mates were divided into groups of four and assigned a project for economics class. The basic theme of the project was this: Create a 10 min presentation about the assigned system of economy (we got command/planned economy) while trying to convince the teacher that yours was the best system. The presentation should give basic information on what the core principals of the system are, how the system is better in relation to the other three types, and how goods are produced/distributed.

The presentation could be in any form desired, whether it be formal speech, powerpoint presentation, skit, etc. Our group, wanting to be different, decided to make a movie. We used the local library as a set and used everything there that we could as a prop (whether it was against the rules of the library or not :) ). When it was all said and done the movie took up about 8 minutes and took about 6 hours to plan and shoot. The end result was... embarrassing. Now don't get me wrong, the movie turned out great; but when you have to present a video to the class in which you do a fake russian accent, it is always embarrassing .

Well today was the day to present and, to tell you the truth, it went over pretty well. But I guess thats one of the advantages about going to a small high school (there are only 125 people (it is and IB school)) is that the students are a lot less judgemental.

So all-in-all, today was a good day.

Goodnight,

-Zolton of Stormrage

Meh...

2009-02-22T15:17:00.000-08:00

SO!

...

sssooooooo...

...

I don't know why I decided to start another post.

I guess I'll just do an update of my hunter's status. I dinged 80 about a month ago. Currently doing heroics to get geared for raiding. And-

/sigh

I still have not tamed the spirit beast. It's a little depressing.

I am using all new gear.

Plunderer's Helmet

Choker of the Betrayer

Massive Spaulders of the Jormungar

Cloak of Holy Extermination

Gilded Ringmail Hauberk

Interwoven Scale Bracers

Handgrips of the Savage Emissary

Valiant Belt of Battle

Labyrinthine Legguards

Brunnhildar Snowkickers

And for weapons-

Guess that's all for now.

See ya whenever.

The Hunt Is On...

2008-12-23T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Peoples,

Well I've just dinged 76 and now, inspired by the numerous stories on bigredkitty.net , I've decided to go on the hunt for the elusive Spirit Beast. It's about 4:35 AM right now so I'll be starting tomorrow. Now is the time for resting.

Well that's really it for now.

-Zolton

Grrrrrr...

2008-12-20T20:05:00.000-08:00

Well, hello blog

I honestly started this blog with out knowing if I'd follow through with it, and honestly I didn't think I'd do a second post... but I have to talk about this somewhere. The main topic of this post ladies and gentlemen, is Hunter Noobs.

Now when I say hunter noob, I don't mean people who mess up and break a Freezing Trap or one who really is new, but those hunters who act like they know more about the class than anyone else; the ones that try to make a point about the hunter class when they obviously haven't actually paid attention to the recent changes in spells and pets, and call you ignorant when you say something to contradict them. I'm talking about those hunter noobs.

I met today one particularly noobish druid today who apparently has a high level hunter. This druid's name was Tethylin. The story goes as such: A friend of mine from school decided to reroll on my server, to my great joy he decided to be a hunter. Well he reaches level ten and asks me about speccing and pets. So I tell him go beast master and for now tame a Carrion Bird ( I know it may not be the best, but I used one since the patch and it was pretty good). Then he tells me that some guy told him he should get a cat or ravager. This is understandable, before the patch cats and ravagers dominated, but now they are pretty bad. I explain this to him and he relays this message back to the person. After that the guy is invited into the group and starts telling about how he used a ravager until level 40 then tamed King B. I ask if this was pre-WotLK and he says yes, but then says, and I quote, "But that doesn't matter because he's only level 10". I try explaining to him that pet spells and pet mechanics were changed in the Patch just before the expansion. Then I try telling him the new system and explaining why not to get a cat. I try explaining that ravagers are Cunning pets and are therefore not good for solo leveling. This ends badly. In the end he ends up getting all pissy, tells me I'm ignorant, and leaves the party.

What. An. A-Hole.

So the moral of the story, kids, is to not try and correct someone about their own class when you haven't actually played the class yourself since a very large patch. You will only make yourself look ignorant.

/rant-over

Now time for a Northrend update. Currently level 74. Questing in Dragonblight and Grizzly Hills for now. /love ing my Devilsaur.

Well that's all for now.

-Zolton

"Hello World"

2008-12-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Hello Blogosphere.

This is my blog. Specifically, this is a blog about stuff I like or feel like to talk about. As you can see by the title, most of it will probably be about the extremely popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft; however, some days I might just talk about school or some interesting fact I've just learned. You know, just whatever I'm thinking about.

So... I guess it's time for blog #1.

I do not pretend to be good at leveling.*sigh*
WotLK released about 3 1/2 weeks ago and I'm still level 72. I only hit 70 two days before Wrath released. I've also made so many bad decisions with gold early on that now I'm pretty poor.
I don't even have my normal flyer.

/feel-sorry-for-self

Background info: Main character is a BM Hunter (Devilsaur FTW!), I play on the US-Stormrage server (Alliance), and I am currently working on a Death Knight as a side-project that is currently level 61.

I am questing in Howling Fjord right now... waiting to get out. I've already finished Borean Tundra so that option is exhausted. I'm at the Westgaurd Keep stage in questing, and it's kinda lame.

Bored.

I'm thinking that the quests wouldn't be so boring if I actually had some motivation for getting the quests rewards, but (having already quested in Borean Tundra) most of my gear is already better than the rewards.

Currently, my Hunter's gear consists of:
Coif of the Wicked

Chain of the Tolling Bell
Blessed Pauldrons of Undead Slaying
Durable Worghide Cape
Azure Chain Hauberk
Fen Strider's Bracer
Blessed Handguards of Undead Slaying
Plainhunter's Waistband
Westrift Leggings
Streamlined Stompers

Ring of Indignant Rage
Scout's Signet Ring

Braxley's Backyard Moonshine
Death Knight's Anguish

Coldstone Cutlass
Stoneblade Slicer

And of course, every hunter needs his ranged DPS...
Fury of the Raging Dragon

That's about it for today. Hopefully in the future I'll have something more interesting to talk about.

Seeya later!

Thank You!

2001-04-16T21:34:00.000-07:00

I very much appreciate your feedback and I sincerely hope that it will help me to become a better blogger, and this blog to become more helpful to you, the reader.

Contact Me

2000-04-16T21:30:00.000-07:00