Panther Boss Down

Eat it, beeyatch!

It was our first fight, too. We essentially used the same strategy we had used to bring her down to 1% before she vanished. Except this time the bodies hit the flo' up in this motherfucker.

Bitch seemingly had the last laugh, though as she only dropped a green 18-slot container, which is pretty cool, but not something I would expect from a ZG boss.

It don't matter. We're going to farm that bitch now.

Sleeping happily tonight.

Son Of A Bitch!

Trinity decided to attempt High Priestess Arlokk, from Zul'Gurub, last night with the new sets of Green Whelp Armor for which we had farmed mats for two nights ago. The spawned panthers were giving our healers a real hard time and our mages were not able to contain the mobs with their frost novas or fears due to the timer intervals that disallowed a continuous chain of crowd control.

The armor strategy was ingenious and its potential showed as we had several attempts on the boss that brought us to within 10% of killing her. Arlokk's cleave attack, though, always seemed to decimate critical members of the raid during the last quarter of her life, leaving us scrambling for healing power on those of us who were being mobbed by the panthers and for our main tank on the boss. Mana would run low or priests would die unexpectedly at the beginning of the engagement. Any number of tiny problems without which we would have otherwise killed the boss would plague us.

But it was never so frustrating or infuriating when all but four of the twenty-man party was down with her health meter slipping slowly down through the single-digits only to have her pull her fucking vanishing parlor trick out when she hit less than 1% health. Several of us thought she was dead, until we realized that the panthers were still out and still attacking our members.

It was a wipe.

One motherfucking percent and this bitch decides to vanish on us. Everyone was pissed as all hell.

There are several things that need to be refined in our strategy. It seems the boss sics her pack of panthers based on her aggro queue. On our first attempts we had our Paladins flash heal the main tank so that they would wind up immediately after the tank on the hate list. In that way those with plate armor would take the panthers and deal with them. On some attempts there would be Priests or Druids who would start healing the tank and immediately get the panthers on them. That was not good for someone who wears cloth armor.

God, it was so frustrating to be so close only to have her punk out like that. I've downloaded a video of a successful boss fight to see what we can do better.

We go back to Zul'Gurub tonight.

Endgame: For The Driven

Blizzard claims that World of Warcraft is casual-gamer friendly. And it is. It doesn't take a lot of time to play the game. You can log-in whenever you like, complete some quests, and log-out as you wish. For the first 59 levels of your career this is the game content. Of course there are differences between playing on an RP/PvE server versus a PvP server. Leveling on a PvP server is undoubtedly more difficult as one is constantly griefed by high level assholes wanting to take out their frustrations on lowbies.

But after a few weeks of being level sixty, it seems very apparent that this is the point at which casual gamers will start feeling dissatisfied with the game. There just isn't anything else to achieve. The cap has been hit and questing gives you no experience at all. This is what we call "end game content." And on a PvP server, end game means player-versus-player combat.

Just take a look at how the game's structure is set up for high levels. There are high-level instances like the Molten Core, Blackwing Lair, Zul'Gurub, et al. Yes, there are quests and mini-storylines associated with these instances, but that's not the real reason people go through these instances.

Consider if it was storyline-based: a conventional RPG sends you through an area just once in order to progress the story, correct? Not so with WoW. You're able to go to these high-level instances over and over again. Why? For teh phat lewtz, of course. Epic items drop from Onyxia and from the Zul'Gurub bosses. You gain reputation with several factions in order to purchase high-end PvP gear. You want more damage, more stats, higher critical rates.

And for what? Certainly not to continue on experiencing more game content (though a lot of the high-level dungeons certainly do require a degree of advanced gear to survive).

End-game is all about PvP. You go through instances to get better gear so you can smash your opponent into pieces in PvP. That's all there is to it.

And if you're a casual gamer, this is the type of stuff that holds no type of interest for you. Because it's a jungle out there. I mean, it is a motherfucking bitch at end game.

This is where the assholes and egotistical bitches thrive: stomping opponents into the ground; declaring their supremacy in the virtual world of Azeroth.

And they're good.

There are elite Horde guilds that play Arathi Basin. There is no measure to how hard and how fast they decimate "casual" playing Alliance pick-up groups.

Take, for example, Wickedsix, elite level 60 Undead Rogue. I have been eviscerated by this guy more times than I care to remember. There is little I can do against him than sit back and grimace as my Hunter is torn to shreds by his poison-tipped daggers.

Now I've owned my share of noobs out in the wide world of Azeroth myself. But these guys don't PvP to the extent that others do. It really is a whole different world.

But I keep playing. Because I want teh phat lewtz. Because I want to motherfucking decimate little bitches like Wickedsix.

Why? Because that's what I'm looking to take from World of Warcraft. PvP.

And it's really crazy because when I first started playing WoW, I had no interest in PvP whatsoever. Just like I never had an interest in playing Battlegrounds when they came out. But I'm starting to strategerize how we can stand a chance against Horde opponents. And I want to punch my monitor when we get owned.

I'm getting more into this game than any other game I've ever played. It envelops me when I play. I dream about WoW, as pathetic as it sounds.

Software engineer by day. 60 Hunter by night.

My life is polarized.

I Taut I Taw A Noob!

Don't Assume

Last night I was in Sillithus farming air elementals for Essence of Air, which I need for enchanting weapons with +15 agility. Anyway, so I'm recovering after fighting one elemental when the all-too-familiar dazed icon spins over my head and I realize that I've been sapped by a Rogue.

Oddly enough, instead of getting to work on me the Rogue starts to kill my pet. Initially I thought it was because he wanted to piss me off by finishing off my pet and then killing me. But it was for a different reason entirely, which I will talk about at the end.

Anyway, by the time he kills my pet, the sap has worn off and I feign death, lay an ice trap, and the fool bumbles right into it. I use the time to bandage myself. Immediately after this the Rogue comes out of the trap and starts attacking me. I scatter shot his ass, turn on Aspect of the Cheetah, and high-tail it out of there. With no pet, no mana, and no element of surprise on my side, I didn't have much of a chance to beat this guy so the best I could do was deny him an honor kill.

I knew the Rogue would turn on his sprint ability soon, which is faster than my aspect. Fortunately my distance had taken me out of combat and I dropped another ice trap as I ran. Trailing behind I see the Rogue get trapped a second time. Not wasting another second, I mount up and dust his ass.

Only after arriving at the safety of a neutral town do I stop to think about what happened. A Rogue sapping me and killing my pet first had happened to me before and I finally realized what they were doing: they were assuming I was a fully Beast Mastery-specced Hunter and were eliminating that which could tear their ass bloody (my pet under Beastial Wrath).

I'm not BM-specced in the least. I've got 30 points in Survival and the rest in Marksmanship. But it seems everyone is erring on the side of caution these days when it comes to Hunters. Which is fine because they waste precious time on a relatively harmless element - my cat - while I'm fully dangerous and fully alive.

Anyway, these encounters are the reason I went so far into the Survival tree. Worthless little coward Rogues who try to get a cheap kill aren't going to be rewarded. My survivalist skills allowed me to neutralize the Rogue threat and live to fight another day.

I'll remember his name. When I see him next I will hunt him down and I will kill him. Savagely. Many times.

Dire Maul Giveth!

Wow, what a fucking awesome run of Dire Maul North and West last night. A few of my guildies needed DPS to help them run North side to farm some phat lewtz and to try to level a 57 lowbie so after a very rare instance of winning Arathi Basin, I decided to go with them.

They were doing a Tribute Run, which meant that the possibility for awesome Hunter shit to drop was there. So we get up to the King what's-his-face, and after a mishap involving me not setting a freeze trap in a correct enough location, finally pwn all up in the motherfucker, and what should Kingo drop but motherfucking Leggings of Destruction and Barbarous Blade. At the same time!

Luck, luck, lucky day for me, being the only Hunter in the group. The legs were inferior in Agility stats to my Beaststalker Pants, however, they do carry a +1% to critical bonus, which takes upwards of 53 Agility to hit, so it's definitely a trade-off. At least I get more Stamina and slightly more armor, too.

Barbarous Blade has the same tradeoff with my Ice Barbed Spear. Like I said, we trade Agility for % chance to critical, but I also get +60 Attack Power for both Ranged and Melee. Plus the weapon looks fucking hardcore. Barbarous is a slightly faster weapon than IBS and once I slap a +15 agility enchant on it, the difference between the latter shouldn't be too bad.

I'm still keeping the BS legs and IBS for a pure Stamina/Agility boost should I ever need it. Plus it's always good to carry an extra set of armor and weapons into lengthy raids.

Anyway, after that we look in the tribute chest and Tarnished Elven Ring shows up, which my awesome guildies also let me get.

We decide to run West, which was rough. We wiped two or three times, but in the end I finally got my Backwood Helm, which is totally superior in all ways to my previous head armor.

All in all, I got de-n00bified last night. I'm going to use my sweet critical bonuses in Battlegrounds so I can own Horde even harder.

Alliance Teh Sux0rz At Arathi Basin

Had I known what I know now about the maturity and discipline level of the Alliance faction, I would have created a Horde character instead. Overall, the Horde seems to be older, more mature, and more intelligent than the kids that roll Alliance in order to be the good guys, blah, blah, blah. This disparity is apparent the most in PvP contets like Arathi Basin Battlegrounds.

The point of Arathi Basin is to assault and hold resource points on a map for long enough to get to 2000 resource points before your opponent. This kind of domination requires - no, DEMANDS - absolute coordination, communication, and structure if victory is to be achieved.

Alliance are such noobs.

There have been games where the Horde has destroyed the Alliance so hard and so fast that it's awe-inspiring. All the while general chat on the Alliance side is a pissing contest of childish shit about where we should attack next. Three Horde characters are fully capable of engaging and neutralizing seven or eight Alliance characters, all the while the other twelve Horde are out pwning the shit out of Alliance hold points.

Not that it's too hard to take over Alliance capture points since nobody ever fucking guards them! Nobody gives a shit about holding the points we've taken over. No, because it's much more glorifying to go out and attack Horde for honor kills. Fine. Farm that honor, you fucking noobs, all the while the Horde is gaining reputation with their faction - by winning matches - that will allow them to purchase godly PvP armor and weapons in order to pwn Alliance even harder at Battlegrounds.

Last night I literally wanted to scream at my monitor for the stupidity of an Alliance member. There was the Lumber Mill. Guarded by only one Horde character. Myself and a Paladin went up the hill and started attacking this Horde. The enemy decided to engage me. I fought as best I could, lowering his health to about ten percent before I died. The Paladin finished him off and I thought, "Good, now there's nobody between that pally and the flag." And what does that fucker do? Go on, guess the level of retardedness in that guy.

The motherfucker runs right past the flag and down the hill! Son of a bitch! This nice, juicy, unguarded easy capture was right there and the fucking fucktard bitch-ass prick just walks the fuck away!!!

Serenity now!!!!!

Keyed For Onyxia

So I got home yesterday at around 5:30 in the evening and, after getting some shit done, was online and playing WoW at around 6. Our guild is trying to get as many level 60s "keyed for Onyxia" as possible so that we can make slaying the dragon (Onyxia) a regular guild event. Using thottbot we see that she drops:

-Dragonstalker's Helm
-Mature Black Dragon Sinue
-Ring of Binding
-Windrunner Legguards

Among other pieces of phat lewt. I've only linked those I'd be interested in.

Anyway, so being keyed for Onyxia is a result of a lengthy chain of quests one has to fulfill and I found myself about 75% through the chain yesterday. I was stuck on the Jailbreak! part of the chain and there were a few other people in the guild that also needed to get that part done on through to the end. So we did it.

The group I was in did two Jailbreak runs in a row because one of our group members forgot to talk to Marshal Windsor on a prerequisite quest to receive Jailbreak. So after finishing the run successfully, we had to zone out of the instance, degroup, and then regroup again in order to reset the whole fucking zone and do it all over again. It's not a hard quest, but it is lengthy and it is made easier by clearing a shitload of mobs along the path Windsor walks while you escort him.

So after that we're on a roll and keep going with The Great Masquerade. Except we were thwarted with facilitating the collective group's fulfillment of this quest by a group member who accepted and started the quest before any one of us had the chance to accept it. After waiting another half hour or so for the NPC respawn, we finished this aspect of the quest collectively.

Next stop was Winterpspring to speak with Haleh, an NPC that would tell us how to get to Onyxia. That was a relatively easy task as well. And after we were done with that, the penultimate task was to go to Upper Blackrock Spires (UBRS) and kill a black dragon general at the top.

Our small group met up with our guild's raid group that had just formed to do UBRS. So fifteen of us went into UBRS to slay the black dragon for its blood.

I started the first Jailbreak run at 6:30 that evening. The black dragon general's body hit the pavement at 3:00 AM. I played World of Warcraft yesterday for 8.5 hours straight. I went through over 4,000 arrows and only died once throughout the session.

Being 3 o'clock in the morning I shut my computer off and crashed. I have one more easy step to complete before I am keyed. And then I can help take on Onyxia.

Containing The Pwnage

I've created this blog because my main one, Weapon Of Choice, is supposed to be geared towards the politics of choice and not, as it has been of late, my game playing experiences in World of Warcraft.

As such, I will keep everything that I want to spew about WoW in this blog and it will force me to stay on topic at Weapon. Not that my primary blog will revert to a hard-core politics-only discussion; I'll have the usual general shit that goes on in life that Weapon's always had, but, as I said, it will be steered back on its original track.

And, yes, if anything awesome happens to my Hunter in Azeroth, it will probably go on Weapon since I have more readers there and I want to show off.

Let the ownage begin. Bitches.

(Yes, I realize the template and color schemes are terrible, but I chose a simple template in order to eventually customize it.)