MMQB: Vacation Incoming

My company is kind enough to give me four weeks of vacation each year, and because I stayed in school I have a tiny piece of paradise that I'm going to visit this week. Now I will have a laptop with me so there's no reason I couldn't post something, and I likely will, but if you've read some of the other blogs lately, there just isn't that much to write about. But that's not stopping us today.

My New Guild

It's been nothing but awesome so far. We're still working our way through ICC (25) normal and we've gotten to the point where we can do 10-bosses in three hours now. I suspect they'll get Sindragosa on Monday and begin working on the Lich King while I'm gone. Here's a few things I've managed to achieve in the last week.

1. The Crimson Hall (25)


2. The Plagueworks (25)


3. Boned (25)


4. The Secrets of Ulduar (25)


5. Drive Me Crazy (25)


6. The Descent into Madness (25)


7. The Keepers of Ulduar (25)


8. I'll Take You All On (25)


9. I Could Say That This Cache was Rare


10. Nerf Engineering (25)


11. Heartbreaker (25)


12. Three Sixty Pain Spike (25) (this was on heroic and a complete accident, heh)


13. Two victories each against TogC(25) Beasts, Jaraxxus and Chumps.


14. Grand Black War Mammoth (this has nothing to do with the guild, but I'm contributing its acquisition to the karmic goodness that seems to have come with this move).

One other thing I'll say about my guild is that we've got some pretty darn good hunters. I already knew that Euripides could ball, but we've got another guy who manages to edge us both out almost every time. He's doing it as Survival too. I figure he must be playing on an AMD Opteron-based Cray XT5 Jaguar supercomputer complete with the Wow mosaic mural painted on its side.

Coming into Focus - Ghostcrawler Speaks

Last week Ghostcrawler made a few comments on their vision for hunter rotations in Cataclysm. You can read the full post here. The way I interpret things is this,

They want hunters to use the same number of shots in their rotation as they do now. The difference is we'll be managing our resource much more than we do now. Firing the highest damaging shot may not always be the best option.

GC also stated that abilities with long cool downs may not cost any focus. I take this to mean things like rapid fire, readiness, deterrence, and disengage. They don't want us banking focus for utility shots. I hope this ends up being the case.

What we still don't know yet is what our actual focus regen will be once haste and talents are applied. Right now though our only way to regen lots of focus is through Steady/Cobra shot. In other words we have to do it actively and not passively, and we need to be standing still.

This is definitely something we need to keep an eye on as it impacts our movement, especially in PvP. Remember back in Wrath Beta when Aspect of the Viper did not regen mana passively? It seems we could be in a similar situation now. Viper was changed, and I'd expect lots of changes once Beta begins.

Mission Control

Finally we take sneak peak into the Blizzard's War Room as they figure out how to fill the gap between now and Cataclysm. Maybe hard modes and the Ruby Sanctum will do it. We'll see, but this is kind of how it feels like right now.

Good Hunting! Wasting Away Again in Margaritaville!

MMQB: What Just Happened?

Howdy folks, another crazy week here, and I do mean crazy. I'm in a new guild. I didn't plan to be in a new guild, but here I am. After weeks of spinning our wheels barely getting enough people to fill raids the guild leaders decided to shut the whole operation down, and a big fire sale is underway.

Before the vent meeting was over I was frantically scrambling to find a new home, not just for myself, but for the other solid raiders as well. Hmm, perhaps I should have volunteered to run the show? Nah, been there and done that.

I began putting out feelers starting with one of my podcasting partners in crime, Euripides (we play on the same realm). Turns out they were in need of some good raiders. So despite the fact they have an abundance of hunters, I jumped at the opportunity to join. From a progression standpoint they are at the same point where I am now, and they have a favorable raid schedule. Furthermore the goals of the guild are very much inline with my own. Note to self, write an article on personal goals for WoW and the art of networking. In short, this is a solid guild with a great history, and I'm happy to be a part of if. /sucking-up off.

Ten Things I Love and Hate About this Change

1. I love the fact I was able to network and find a good home for myself and others.


2. I hate that fact that things didn't work out in my old guild. It was a solid raid team and I enjoyed it.


3. I love that my new raid schedule is almost identical to my old one.


4. I hate that my first raid might actually be Yogg (25). I hope our gear level makes this trivial as I've never done this fight before.


5. I love that they use a points system where it won't take forever to get vested.


6. I hate that they have a lot of hunters and I might be benched some nights. My wife does not share this sentiment.


7. I love that I'll be able to get a few raids under my belt before going on vacation (assuming I'm not benched much, or haven't been kicked out).


8. I hate that I didn't blow all my DKP on tier token when I had the chance.


9. I love hate love hate love (I think he owes me some gold) that I'll get a chance to raid along side Euripides.


10. I hate that my Lich King loot fund (i.e., all my saved up DKP) is now worthless. Seriously I had the most DKP of anybody.

Well now I'm off to prepare a 500 word essay on why all current 25-man ICC groups should carry five hunters. Wish me luck!

MMQB: Vacation All I Never Wanted

Happy Monday folks! This was a busy and interesting week for me. My quest for the Violet Protodrake lives on, I'm now a Blacksmith, and I wtb ten people to take on Lich King. Here we go.

Noble Garden

I don't know how it is for the Horde, but Azure Watch turned out to be a great place to collect eggs this year. I tried all the locations, but this one was the best. Not much to say here. This is a relatively easy achievement and I had no problem completing it on day one.

All that remain are Midsummer and Children's Week. Midsummer looks to be a tedious grind, but nothing too challenging. No, the real hurdle for me is Children's Week. The good news is that I only have on achievement left to complete. That bad news is it's School of Hard Knocks. You know, the one where I enter several battlegrounds in my finest PvE gear and teach my orphan to place selfishness over teamwork and winning.

The really bad news is that this holiday overlaps with an upcoming vacation, and according to the "spreadsheet" sun, beach and Margaritas are all upgrades over WoW. Instead of having a full week to complete it, I'll have just one day. Any tips or suggestions for completing this achievement are welcome.

Blacksmithing

Last week I hinted at possibly dropping Engineering and picking up Blacksmithing. Last night I grinded from 1 to 400 and can now add an extra gem socket to my gloves of bracers. While this won't be a huge dps increase, it does give me more flexibility with itemization, and it was fun to see how long it would take to do it.

For those considering a similar move, here are some lessons learned.

1. I used wow-professions.com as my guide. It worked very well.


2. I was able to farm all of the mats in less than a week. Great for the wallet, but bad for one's sanity.


3. Thorium was the easiest ore to get. Two hours in Un'Goro and I had everything I needed.


4. Saronite was the hardest to get, and I still need to farm more to get to 450. The challenge with Saronite is that there are a lot of people who still farm it, and you need two ore to make one bar.


5. The path to 450 required plans sold by vendors and not trainers. Try to get these before you start skilling up. I wasn't able to find one of them and had to improvise.


6. Try to get extra mats. Skill points can be a little random and at some point you'll be making a green recipe to get to the next level. One of two things will happen. You'll get to the next level on you're last item, or you'll be one point short. It's usually the latter.

It's definitely late in the game to make this kind of switch, but I have no regrets.

Lich King Attendance

I'm not sure why but we haven't been able to field a team to fight the Lich King in ICC (10). I would have thought that people would be clamoring at a chance to defeat the ultimate boss in WoW and unlock heroic modes. Ponderous indeed. At least our 25-man team is back on track.

Good Hunting!

MMQB: Grinding Professions

I'm contemplating dropping Engineering and picking up Blacksmithing. And by contemplating I mean if I had all the mats to power grind it I'd probably do it. I actually started farming them over the weekend, and while it's insanely dull, it's not taking nearly as long as I'd thought.

I'm using wow-professions.com to steer me through the process. In a few short hours I've managed to farm all of the mats except for a few hundred Thorium, Cobalt and Saronite. The Thorium will probably take me the longest to get. Still I should have everything I need to make the switch in only a few days time. Not bad at all. And if I had opted to purchase some of the mats the gathering time could be reduced further. So why bother with this?

Reasons to make the switch include,

• Gem socket for gloves.


• Gem socket for bracers.


• Allows for a little more flexibility in terms of itemization.


• BS pairs nicely with Jewelcrafting.

Reasons to to not make the switch include,

• I like having an AH in Dalaran.


• I like making my own ammo.


• I like my rofl copter.


• I like playing around with the engineering gadgets. The other night I flew atop Icecrown Citadel and used my Nitro boots to rocket me off the platform in the direction of Dalaran. Unfortunately I was headed for impact with the citadel so I was forced to use my parachute much earlier than I wanted. I fell to my death right by the Dalaran portal in Crystal Song forest. Good times :)


• Cataclysm - We don't know how the professions will change, but there's always a chance that Engineering could be given some love and I'll wish I hadn't dropped it.

While my reasons to stay outnumber my reasons to switch, they represent things I can certainly live without. We'll see how this shakes out. Worse case, if I decide not to do it, I'll have some nice mats to sell on the AH ;)

Good Hunting!

MMQB: /target horse

Top of the Monday to you folks. okay, here we go,

/target horse

/attack horse

/attack horse

*horse dies*

/attack horse

/attack horse

PTR Musings - Is Beast Mastery Back?

If you listened to the Hunting Party Podcast over the weekend, you know that we had some fun with this. Yes it's the topic that never ends - Beast Mastery vs. the world.

I spent a little bit of time on the PTR banging away on the target dummies trying to compare MM, SV and BM. I'm not the best person for this, as I'm never quite sure what to make of the results. I tried multiple five minute fights in each spec, and every time it came out like this MM > BM >= SV. I'm not surprised that I did more dps at MM, but I was surprised that I did more dps as BM. I know Ghostcrawler indicated that BM should be closer to SV in patch 3.3.3. I just didn't expect to see it on the training dummies.

Training Dummy dps isn't always the best for a variety of reasons. Most notably you don't have all the raid buffs and debuffs that affect our dps. Also, five minutes on the training dummy requires a lot more Viper time than say five minutes of raid time. I suspect that alone favors BM over SV.

In the end all I really learned was this,

1. BM has a really boring rotation, and "big red" as an ability isn't what it used to be. The pets are cool though.
2. Lock and Load is still fun, and I miss it.
3. I really enjoy trying to get the best possible serpent sting with my T9/T10 combination.
4. I tried four pieces of T10 for a couple of SV tests. In 10-minutes of testing I got three four-piece procs. Maybe it was just bad luck, but it seems somewhat lackluster.
5. If you want to work on Viper management, training dummies are an excellent tool.

So does that mean BM has finally arrived with patch 3.3.3? I think it will be better, but if you have a lot of ICC gear, you'll want to give MM a serious look.

Raiding

Raiding was a mixed bag this week. A lot of guilds on our realm are having attendance issues with ICC (25). We had to call a couple of raids, and I heard the same from friends in other guilds. I've maintained that our realm is over guilded and under populated. It might be time for the heads of the families to get together and whack somebody.

Our 10-man team finally defeated Sindragosa. That's the good news. The bad news is I wasn't there for the kill. I was there for the many, many wipes though. Oh well, at least we've gotten to the Lich King and I look forward to defeating him soon. I took a sneak peak and tried one solo attempt. He one-shot me. I probably should have had a tanking pet :P.

MMQB: Sideways Lost

I'm jumping the gun by a couple of the days, but believe it or not the Brew Hall turns one this week. March 17 marks the official date that I made my first post. It's been a very fast and fun year.
Thank you to all who continue to come here each day.

I've decided to start back up with my recap of the weekly events, and in this case frustrations. Lots of spleen venting for today.



Raiding

Our ICC (25) team downed another boss this week. Hooray for progress, even if it's slow. With Valithria Dreamwalker down this opens the door to experience my most hated boss in both 10 and 25-man modes - Sindragosa.

It's not often that I screw the pooch in a raid, but it does happen from time to time. Last night, on what had to be our most promising attempt of the evening, I died and started a chain reaction of epic fail that led to another sub 10% health wipe.

For me, Sindragosa's Icy Grip/Blistering Cold will rank right up there with Heigan's Dance and Thaddius' jump as my most hated raid mechanics of all time. I've actually mastered this in phase one. It's in the final phase where I now struggle.

I use disengage to help get some distance once I'm sucked in. In the first phase I have the luxury of positioning myself so that this works flawlessly every time. In the final phase my positioning is not always the greatest, and sometimes disengage can and will take me in a direction that's "unpredictable". Instead of backwards, I'll go sideways and end up lost. Such was the case in this one attempt.

By the time I got my bearings straight and realized I wasn't any further back than where I started, it was too late. It really broke the rhythm of the group and ultimately we wiped around 7%. It also led to another round of "you guys need to pay attention and run out" from the raid leader.

These encounters all come down to consistency. You have to execute the mechanics every time, not just some of the time. We're going back in tonight and I suspect we'll take a break from Sindragosa and focus on Putricide instead. For the final phase I may just have to quit with the disengage and turn and run like every other class.

Other Stuff

On a happier note, I finally got my Reins of the White Polar Bear. I'm done. No more defending my title, abusing the workers, going down in the pit, and destroying the eggs. No more mountain water, salted yeti cheese and snowballs (which I throw at the quest giver every time).

MMQB: The Spore is Not the Bomb

Another raid week is in books (man these go by quick) so here is my weekly round-up of events and happenings in my little pond.

Our 25-man progression did its usually four-boss kill in ICC.  We're very close to having that first wing on farm status.  In fact, we managed to get the I've Gone and Made a Mess (25) achievement.  I guess we weren't as far off from getting that as I thought.  I still have some doubts about our strategy (post incoming at some point), but it has worked two weeks in a row now.

Clearing the first four bosses meant we got to spend some time on the new bosses.  I was very optimistic about our chances, but we were shut-out by both Festergut and Rotface.  We spent the majority of our time on Festergut.

The good news is that Festergut is a very simple fight for hunters.  Just stay spread out, dps like mad, and get inoculated.  That's it.  One thing to note is that all of the gas damage is shadow and not nature.  Please refuse any and all requests to use Aspect of the Wild in this fight.

Also, the spore that appears over players' heads is not a bomb.  Please stop running away when you get this, it's not helpful.

Gear Watch

I've finally got enough DKP to cause some trouble.  I don't have enough to win anything, but I can influence the bidding and minimum buy out price on items (post incoming at some point).

Items I didn't Get

• Zod's Repeating Longbow (I don't suppose it will drop three weeks in a row?)
• Snowserpent Mail Helm (don't really need/want anyway).
• Protector's Mark of Sanctification x2 (It doesn't make the shoulders I've got.  It's makes the shoulders I've got better).

Items I did Get

• Reins of the Green Proto-Drake (finally).

I did the first four bosses in ICC (10) this week and absolutely nothing I could use dropped.  It was abysmal.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. I did a Baron mount run for fun.  No mount, but regular Stratholme feels more like going back in time than CoS does.
2. I finished the week 500 rep. points short of revered for the Ashen Verdict.  It was just that kind of week.
3. We're adding TotGC (25) to our raid schedule.  I've got a bad feeling about this.
4. A lot of people like to click accept on the calendar invite and then not show up.  Weird.
5. Rumor has it that Cataclysm Alpha is starting.  That means somewhere out there is a hunter using focus.  I'm scared.
6. Our guild needs to clamp down on the ICC (10) alt. runs.  It's taking time and players away from completing main runs.
7. My dungeon finder only seems capable of finding Halls of Stone.
8. I'm giving MM another go.
9. Things die so fast in heroics (even the bosses) that it's not a great place to get used to MM.
10. I want to go home now, so that's number 10.

Good Hunting!

MMQB: New and Shiny

Happy New Year everyone! I'm one week into life with my new guild.  I've seen new content, defeated new bosses, made new friends, and even gotten some new loot.  It was a very good week, and I feel good about my decision to change guilds.

New Bosses

We cleared the first four bosses in ICC (25).  Lady Deathwhisper, the Gunship, and Deathbringer Saurfang were all guild firsts.  I suspect that Lady D will continue to give us fits.  I'm not convinced that we've mastered the adds on this fight yet.  The Gunship battle is just a fun fight, and was instant farm for us.  Saurfang gave us all kinds of trouble, but I think we may have found something that works for us.

I also anticipate that we'll get three new bosses this week.  I haven't spent a lot of time researching them, but as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm heading over to Tankspot.  I can't wait to get back into ICC this week.

New Strategy

We spent all of Wednesday evening wiping on Saurfang.  Ten wipes in total. Sunday we dusted ourselves off and five attempts later I was watching Deathbringer's Will go to someone other than me.

We watched the videos, read the various strats, and in the end, here's what worked for us.  The tanks dragged him off the steps and tanked him in the center of the room.  This gave the raid ample room to spread out stay out of each other's space.  Instead of a semi-circle we made a full circle around him. It made handling the adds a little tougher, but it greatly reduced the Saurfang's Blood Power gains from Blood Nova.  It took him a lot longer to get his second mark than all of our previous attempts (we were still a long way off from getting I've Gone and Made a Mess).

I had my doubts that this would work, but it did.

New Gear I Got

• Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Spaulders
• Saurfang's Cold-Forged Band

New Gear I Didn't Get

• Whispering Fanged Skull (I rolled a three).
• Zod's Repeating Longbow (not enough DKP).
• Deathbringer's Will (not enough DKP).

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. I'm still at that point where I'm more excited about clearing content and less concerned about loot.  I don't expect that to last long.
2. I finally started doing some gear planning.  If you go for the four piece T10 bonus, there are some nice pieces of gear you won't have :(
3. The Hunter T10 pants look to be the worst of the set.
4. I bought the T10 shoulders with emblems.  This means they'll probably be a drop off of the new VoA boss when he's released.
5. I'm probably going to get the T10 gloves next.  This means they'll also be a drop off of the new VoA boss, and he'll be released shortly after I buy them.
6. 5-man heroic trash is so irrelevant.  Please don't complain when I just choose to volley it down (the new 5-mans are excluded from this).
7. Triumph Badges are a great source of epic gems. Too bad, I'm tired of running heroics.
8. The same people on my realm continue to list the new ammo in 100 stacks at 1000 stack prices.  I guess people must be buying it. /sigh.
9. Gear scores are starting to climb, making it more and more irrelevant again.
10. My new raid schedule conflicts with new season of Lost.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

Good Hunting!

MMQB: Starting Over

Happy Monday to you all.  I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend and a fun week in Azeroth.  This week's theme is about starting over.  I joined a new guild, and I spent just about all my gold on a battered hilt.  I'm not sure which of these was the better choice.

First the new guild.  It's a 25-man progression raiding guild.  We do four nights of ICC (25) from 8-11 pm server time; 70% attendance required.

Ultimately I think this is the right move for me given that I really want to progress through ICC (25).  I also want to be part of a team where everybody pulls their weight.  I think I'm getting that here, but we'll see.

I have two good friends in the guild which was a big part of my decision to join.  Even though I have a regular raid spot, I once again find myself on the bottom of the totem poll.  They use DKP so I'm on the bottom in more ways than one.  It's nothing that showing up for every raid and performing at a high level can't fix, but It's still a climb.

Now onto Quel'Delar. Although I have virtually no gold, I have no regrets about buying the battered hilt. The quest chain was a lot of fun, and I like the challenge of seeing how long it will take to recoup the gold (I bought it for 15K).

I've started selling gems on the AH and I've managed to recoup a small portion of the cost. This is good because I've convinced myself not to roll need on the hilt if I should ever see it drop.  While I would love to the opportunity to instantly get my gold back, the quest chain is really cool and I'd hate to deny someone else the opportunity to run it.  This is all easy to write when you've never seen it drop though.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. I ran ICC (10) with my new guild on Saturday.  I got to use the jet pack and fly to the enemy ship.  I like them already!
2. My new guild uses DKP which will help eliminate random distribution of loot.
3. I have zero DKP.  Getting drops early on will be tough if not impossible.
4. Now that I'm on a DKP system and have zero points, I need to plan out my gear strategy.
5. My new guild is working on Lady D in ICC 25.  This is the same progression point as the guild I just left.  Let's hope it's just holiday slow down.
6. I like having a guild web-site with forums again.  It even looks like the members use them too.
7. What's the point of having "friends" if they won't enchant your stuff for free.  Supply my own mats, really?
8. I may need to run Forge of Souls with a set group rather than randomly pug it.  Even the warrior tanks roll need on the Needle-Encrusted Scorpion. Stupid off-spec!
9. I wish people would just tell me the number of stacks, and send me exact number of mats they need for the new arrows. I'm tired of getting stacks of eternals with instructions to send them "a bunch of arrows".
10. My old guildies were very cool about my leaving.  They are a great group of people.  It's hard leaving friends behind.

Good Hunting!

MMQB: Feelin' Hoth, Hoth, Hoth

It snowed this weekend; a lot!  It snowed so much that I don't have to go into work on Monday.  I'm not talking about calling in with some lame excuse about my car or roads.  Nope, work called me and said we're closed.  Woot!

Other than spending a total of five hours shoveling snow, the weekend was great.  I mean what better thing to do when your snowed in than play WoW.  And play WoW I did.  So as always here's a recap of some things I experienced in the frozen wastes of Northrend this past week.

Raiding

We continue to run TotC (25), and while I still enjoy it, it has definitely lost some of its luster.  The quest for a 2H weapon, Death's Verdict and the fact that I love raiding are what keep me going in there.  None of those things dropped this week by the way.

Our 10-man team cleared ICC again.  Marrowgar, and the Gunship went a lot smoother this time around.  Lady Deathwhisper gave us some problems (we one-shot her last week).  I think we have our strategy for her down, and I expect we we will one-shot her from here on out.  Saurfang is just pain, but with enough practice I suspect that we'll be making short work of him soon enough.  We have some issues staying spread out, but we've gotten the adds sorted out.

Our 25-man team actually made some progress this week.  We downed Marrowgar but got stuck on Lady Deathwhisper. We don't have our strategy for her worked out just yet.  Unlike last week, we stuck it out for several tries so our team did get in some good looks.  Wiping is never fun, but it's invaluable to the learning process.

I also brought my alt-Hunter into an ICC (10) run.  We didn't get Marrowgar down, but we came close on several attempts, and got him below 50% most attempts.  I finished second on dps despite still wearing some blues; it was respectable dps too.  Are hunters great or what?

Gear Watch

I'm pretty happy just raiding for fun's sake, but I'm even happier when there are shinies involved.  This was another solid week of upgrades.

I hit honored with the Ashen Verdict and now have a new ring, and more importantly new ammo!  The arrows are great and I have enough mats to keep myself supplied and my bank account flush.

No gear from 25-man Marrowgar, but I did get the Icecrown Rampart Bracers from the 10-man Gunship Battle and I earned enough badges to get my Recovered Scarlet Onslaught Cape.

Achievements

I got my Merrymaker title which keeps the Violet Proto-drake is still on schedule for a May delivery.  I completed some of the achievements last year so I didn't need to spend that much time doing things this year.  The With a Little Helper from My Friends achievement was surprisingly easy.  One Wintergrasp was all it took.  The Let it Snow achievement was probably the most "challenging", if you can call it that.  Still the race/class combinations for this one were much better than some others.

I also got the Hail to the Chef achievement.  The Dinner Impossible achievement was all that I had remaining.  I actually stayed for each battleground rather than present the great feast and bolt.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. We've run ICC (25) with the "B+" team and the "A-" team.  Can we please run it with the "A" team?  I'll even bring the Mohawk Grenades.
2. I really like being able to supply myself with the new epic arrows.  It will hurt a little if I ever get a gun.
3. I'm adding the Battered Hilt to the list of things I'll never get.  It's in good company with the polar bear mount and green proto-drake.
4. The weekly raid quest was Patchwerk.  Our group did him in 25-man, so I was excited to see what my dps would be on him now.  I forgot to send my pet in to attack :( .
5. Prices for flasks are nearly double what they were in patch 3.2.  My flasks are empty, but my rage is indeed endless.
6. I need new trinkets, if for no other reason than to pump up my imba and gear scores when I log out at night.
7. Halls of Reflection is turning into everyone's new hated instance.
8. I wish I could turn Dalaran Cooking Awards into some other kind of currency.  Maybe I should just stop doing the cooking dailies.
9. I wish I could convert Triumph badges directly to Heroism badges or any other lower badge for that matter.
10. Shoveling snow sucks.

Quote of the Week

"Dark your survival right?  That means you have replenishment right?  So mana shouldn't be a big issue for healers."

- This was said by our GM/healing priest as we were slogging our way through Marrowgar in ICC (25).  I chose to maintain "radio silence" as I didn't have the heart to tell him that I respeced out of it to get moar dps.  Looks like I may need to add it back.

So that's my week in review.  As far as the title goes you would think that real-life snow would be a slam dunk for a Northrendy title, but I'm just too much of a Star Wars guy.

Good Hunting!

MMQB: Deck the Halls

It's Monday and the first raid reset of patch 3.3 is about to come to close.  This week I want to share my thoughts on the new dungeon tool, Icecrown Citadel, and more.

Dungeon Finder

First off, I love the new dungeon finder.  I've had great luck with random pugs and random dungeons.  It appears that the dungeon finder is filled with the holiday spirit and is decking the halls left and right. It selected Halls of Stone, Halls of lightning and Halls of Reflection more than any other dungeon for me.  The luck of the draw buff is a great bonus as well.

Regarding moving onto another guild, I'm beginning to think that the grass may not be greener on the other side.  From a 10-man raiding perspective my current guild is quite good.

Icecrown Citadel

I love it!  I was very surprised to see our ten man group go in and clear all four bosses the first week.  We needed about six attempts for Marrowgar, we one shot Lady Deathwhisper, and we needed a bunch of attempts for the Gunship and Saurfang.  Saurfang was by far the toughest encounter, and I had to spend a fair bit of time kiting adds (not my favorite thing to do).

The thing about Saurfang is this fight gets tougher as you get closer to the end.  Contrast that with Lady D, where once you get to phase 2 you've pretty much won.  We managed to get the I've Gone and Made a Mess achievement.  Quite frankly I can't imagine downing him without getting it.

Our 25-man team was not nearly as productive.  We didnt' have our regular compliment of raiders (especially healers) so that made our task all the more difficult.  We did four attempts on Marrowgar before calling it.  I was not happy about this.  Wiping isn't fun, but it's essential to progression.  The only way you learn the fights is to keep trying.  I know that I was getting better with each attempts and really would have liked some looks.  Hopefully we'll have our A-team this week and give it a serious try.

Still, it was only the first week, and we have some solid raiders as evidenced by our two 10-man groups.  I can't imagine that we won't be DE'in all the Marrowgar gear or extending lockouts sooner than later.

Gear Watch

I'm off to good start with gear.  It's funny, I really went on a dry streak regarding range weapons, and now they seem to be raining from the sky.  Hopefully bodes well for Zod's.  Here are a few things I picked up this past week.

• Njordnar Bone Bow
• Runed Band of the Kirin Tor
• Crusader's Dragonscale Bracers (yeah I waited until badges were easy to get, and orb prices dropped before I had these made).

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. No more "Don't forget the quest item" when running heroics.  I like this.
2. There is a decided lack of range weapons in ICC (25).  "Kneel before him" is right since Zod's will be the hunter weapon of choice for a while.
3. My heroic runs with random groups have been better than my heroic runs with mostly guildies.
4. I got the Don't Look Up achievement in a completely random pug.  Talk about pure luck.
5. I got the I've Gone and Made a Mess achievement in ICC (10).  This is one where I can't imagine being able to defeat the boss without getting it.
6. That fact that I chose Gnomish Engineering back in Vanilla, seems like the lucky choice (at least until I get a gun).
7. Blizzard is going proc. crazy with items in the this patch.  Even the exalted ring from the Ashen Verdict has one.
8. It was very refreshing to see new raid content.  Of course I said the same thing the first time I entered TotC. /cautionary tale off.
9. Jaina, Fordring, and Muradin are some of the chattiest npcs I've ever seen.
10. This week is a four day week, followed by another four day week, followed by three day week.  It's the most wonderful time of the year...

MMQB: A Hunter Looks at 80

I'm back from vacation.  Nothing like going from white sand to white snow.  All in all it was a great vacation and I managed to sneak some WoW time in as well; including an unexpected TotC (25) run.  I thought I was going to miss two TotC (25) runs due to vacation; I didn't.  Lucky for me too, as I got an upgrade in each run.

Patch 3.3 still looks like it will hit tomorrow.  If it does I don't think I'll be raiding ICC on Tuesday.  Definitely by the weekend though.  A lot depends on what guild tag I have.  No matter what I think I'm ready.

Enough about this past week.  What I really want to dwell on in this week's MMQB is what I was doing a year ago this day.

It was one year ago today that I hit level 80 on Darkbrew.  While certainly not the first to hit 80 (lol), I was among the first wave of players to reach the level cap on my realm.

It was the start of Act II of my journey to Northrend.  I continued to do quests, but my focus turned to heroics and putting together a gear set for Naxxramas.  I missed out on a lot of Burning Crusade content and didn't want that same thing to happen with WotLK.  Well 50 days later (that's my /played for level 80 :( ) I seem poised to meet my goals.

With the release of patch 3.3 tomorrow (presumably) I find it fitting that the final act of my journey should start one year later.  Ready or not Arthas, here we come!

Ten Things I Remember About Hitting 80

Looking at the screenshot, here are some things I noticed about turning 80.

1. I was BM spec and leveling with a gorilla.  Remember Volley + Thunderstomp?
2. I still had several pieces of level 70 gear that were not replaced while leveling,
   
   1. Surestrike Goggles V2
   2. Trollbane (probably the last axe I ever had).
   3. Guantlets of Rapidity (the last piece of 70 gear I would replace).
   
   
3. I had more gold than what I started with when the expansion was released.
4. I have way less gold than that now.
5. I ran my first heroic (Utgarde Keep) shortly after turning 80.
6. I replaced Hemet's Trophy Gun with a Nesingwary 4000.
7. I began working on Argent Crusade reputation trying to get my Polished Regimental Hauberk.
8. At the time I had no aspirations of running 25-man content.
9. My UI was very basic.  I wasn't using nearly as may mods as I am now.
10. All of the heroic gear was actually worth getting.

P.S. In case I didn't explain before, MMQB stands for Monday Morning Quarterback.

MMQB: Island Edition

I'm on vacation in St. Thomas this week, so I won't being doing much blogging.  I was fortunate to squeeze in a TotC (25) run before I left for vacation.  I was even more fortunate to snag Talonstrike.  I still want the gun from Onyxia (25), but I certainly feel better now.

I ran TotC (25) with a guild I'm hoping to join.  You'd think topping their meters and out-dpsing their best geared hunter (who was better geared than me) would warrant an instant invitation regardless of spot availability.

It appears the Darkbrew effect is alive and well.  This works in one of two ways,

1. Groups that wipe several times on a boss and then pull me into the run usually one-shot the boss on my first attempt.  This has happened for Ony 10/25, Iron Council (25) and Hodir (25).  Probably some others too.
2. Raid teams I'm on that are unable to progress past a certain point will have breakthrough while I'm on vacation.  This has happened in Naxxramas and now TotC (25).  Congratulations on downing Anub, and you guys suck!

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. Failures on Anub (25) have cost me 24 badges, 8 chances at trophies, and opportunities to get Leggings of the Lurking Threat, Archon Glaive and Belt of Deathly Dominion.
2. I both love and hate that my guild got Anub down in TotC (25).
3. Other than badges there is no reason for me to run TotC (10), VoA (10), or Onyxia (10).
4. Patch 3.2 has been my favorite patch of this expansion.  I finally caught up to the Joneses.
5. I don't think patch 3.3 will drop this week, but it's safe to say we're officially on patch watch from here on out.
6. I'm looking forward to getting my Runed Band of the Kirin Tor.  Nice way to ring in patch 3.3.
7. My GM has asked me to tutor a couple of Hunters.  I told him okay, but only if they want to be tutored.
8. We recorded episode 15 of the Hunting Party Podcast.  No guest this week, just Euripides, Frostheim and I talking.  I missed the first half of the show because I was raiding.  It was, of course, the best half of the show.
9. My wife is a real pro at travel planning and packing.  I got to raid the night before our trip as a result of this.
10. Island internet is still better than no internet at all.  Not by much though.

MMQB: Gear Score

Another Monday, and another week of raiding comes to a close.  Last week I predicted we'd have four hunters on our VoA/Ony run.  I was wrong we had five.  Thanks to a healer shortage on Saturday we only had three hunters for our TotC (25) run.  No hunter loot this week. Hunters are close on gear, but not on dps.  This much competition combined with open role, combined with me only needing a few items, doesn't bode well for getting what I need before Icecrown arrives.

It doesn't help that our strategy for Anub (25) is all wrong.  Of course it's all wrong because our middle to bottom dps is atrocious.

Gear Score

Stuff I Need*	Gear	Darkbrew
Giant's Bane	1	0
The Diplomat	1	0
Talonstrike	1	0
Rifled Blastershot Launcher	1	0
Death's Verdict	1	0
Lupine Longstaff	2	0

* Note:  these are things I've seen drop, but haven't won.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1. If you're looking for a raiding guild now is the time to step up your search.  TotC 10/25 normal modes maybe puggable now, but they weren't when 3.2 first came out.  I suspect the same will be true for Icecrown Citadel.
2. I can't wait to get my hands on the new ammo in patch 3.3.  Two crystallized earth for 1K bullets and two crystallized Shadow for 1k arrows.  Very cheap to make.
3. I'm coming to the realization that my next ranged weapon upgrade might actually come from ICC (5) heroic.
4. I used rail against DKP systems; I could really use one right about now.
5. They say patience is a virtue and that good things come to those who wait.  An in-game friend has asked me to be patient.  Okay, I'll play your waiting game.
6. I'm considering having Crusader's Dragonscale Bracers made.  Unless I start doing TotGC (10) these might fit the bill to start in Icecrown.
7. I'm also thinking I'll wait until patch 3.3 hits before I have them made.  I'll sell my orbs now and then just farm what I need when the patch drops.
8. I've been reviewing the e-mail sent to my spam folder.  I've learned two important things about myself.  (1) I have made a profound impression on people that I can't recall ever meeting, and (2) They've all died around the same time.  Creepy, I know.
9. I upgraded to Windows 7.  I'm getting very good at recovering lost data, not so good at backing it up.  Epic Fail.
10. I'm going on vacation next week.  Looking forward to catching up on some sleep.

Quote of the Week I

"Just ask Darkbrew."

This was said to one of the hunters on our Onyxia (25) run.  We had three pallys so he wanted Wisdom to help him with mana issues he was having.  He was told no because the Shammy was handling mana with a totem.  This discussion went on for several minutes.  Finally someone said if you're having mana issues, just ask Darkbrew.

Quote of the Week II

"I don't need to ask Darkbrew!"

This was the hunter's response to quote I.  If dying from a whelp in phase II is your method of conserving mana, then maybe you do need to ask Darkbrew. By the way mana isn't your only issue, but since you're not asking then we're not telling ;)

MMQB: As Good as it Gets

Monday has arrived and that means another raid reset is upon us. Patch 3.3 continues to bake in the oven and it seems close to being done.  More raid bosses were tested, the Halls of Reflection are open, and a lot of the yummy loot has been added to the game.  I have to say the Emblem of Frost Hunter gear is looking nice.  It is itemized well, has red and yellow sockets, agility bonuses, and a distinct lack of haste.

Speaking of gear, I'm coming to the realization that that I could be marching on Icecrown Citadel with my current gear set.  Assuming an early December release for patch 3.3 (I'm thinking 12/8), there just aren't many shopping days left.  Still on the wish list are Ranged, Melee, Legs, Trinket, and Belt; in that order!  I'm going on vacation the week after Thanksgiving, so given my raid schedule that leaves two Onyxia and VoA runs, and one TotC (25) run.  This had better be one heck of a lucky week in terms of drops and rolls, or this may be as good as it gets.

Ten Things I'm Thinking About

1.  There's no point in me checking the guild calendar every 10-minutes to see how many hunters are signed up for Tuesday's run.  It may only be two now, but there's no reason to believe there won't be four when sign-ups close.

2. I couldn't make the guild TotC (25) run this week so I pugged with another guild.  New group, same result; Anub lives to fight another day.  Maybe it's me?

3. Just checked the combat logs, number one on most fights and no deaths except on Anub.  It's not me.

4. The group I pugged with is going after Anub tonight.  Can't say the same for my current guild which couldn't get him down this week either.

5. Anub has three items I could use.  Legs, polearm and belt.  I rolled a 97 on a trophy and lost.  During our run there were a total of four rolls of 100 for various items.  I should probably hope that none of my stuff drops.

6. The guild I pugged with might soon have an opening for a ranged dps class.  I will probably take it.  Finding the right guild is a lot like finding the right company to work for (that's not necessarily a good thing).

7. Loque'Nahak is the coolest pet ever!  I will have to bring him to face Arthas at some point.

8. My old guild's forums are dead.  They used to be a lively place where the officers hung out.  My decision to leave was probably the right move.

9. The Redskins suck this year, but they beat Denver (a team with playoff hopes).  Did I mention that my wife's family is from Denver and are huge Broncos fans? :)

10. My wife and I disagree about how much lettuce should go on sandwich.  Some battles just aren't worth fighting.  I need an office rabbit.