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

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

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.

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...

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!!

YAY! Well, Happy Birthday to me!

15 years old and growing!

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

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!

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