One of my friends in high school was fond of Dune and 2001...a Space Odyssey. I watched both films and read both books as well. Dune made a bigger impression on me, as i hardly recall the 2001 novel and never got around to reading the third book in the series. The first Dune film, on the other hand, was more memorable, and not as true to its novel as i would have liked. With that series of novels...they were a little too politically and religiously involved, even for me. I might be able to enjoy more of it now.
2001, on the other hand...the film has made absolutely no sense to me any of the times i've watched it. What plot i was able to work out was only through other people telling me about it. It isn't relayed through the film itself. Last January we discussed part of the film in my World's Greatest Films class...and the information that the professor relayed to set up the scene is not in the actual film at all. He claimed that the satellites in Earth's orbit carry nuclear weapons (Earth still being in the midst of the Cold War, apparently). It's apparently alluded to in the commentary and interviews, etc., and was originally part of the story, but if you read the Wikipedia page then it's obvious that this information was abandoned. If all you have to go off of is the film itself then such a context never even enters your mind. This is because when the film went to the cinema it had been expunged of all references to nuclear weapons. The original ending, you see, was for the so-called Star Child to make all the nukes detonate. This, i have only learned because of Wikipedia. I'm not taking the time to watch the film again with commentary. While this is purportedly in the novel (i don't remember), this information is not in the film, and Clark and Kubrick seem clear than the two stories are not meant to be identical.
But i did watch the film again last night. I wanted to see it again post WGF Clockwork Orange viewing and since it was referenced on Stargate Universe (which i finally finished watching a couple of nights ago). The biggest thing i noticed was that Alan Tudyk as Sonny in I Robot sounded a lot like HAL. The other thing that i confirmed is that the film lacks a coherent objective, plot, or message. Some people (a couple of my professors, for instance) think that this is an okay thing for a film--or even a novel--to do. I do not agree. Many people seem to go for this kind of art, and accuse those of us who don't to be afraid or dumb or something or other. Personally, i just don't think that something can be considered art unless it is expressive and communicates something. There are lots of pretty paintings out there that are nothing more than blobs of color, sculptures that are nothing but a cacophony of shapes. But without a certain framework, then the artist is just being lazy. That's my feeling about it anyway, it might not be rational, but there it is. Which isn't to say that if i look at an abstract i'm guaranteed to get nothing out of it.
But with film, in particular, i think that it is important for a screenwriter and director to actually do their jobs and not only provide a story but effectively portray and communicate what it is to the audience. Now, the argument with 2001 is that Kubrick was being vague, surreal, realistic, and even that it is impossible to communicate a plot when there is limited dialogue. This last point is ridiculous. I grew up being familiar with several of the Chaplin films which do communicate a plot with minimal textual and no verbal information. I have also watched foreign films, anime, and other silent films that are perfectly able to communicate a message through music, movement, color, etc. I can understand the plot points, if not the details, even without subtitles. I am forced to conclude that Kubrick was either being lazy or thumbing his nose at us.
If i were watching the film with no outside source information from a novel, reviews, or research...i would be forced to conclude that i had watched a horrific film where the computers that are designed to protect us instead murder us and that the alien beings who created and guided our evolution are just as ill-intentioned. However, the final part of the film, that of the Star Child...makes no sense whatsoever. I have no idea why Bowman found the trip to be so horrific and his becoming a huge baby that appears to still be in the womb...only there is no womb and he has no mother...but can exist in space?!? Pure fantasy, impossible, we might as well be tripping or hallucinating.
Technically, the cinematography is menacing as well as beautiful. The music reinforces this. The models and science seem to be accurate but it is all stilted and the presentation bores one almost to tears. In the real year 2001 and 2011 we all use technology and are excited about it (even some of us in Third World countries). In this film the technology seems tedious on one hand, far beyond what we have been able to yet achieve on the other. I am forced to conclude that Kubrick meant to bore us and scare us at the same time. The three tools do not work with each other, in fact their messages are conflicting and cause yet more confusion.
Now i realize that this film was considered to be a landmark achievement and made tons of money. And i know that some people see Kubrick as god. But i really don't get it. After watching all of the Lord of the Rings special features again, and then watching this again, i really do not have a high opinion of Kubrick at all. He did not successfully communicate with the viewer, he did not do his job. To sum up, he failed on an epic scale and was teaching us what worked and what doesn't. I love science fiction, and he turns me off. There is so much potential here but it's all muddled, it's painful for me to watch or even think about. I find 2010 to be so much more enjoyable and the changes, really, are very slight. In retrospect i think that one of the things that is hardest to overcome in this film is how very flat the characters are. We know next-to-nothing about them and do not care whether they live or die. Which is probably what made me think of LotR, besides those films being epic is how very much that is communicated without words. Most of all, you can understand and enjoy the plot without reading the novel, but then, why would you want to? The LotR films point to Tolkien as their source material. 2001...it's just as much fantasy, but not nearly as believable or enjoyable.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Wednesday, November 02, 2011
the countdown
I meant to post as soon as i found out about the newest WoW expansion, Mists of Pandaria (now forever to be known as "mop"...seriously?), but Blogger or the nets or something was just not working right. First off, i was skeptical. I don't particularly care for the pandaren non-combat pet. But i eventually realized that i love the Star Trek and Firefly references (etc.) that they put into the game, so why shouldn't they put in some Kung Fu Panda, too? It is an awesome movie, and i love martial arts in certain action films, so why shouldn't that be incorporated into the game? My biggest concern is the lore/plot being advanced, which they are being very hush hush about, so maybe MoP will be the best xpac yet. Trying to be optimistic...
Secondly, i was super upset the first night about losing melee weapons as a hunter, but i can't say that i'm at all surprised. Taking the dead zone away does nothing to change the fact that i have always wanted my Hunter to be a true dps hybrid capable of defending herself when mobs collapse into melee range. Legolas was awesome with his pair of knives but hunters, sadly, are not allowed the same privilege. However, unless they fix focus then i can't say that i will be playing a hunter anymore at all All i'm really doing on her right now is trying to get my last couple of mounts for the achieve (i'm sitting pretty on 93 mounts right now...more on this later). I prefer playing my shammy even while my shammy continues to feel like an alt. I am a hunter through and through, and being alienated like this has not been a fun journey over the past few years.
Thirdly, i opped into the year long membership. Free Diablo 3 and guaranteed in to the MoP beta?!? Worth it even if i am going to (possibly) be mostly playing SWTOR for a while. So right now i'm finally working (even if it is a crap job) and am looking into upgrading my power source and graphic/video card. Hopefully this will be happening very soon, within the next paycheck or two.
Lastly, i have been leveling two alliance characters on another server with a new friend. I'm up to lvl 66 on my worgen druid and 62 on my human spriest. I have been wanting to lvl as alliance for a while, to see what it was like if nothing else, but it still doesn't sit right with me after 65 levels+. I am horde through and through. It seriously messes with my head. I leveled my belf spriest to 65 and did a little bank maintenance on my 45 belf rogue a couple of days ago and had to keep stopping myself from approaching alliance flight master in Gadgetzan, for instance. Just today i decided to take Lui to OL and my first inclination was to turn left to go to the flight master just inside the gate. I don't know that i want to even raid on these characters, though i have enjoyed leveling them i constantly feel as if i'm a deserter or being unfaithful because of the faction change. I keep wondering if this game will ever do away with factions entirely or even fracture them further (the horde definitely seems to be on the verge of breaking apart). MoP seems to be a step closer to that no matter how much they try to deny it.
No screenshots for most of this, but recent acquisitions that i'm proud of...my last two AQ mounts (including the red one!), the Venomhide Ravasaur, and an Amani Battle Bear on both my mains (shown here on Fyre).
Oh and did i mention? I was able to tame Deth'tilac with the help of a guildee and a couple of his friends. You have to be able to kite perfectly do this alone... alas i am fallible and needed help.
Lastly, my countdown is not to the newest expansion (though i'm sure that will be coming sooner than we had to wait for Cat). I've been wanting to screenshot my last ten mounts as i acquire them. Let me just say that Coren, the Baron (is it still the Baron who's in Strat?), Kael, Skadi, and Greta (curse you!) have not been kind. You may have noticed that there was a name that wasn't on that list that you might have expected. /cackle
90+91 = two Goblin trikes (my Ambassador title is finally complete again...that is, until MoP)
92 = Flameward Hippogryff
93 = Headless Horseman's Mount!!!
I am really hoping that i'm not going to have to start grinding Argent Dawn dailies in order to get 7 more mounts. I foresee a lot of archaelogy and fishing in my immediate future. That and hoping for rare drops and more Call to Arms on Fyre with a mailbox a quick click away. Is that cheating? How many times have i run Occ and UtP only to see nothing drop?!?
Secondly, i was super upset the first night about losing melee weapons as a hunter, but i can't say that i'm at all surprised. Taking the dead zone away does nothing to change the fact that i have always wanted my Hunter to be a true dps hybrid capable of defending herself when mobs collapse into melee range. Legolas was awesome with his pair of knives but hunters, sadly, are not allowed the same privilege. However, unless they fix focus then i can't say that i will be playing a hunter anymore at all All i'm really doing on her right now is trying to get my last couple of mounts for the achieve (i'm sitting pretty on 93 mounts right now...more on this later). I prefer playing my shammy even while my shammy continues to feel like an alt. I am a hunter through and through, and being alienated like this has not been a fun journey over the past few years.
Thirdly, i opped into the year long membership. Free Diablo 3 and guaranteed in to the MoP beta?!? Worth it even if i am going to (possibly) be mostly playing SWTOR for a while. So right now i'm finally working (even if it is a crap job) and am looking into upgrading my power source and graphic/video card. Hopefully this will be happening very soon, within the next paycheck or two.
Lastly, i have been leveling two alliance characters on another server with a new friend. I'm up to lvl 66 on my worgen druid and 62 on my human spriest. I have been wanting to lvl as alliance for a while, to see what it was like if nothing else, but it still doesn't sit right with me after 65 levels+. I am horde through and through. It seriously messes with my head. I leveled my belf spriest to 65 and did a little bank maintenance on my 45 belf rogue a couple of days ago and had to keep stopping myself from approaching alliance flight master in Gadgetzan, for instance. Just today i decided to take Lui to OL and my first inclination was to turn left to go to the flight master just inside the gate. I don't know that i want to even raid on these characters, though i have enjoyed leveling them i constantly feel as if i'm a deserter or being unfaithful because of the faction change. I keep wondering if this game will ever do away with factions entirely or even fracture them further (the horde definitely seems to be on the verge of breaking apart). MoP seems to be a step closer to that no matter how much they try to deny it.
No screenshots for most of this, but recent acquisitions that i'm proud of...my last two AQ mounts (including the red one!), the Venomhide Ravasaur, and an Amani Battle Bear on both my mains (shown here on Fyre).
Oh and did i mention? I was able to tame Deth'tilac with the help of a guildee and a couple of his friends. You have to be able to kite perfectly do this alone... alas i am fallible and needed help.
Lastly, my countdown is not to the newest expansion (though i'm sure that will be coming sooner than we had to wait for Cat). I've been wanting to screenshot my last ten mounts as i acquire them. Let me just say that Coren, the Baron (is it still the Baron who's in Strat?), Kael, Skadi, and Greta (curse you!) have not been kind. You may have noticed that there was a name that wasn't on that list that you might have expected. /cackle
90+91 = two Goblin trikes (my Ambassador title is finally complete again...that is, until MoP)
92 = Flameward Hippogryff
93 = Headless Horseman's Mount!!!
I am really hoping that i'm not going to have to start grinding Argent Dawn dailies in order to get 7 more mounts. I foresee a lot of archaelogy and fishing in my immediate future. That and hoping for rare drops and more Call to Arms on Fyre with a mailbox a quick click away. Is that cheating? How many times have i run Occ and UtP only to see nothing drop?!?
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
you tell me this now?
I found this on WoW Insider a few days ago about T13 set bonuses (the proc being off Arcane Shot):
"The challenge that MM faces currently is that it can do more damage by hardcasting Aimed Shot than by using Arcane Shot as a focus dump."
Yeah, i've been theorycrafting on my hunter for weeks (if not months) now and you just tell me that now? I mean, i've seen one or two people advocate hardcasting Aimed Shot while Rapid Fire is up, but then my own work at the Training Dummy and other people discredited such theories. The trouble with using Aimed Shot as a focus dump is that it has a reallllly long cast time and a reallllly high focus cost so that means that you are capped the entire time you are trying to cast it (assuming that you don't get interrupted or have to move, mind you!). Aimed Shot is completely impractical, Master Marksman usually procs just as the mob is dying, and until it's added to the Aspect of the Fox list... So how??? I don't even know how to begin to try to master it. How do you force an elephant into a slot left for a mouse?
Notice i used "cast it"? I want to be able to say "shoot it" or "aim it", something that sound like an actual Hunter, but instead Blizz has made us more like casters than ever before.
Arcane Shot...i don't know why i hate it so much, i just do. It's like Serpent Sting before it was buffed, completely worthless, or at least nearly useless, and the "experts" can't seem to decide whether it should be spammed or panned. Hunters aren't casters, we aren't meant to do magic damage (#1 reason to take mana away from us, but now you want to make us more like casters??? Which is exactly what Aimed Shot, Cobra Shot, and Steady Shot do).
#1 reason i am considering quitting WoW...is that i don't like feeling this way about Blizz, as if anything i like about my class is only going to be taken away from me, and anything that i don't like about my class will eventually get worse, too.
Another example of this: Raid Finder will only be for 25 mans and will yield no VP. There's no reason for me to go in. I get instantly DCed in 25 mans, it's hard enough staying connected and viable in 10 mans (actually, it's impossible even with my video settings turned down ALL THE WAY save for Particle Density). And the only way to get VP is to do defunct raids or 3 heroics that i don't know if i will be able to do or if they will be like ZA/ZG and you have to outgear it for it to be fun, fast, viable.
Why do i even play this game anymore?
"The challenge that MM faces currently is that it can do more damage by hardcasting Aimed Shot than by using Arcane Shot as a focus dump."
Yeah, i've been theorycrafting on my hunter for weeks (if not months) now and you just tell me that now? I mean, i've seen one or two people advocate hardcasting Aimed Shot while Rapid Fire is up, but then my own work at the Training Dummy and other people discredited such theories. The trouble with using Aimed Shot as a focus dump is that it has a reallllly long cast time and a reallllly high focus cost so that means that you are capped the entire time you are trying to cast it (assuming that you don't get interrupted or have to move, mind you!). Aimed Shot is completely impractical, Master Marksman usually procs just as the mob is dying, and until it's added to the Aspect of the Fox list... So how??? I don't even know how to begin to try to master it. How do you force an elephant into a slot left for a mouse?
Notice i used "cast it"? I want to be able to say "shoot it" or "aim it", something that sound like an actual Hunter, but instead Blizz has made us more like casters than ever before.
Arcane Shot...i don't know why i hate it so much, i just do. It's like Serpent Sting before it was buffed, completely worthless, or at least nearly useless, and the "experts" can't seem to decide whether it should be spammed or panned. Hunters aren't casters, we aren't meant to do magic damage (#1 reason to take mana away from us, but now you want to make us more like casters??? Which is exactly what Aimed Shot, Cobra Shot, and Steady Shot do).
#1 reason i am considering quitting WoW...is that i don't like feeling this way about Blizz, as if anything i like about my class is only going to be taken away from me, and anything that i don't like about my class will eventually get worse, too.
Another example of this: Raid Finder will only be for 25 mans and will yield no VP. There's no reason for me to go in. I get instantly DCed in 25 mans, it's hard enough staying connected and viable in 10 mans (actually, it's impossible even with my video settings turned down ALL THE WAY save for Particle Density). And the only way to get VP is to do defunct raids or 3 heroics that i don't know if i will be able to do or if they will be like ZA/ZG and you have to outgear it for it to be fun, fast, viable.
Why do i even play this game anymore?
green/purple, red/red/red...amber?!?
Yeah, i saw the second episode...it was a little better.
SPOILERS! / theories
The first thing that everyone sees (in the "Previously on Fringe" bit) is Walter telling us that there is an infinite number of universes out there. So it hits me: This season of the show isn't either of the universes that the last three seasons were about. Well, it might be the red universe is still the alternate universe, but "our" universe just doesn't exist anymore. We're stuck in an amber universe now (which is disheartening, to say the least, as we now associate this color with Amber and being frozen alive indefinitely). But this is abundantly obvious through Anna Torv's brilliant acting. Fauxlivia is vastly different from Olivia who is vastly different from who we now have...let's call her Frostlivia.
Where is Charlie?
Proof (re: step-father's fate): child Peter changed child Olivia's life (and therefore future). Is he even capable of reaching Frostlivia? Is anything of Olivia even left?!?
Incidentally, about last week... I like Lincoln, but whose bright idea was it to try to transfer the audience's primary interest onto him and away from Olivia? What, she's not interesting and empathetic-evoking enough without Peter all of a sudden?
SPOILERS! / theories
The first thing that everyone sees (in the "Previously on Fringe" bit) is Walter telling us that there is an infinite number of universes out there. So it hits me: This season of the show isn't either of the universes that the last three seasons were about. Well, it might be the red universe is still the alternate universe, but "our" universe just doesn't exist anymore. We're stuck in an amber universe now (which is disheartening, to say the least, as we now associate this color with Amber and being frozen alive indefinitely). But this is abundantly obvious through Anna Torv's brilliant acting. Fauxlivia is vastly different from Olivia who is vastly different from who we now have...let's call her Frostlivia.
Where is Charlie?
Proof (re: step-father's fate): child Peter changed child Olivia's life (and therefore future). Is he even capable of reaching Frostlivia? Is anything of Olivia even left?!?
Incidentally, about last week... I like Lincoln, but whose bright idea was it to try to transfer the audience's primary interest onto him and away from Olivia? What, she's not interesting and empathetic-evoking enough without Peter all of a sudden?
Friday, September 30, 2011
NS...down
Re: chess...I found out that with a macro you can leave pieces and enter new ones. Two hours worth of tries later and i still can't solo the dang thing.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
the man in the mirror
I finally had the chance to watch the premiere of Fringe's fourth season... There were several things that i noticed, one of which was that Lee's dead partner believed that "everything happened for a reason." Just one of those weird moments where it connects to me but i know that it's really only because this is an Abrams show and that was something they used to say on Lost. It's not like anyone really reads my blog, my title came from them, not the other way around.
So, observations:
So, observations:
Friday, September 23, 2011
Legendary insult
So i've known for a while now that the new Legendary is going to be for Rogues. I didn't really pay any attention to it other than seeing some Enh Shammies complain that there aren't many weapons in the game that they can use. But today i was reading on the 4.3 dungeon and raid changes...and saw that this Legendary is going to be a pair of daggers specified Rogue only. And suddenly it just hit me in the gut and i realized...that means that if it weren't specified Rogue only that my Hunter would have been able to use those. So not only can my Enh Shammy probably not find any more upgrades except off like two or three raid bosses that no one wants to run...but my Hunter is still getting the shaft from Blizz because they refuse to let us dual wield anymore because the stats aren't competitive with two-handers. What jerks.
Addendum to my last post. If i didn't mention it before, i'm screaming it now:
JUST LET ME DUAL WIELD AGAIN.
Yes, it's another piece of gear that i have to find an upgrade for. But for crying out loud, i'm running with a huge fugly scythe. You've shoved some fugly weapons at me before and i complained then too but used them. At least i will be able to transmorg this thing right away because it looks horrible. But it just doesn't feel right not having two daggers, a dagger and a sword, or a dagger and a fist hanging off my belt. Or an axe... It's bad enough that my shammy can't use swords and i can't use maces but you just keep pigeonholing us more and more. Pretty soon...what else is going to be left?
Addendum to my last post. If i didn't mention it before, i'm screaming it now:
JUST LET ME DUAL WIELD AGAIN.
Yes, it's another piece of gear that i have to find an upgrade for. But for crying out loud, i'm running with a huge fugly scythe. You've shoved some fugly weapons at me before and i complained then too but used them. At least i will be able to transmorg this thing right away because it looks horrible. But it just doesn't feel right not having two daggers, a dagger and a sword, or a dagger and a fist hanging off my belt. Or an axe... It's bad enough that my shammy can't use swords and i can't use maces but you just keep pigeonholing us more and more. Pretty soon...what else is going to be left?
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Hunter Class Feedback... the full response
I tried to post this on the official forums but they kept on telling me that (shortened) versions were too long, simply lost one of my drafts, and in the end and it didn't post at all so far as i know.
What type of content do you focus on? [PvE/PvP/Both]
I usually PvE more than anything, but lately I've been trying to do more PvP, too.
If PvE, what type of PvE? [Heroics/Raids/Other]
Back in BC I would do heroics and raids with my guild. In Wrath if I wasn't in a guild who was willing to take me to raids then there was nothing for me to do but Heroics. Any PUG Raid that I managed to get into would have 2-3 other hunters. Now in Cat my GM is telling me that I don't do enough DPS even when I switched to MM and some nights I am getting DCed in raids so all I feel is frustration. They tell me to talk to a great hunter to fix my shot rotation (which is only what they and websites have already told me to use) but I don't know any...all of the ones that I sometimes run with have better gear and less DPS and the ones I see when I am on my healer...most of them have no idea how to play the class properly, and again, do less DPS than I do.
If PvP, what type of PvP? [Arenas, BGs, Rated BGs]
BGs...I haven't run an arena since BC. I used to sometimes do World PvP, and Tarren Mill feels wrong without having to look behind your back or try to run away from Allies. But overall I feel PvP should be more about player skill and less about how much gear you have that makes you invincible.
What are your biggest quality-of-life issues? For instance, no longer requiring ammo could be considered a quality-of-life improvement for hunters.
I miss mana. It worked great in Wrath and was manageable in BC from what I recall. With focus you are constantly oof. When I played Surv, Cobra Shot felt natural to weave in between shots, and for a while I picked up ISS and that worked for me. I wouldn't go oof very often and would use Kill Command for my focus dump, NEVER arcane shot. As MM, there's more focus, but the CDs don't line up. MM is about waiting for the next thing to proc/CD to come up. So what you do is spam Steady Shot until you're 65-80% full, then spam CS, (AiS), AS, AS, (AS), SS, SS, SS, SS...People tell me to keep Serpent up but it doesn't do much damage like when I was in Surv and I actually (finally) liked it.
So to sum up...I originally hated focus. I <3 Surv because you can manage focus in a better way, are rarely required to just stand there and channel to get focus back... and I feel like I am helping the group out in more ways. I hate MM because it is so Steady Shot dependent and requires my attention so sometimes I start to stare at my bars. If I don't AS every GCD then I'm losing DPS, but if I AS I can't CS...so I'm just screwed. And then I'm standing in the wrong place, didn't notice that I needed to get something off the Healer, and that's a wipe.
Re: the Dead Zone...I can understand why this exists and I like that it's smaller, but it's true in PVP that Rogues, Warriors, Paladins, and DKs will all be able to keep you in melee range and usually stunlocked to boot. I'm getting better about getting out of it, but before Master's Call (and if your PvP trink is on CD) then you are just out of luck. You can use it only to have them wait 5s and do it to you again. And there are no self heals so while they're not even taking damage from you, they also have a self heal. But I have never understood why Hunters are not allowed to melee. Two semi-useless abilities...I think it would make a lot more sense to allow us to have a couple of melee abilities that would do less damage but allow us to finish the job when Allies collapse on us or when DPS has to collapse on a boss and would allow us to regenerate Focus (or preferably Mana). All other Ranged DPS can do the same amount of DPS when their target is far away or close, why are hunters singled out like this?
Traps arming too late or mobs walking right around them, the disappearing pet bar (holdover from BC problems, really). I don't have a problem keeping my pet alive, most hunters don't heal theirs at all, but mine stays alive longer and does more dps to boot. Camo being useless: I want to think that it means I can get closer to trap, like rogues' sap, but often time it will only cause a pull (ZA on Bear). Unlike Sap, Ice Trap also causes a pull once it wears off, so broken. Everyone/thing can see through it, sometimes even low level mobs if you're too close, so what's the point? Kill Command: pet is out of range when I've told it repeatedly to follow me to new target, think Nef/Ony.
What makes playing your class more fun?
More instant shots. I have always loved trapping, but usually this only happens when you undergear a place. In fact many of our shots are situation and seldom used such as Tranq, Silence, etc. I like knowing that if all else fails I can still Distracting Shot, Scatter Shot, Freeze Trap at mob's feet...and still have Wyvern Sting for that other mob, too (which I can't do as MM). But even more than benefiting my own personal DPS (which I do wish was higher) I really want to be able to help the raid/party survive.
What makes playing your class less fun?
Being oof, being told that my dps isn't as high as it should be, that I have to play a certain spec or I'm fail/noob/idiot. I would also like to be able to play a Hybrid for soloing if nothing else but you can't even get into third tier.
How do you feel about your “rotation”? (Rotation is the accepted order in which abilities are used to maximum efficiency.)
Surv - Not as good as I would like, but doable. But not high enough dps.
MM - Frustrated, oof, I need to be able to kill that or we wipe! So do I allow myself to cap so I won't be off when I need it most?
What’s on your wish list for your class?
Armor for pets (and coincidentally i think that Druids should have armor in form). Pet talents that actually benefit the raid and aren't overwritten by 2-3 other classes. Better shots, better melee. Bigger focus bar/cheaper shots that actually do a lot of dps or mana back.
What spells do you use the least?
I don't use any "spells" as I'm not a caster. But Immolation Trap, Widow Venom, Arcane as Surv, Cobra or Kill Command as MM
What type of content do you focus on? [PvE/PvP/Both]
I usually PvE more than anything, but lately I've been trying to do more PvP, too.
If PvE, what type of PvE? [Heroics/Raids/Other]
Back in BC I would do heroics and raids with my guild. In Wrath if I wasn't in a guild who was willing to take me to raids then there was nothing for me to do but Heroics. Any PUG Raid that I managed to get into would have 2-3 other hunters. Now in Cat my GM is telling me that I don't do enough DPS even when I switched to MM and some nights I am getting DCed in raids so all I feel is frustration. They tell me to talk to a great hunter to fix my shot rotation (which is only what they and websites have already told me to use) but I don't know any...all of the ones that I sometimes run with have better gear and less DPS and the ones I see when I am on my healer...most of them have no idea how to play the class properly, and again, do less DPS than I do.
If PvP, what type of PvP? [Arenas, BGs, Rated BGs]
BGs...I haven't run an arena since BC. I used to sometimes do World PvP, and Tarren Mill feels wrong without having to look behind your back or try to run away from Allies. But overall I feel PvP should be more about player skill and less about how much gear you have that makes you invincible.
What are your biggest quality-of-life issues? For instance, no longer requiring ammo could be considered a quality-of-life improvement for hunters.
I miss mana. It worked great in Wrath and was manageable in BC from what I recall. With focus you are constantly oof. When I played Surv, Cobra Shot felt natural to weave in between shots, and for a while I picked up ISS and that worked for me. I wouldn't go oof very often and would use Kill Command for my focus dump, NEVER arcane shot. As MM, there's more focus, but the CDs don't line up. MM is about waiting for the next thing to proc/CD to come up. So what you do is spam Steady Shot until you're 65-80% full, then spam CS, (AiS), AS, AS, (AS), SS, SS, SS, SS...People tell me to keep Serpent up but it doesn't do much damage like when I was in Surv and I actually (finally) liked it.
So to sum up...I originally hated focus. I <3 Surv because you can manage focus in a better way, are rarely required to just stand there and channel to get focus back... and I feel like I am helping the group out in more ways. I hate MM because it is so Steady Shot dependent and requires my attention so sometimes I start to stare at my bars. If I don't AS every GCD then I'm losing DPS, but if I AS I can't CS...so I'm just screwed. And then I'm standing in the wrong place, didn't notice that I needed to get something off the Healer, and that's a wipe.
Re: the Dead Zone...I can understand why this exists and I like that it's smaller, but it's true in PVP that Rogues, Warriors, Paladins, and DKs will all be able to keep you in melee range and usually stunlocked to boot. I'm getting better about getting out of it, but before Master's Call (and if your PvP trink is on CD) then you are just out of luck. You can use it only to have them wait 5s and do it to you again. And there are no self heals so while they're not even taking damage from you, they also have a self heal. But I have never understood why Hunters are not allowed to melee. Two semi-useless abilities...I think it would make a lot more sense to allow us to have a couple of melee abilities that would do less damage but allow us to finish the job when Allies collapse on us or when DPS has to collapse on a boss and would allow us to regenerate Focus (or preferably Mana). All other Ranged DPS can do the same amount of DPS when their target is far away or close, why are hunters singled out like this?
Traps arming too late or mobs walking right around them, the disappearing pet bar (holdover from BC problems, really). I don't have a problem keeping my pet alive, most hunters don't heal theirs at all, but mine stays alive longer and does more dps to boot. Camo being useless: I want to think that it means I can get closer to trap, like rogues' sap, but often time it will only cause a pull (ZA on Bear). Unlike Sap, Ice Trap also causes a pull once it wears off, so broken. Everyone/thing can see through it, sometimes even low level mobs if you're too close, so what's the point? Kill Command: pet is out of range when I've told it repeatedly to follow me to new target, think Nef/Ony.
What makes playing your class more fun?
More instant shots. I have always loved trapping, but usually this only happens when you undergear a place. In fact many of our shots are situation and seldom used such as Tranq, Silence, etc. I like knowing that if all else fails I can still Distracting Shot, Scatter Shot, Freeze Trap at mob's feet...and still have Wyvern Sting for that other mob, too (which I can't do as MM). But even more than benefiting my own personal DPS (which I do wish was higher) I really want to be able to help the raid/party survive.
What makes playing your class less fun?
Being oof, being told that my dps isn't as high as it should be, that I have to play a certain spec or I'm fail/noob/idiot. I would also like to be able to play a Hybrid for soloing if nothing else but you can't even get into third tier.
How do you feel about your “rotation”? (Rotation is the accepted order in which abilities are used to maximum efficiency.)
Surv - Not as good as I would like, but doable. But not high enough dps.
MM - Frustrated, oof, I need to be able to kill that or we wipe! So do I allow myself to cap so I won't be off when I need it most?
What’s on your wish list for your class?
Armor for pets (and coincidentally i think that Druids should have armor in form). Pet talents that actually benefit the raid and aren't overwritten by 2-3 other classes. Better shots, better melee. Bigger focus bar/cheaper shots that actually do a lot of dps or mana back.
What spells do you use the least?
I don't use any "spells" as I'm not a caster. But Immolation Trap, Widow Venom, Arcane as Surv, Cobra or Kill Command as MM
how many pies does Vol'Jin have his fingers in?
Having recently read this piece of speculation and leveled an undead warrior to lvl 22, i am really interested to see what is going to be happening with the Undead in the near future. But all of a sudden...i'm wondering about Vol'Jin. I think it's clear that Crommush has a crush on/devotion to Sylvanas and is just about the worst person Garrosh could have chosen for the job, but is Vol'Jin in on the/a plan (assuming there is one)?
So i was in ZA with my shammy, trying to heal Dragonhawk boss. For some reason we could not get him down, even though i've done it many times before (Did he get buffed during the rolling restarts this morning? Because my gear has been improving and i did a mount run earlier today without any trouble whatsoever). So eventually i dropped group and took a look around outside. Who has noticed that it's changed since when ZA was a raid? Well it has.
There are Trolls, Blood Elves in t5 with sick bows, and what i thought at first were belfs possibly modeling awesome air-inspired Hunter T13 (that seriously looks part hunter, part pally) turned out to be High Elves. After running around the area for a bit i eventually noticed Vol'jin was having a pow wow with someone unexpected.
Apparently Halduron Brightwing, Ranger General of Silvermoon City, is meeting Vol'Jin and none other than Vereesa Windrunner...Sylvanas' youngest sister. Not only that, but Brightwing has called Vereesa for aid without getting permission! The Regent is sending a messenger to find out what's going on...and Brightwing is all "I'll do what I want, it's my job to protect the city."
My initial reaction was to assume that Vereesa is a Belf (or at least friendly towards them) and that she's going to be the new head of the Belves come 4.3 or 5.1 or something. She is Level ?? Boss, after all. But upon looking her up i discovered that things are a little more complicated than that. I had read about her before on WoWWiki, way back before Wrath went live. She married a human in one of the books and had twins. That human is none other than Rhonin, leader of the Kirin Tor. She is currently in Dalaran (since Wrath in game) with her hubby and doesn't think blood elves should be allowed in the Kirin Tor. As Ranger General of the Silver Covenant...she is friendly to allies, not the horde, despite the fact that her husband is friendly to both. So what is she doing outside ZA conspiring with the guy who's in charge of defending SMC and the leader of the Trolls (who is actively subverting the power of one Garrosh Hellscream)?!
I can understand Vol'Jin being in Booty Bay (with the widespread troll incursions) but all seems to be quiet in the Ghostlands... Except for the amassing High Elves and Blood Elves. So is Vereesa going to have a change of heart about Blood Elves? Or is Dalaran going to try to take SMC back for the High Elves? And if that's the case...what on earth is Vol'Jin doing there? I know that Garrosh doesn't trust Sylvanas, but i thought that Vol'Jin was on good terms with her. I am very confused right now and starting to get very excited to see if Blood Elf lore is going to be pulled into the changing Undead lore.
So i was in ZA with my shammy, trying to heal Dragonhawk boss. For some reason we could not get him down, even though i've done it many times before (Did he get buffed during the rolling restarts this morning? Because my gear has been improving and i did a mount run earlier today without any trouble whatsoever). So eventually i dropped group and took a look around outside. Who has noticed that it's changed since when ZA was a raid? Well it has.
There are Trolls, Blood Elves in t5 with sick bows, and what i thought at first were belfs possibly modeling awesome air-inspired Hunter T13 (that seriously looks part hunter, part pally) turned out to be High Elves. After running around the area for a bit i eventually noticed Vol'jin was having a pow wow with someone unexpected.
Apparently Halduron Brightwing, Ranger General of Silvermoon City, is meeting Vol'Jin and none other than Vereesa Windrunner...Sylvanas' youngest sister. Not only that, but Brightwing has called Vereesa for aid without getting permission! The Regent is sending a messenger to find out what's going on...and Brightwing is all "I'll do what I want, it's my job to protect the city."
My initial reaction was to assume that Vereesa is a Belf (or at least friendly towards them) and that she's going to be the new head of the Belves come 4.3 or 5.1 or something. She is Level ?? Boss, after all. But upon looking her up i discovered that things are a little more complicated than that. I had read about her before on WoWWiki, way back before Wrath went live. She married a human in one of the books and had twins. That human is none other than Rhonin, leader of the Kirin Tor. She is currently in Dalaran (since Wrath in game) with her hubby and doesn't think blood elves should be allowed in the Kirin Tor. As Ranger General of the Silver Covenant...she is friendly to allies, not the horde, despite the fact that her husband is friendly to both. So what is she doing outside ZA conspiring with the guy who's in charge of defending SMC and the leader of the Trolls (who is actively subverting the power of one Garrosh Hellscream)?!
I can understand Vol'Jin being in Booty Bay (with the widespread troll incursions) but all seems to be quiet in the Ghostlands... Except for the amassing High Elves and Blood Elves. So is Vereesa going to have a change of heart about Blood Elves? Or is Dalaran going to try to take SMC back for the High Elves? And if that's the case...what on earth is Vol'Jin doing there? I know that Garrosh doesn't trust Sylvanas, but i thought that Vol'Jin was on good terms with her. I am very confused right now and starting to get very excited to see if Blood Elf lore is going to be pulled into the changing Undead lore.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
dailies...
I can now confirm that being two-boxed (twin-boxed?) is just as deadly as being quad-boxed. Fortunately i will have 150 marks tomorrow.
That is all.
No wait... Lui has been getting mad upgrades and her GS is no longer fail. I guess i'll have to start working on Fyre some more. Raiding and doing heroics yesterday has already gotten me nearly to full of VP for the week. I got some sweet new pants, too.
That is all.
No wait... Lui has been getting mad upgrades and her GS is no longer fail. I guess i'll have to start working on Fyre some more. Raiding and doing heroics yesterday has already gotten me nearly to full of VP for the week. I got some sweet new pants, too.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
MC Raider
Yesterday i was with the guild farming trash in FL not once...but twice. In addition i soloed MC, finally completing every raid in Vanilla.
Incidentally, every time i see FL i still think of Flame Leviathan and mentally shake my fist at him for never giving me any chopper parts.
Incidentally, every time i see FL i still think of Flame Leviathan and mentally shake my fist at him for never giving me any chopper parts.
Monday, August 29, 2011
multiboxing...legal in all 50 states
So last night in the Regrowth and onward into the Molten Front a quad-boxing team of ele shamans kept camping us hordees who were trying to do dailies. Yes, i use a PVP server, that's where my sister's home was when i started rolling characters, and if we were going to play together that was the place to be. But in these areas it has been an unspoken understood that no pvp was going to be going on. I think this is nice considering how challenging the Isle dailies were at first, when i was constantly getting ganked only to change which quest i was working on, be followed, and ganked some more. In that case it was a stunlocking shadowmelding rogue that could eventually be defeated if we got enough guildees together. In this case? 5/5 Vicious Gladiator x 4.
I opened a ticket after dying about 10 times. (S)he kept stealing my kills or killing me just before completing an objective. They weren't technically camping me so much as slaughtering anything and everything that moved. Even with multiple hordees fighting back, we had no hope. Four Lava Bursts to one character = instant death. And if you weren't the focus of this, your dps wasn't even making a dent. The biggest annoyance about this was not having to watch four draenei moving in unison, casting in unison, or three draenei following a fourth. It is that Blizzard considers this to be legal. Sure, if you want to devote all of your time to gearing yourself up season after season, go for it, but some of us have a life, not to mention budget constraints. My "gaming" computer that was sold to me as "more than enough" for WoW can barely handle running one version of the game, let alone four, because it has a horrible graphic/video card. I have no way of competing. I'm not very good at PVP to begin with, i prefer PVE. I think running on a PVP server is more realistic in many ways, but at the same time...if you were running around in France during WWII as an Allied soldier and saw a random Nazi minding his own business, would you instantly decide that he needed to die? Maybe i'm alone in this when i say no.
I understand that a lot of people love to PVP, and that is why it's in the game. But...when i can't even defend myself, it doesn't feel fair. When i'm fighting something else when i'm killed, i still take the 10% armor reduction, even when that mob stays alive and is then killed by the same quad boxer...and the real reason for my death had nothing to do with the mob at all.
Am i just being a sore loser? I can see quadboxing old content (overkill for some of it), but in a non-Arena, non-BG environment, is this fair? Any time i see Loli running around, does this mean i might as well just log on to another character for half an hour?
The Draenei team:
Löli
Løli
Rayko
Admetias
I opened a ticket after dying about 10 times. (S)he kept stealing my kills or killing me just before completing an objective. They weren't technically camping me so much as slaughtering anything and everything that moved. Even with multiple hordees fighting back, we had no hope. Four Lava Bursts to one character = instant death. And if you weren't the focus of this, your dps wasn't even making a dent. The biggest annoyance about this was not having to watch four draenei moving in unison, casting in unison, or three draenei following a fourth. It is that Blizzard considers this to be legal. Sure, if you want to devote all of your time to gearing yourself up season after season, go for it, but some of us have a life, not to mention budget constraints. My "gaming" computer that was sold to me as "more than enough" for WoW can barely handle running one version of the game, let alone four, because it has a horrible graphic/video card. I have no way of competing. I'm not very good at PVP to begin with, i prefer PVE. I think running on a PVP server is more realistic in many ways, but at the same time...if you were running around in France during WWII as an Allied soldier and saw a random Nazi minding his own business, would you instantly decide that he needed to die? Maybe i'm alone in this when i say no.
I understand that a lot of people love to PVP, and that is why it's in the game. But...when i can't even defend myself, it doesn't feel fair. When i'm fighting something else when i'm killed, i still take the 10% armor reduction, even when that mob stays alive and is then killed by the same quad boxer...and the real reason for my death had nothing to do with the mob at all.
Am i just being a sore loser? I can see quadboxing old content (overkill for some of it), but in a non-Arena, non-BG environment, is this fair? Any time i see Loli running around, does this mean i might as well just log on to another character for half an hour?
The Draenei team:
Löli
Løli
Rayko
Admetias
Thursday, August 25, 2011
i < 3 Kara
Yesterday afternoon some guildees started putting together a ICC run that ended up falling through. I was still in a raid with two offline members, so i decided to make the most of it and attempt to solo some BC raids. I had been debating with myself of a couple of days on whether i wanted to go BM and tame a Spirit Beast.
Why? Well a couple of days ago i was trying to solo UtP again (my choices of where to go next for mounts are getting thinner now that i'm exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard) and i still cannot solo the first boss. I always die, usually with Kill Shot up and with her at about 5% health. The braziers and phase 2 are what do it to me. Maybe if i feigned death at the right time...but i don't know what that time would be. Bandages and pots are insufficient, i need to have heals, just one or two would be enough. So the question become survivability. Iorek doesn't do enough damage to get me out, with Sneux it's a close thing that doesn't always happen. So the only thing i could figure was Spirit Mend. Then i discovered that Chimera Shot heals. I haven't been MM since BC, but i ran as that for a long time, a lot longer than i did as BM (even when that was "the" raid spec, i opted to be the SV hunter, even though i didn't really have "enough" agility for Expose Weakness to be a viable raid buff).
So yesterday i went duel spec finally (last time i had checked it cost 1k g to train! When did it become 10g?) and built a soloing/pvp build. Which is crazy because i always thought that SV was the pvp build with its trap bonuses that i never spec into, but apparently MM and BM enthusiasts are insistent that their way is best.
I no longer have any t5 and i'm still getting raid geared for Cata. I couldn't survive Mag and couldn't get past the High King in Gruul's. Kara, however, was a completely different story. I one-shot everything up to Netherspite. I couldn't solo NS because Sneaux can't take the beams so NS would heal to full while i had fatigue. I don't have the burn to take her down before the second phase 2. The only thing i can think of at this point is to try tanking in melee range. This seems ludicrous, but if i'm taking all three beams at once...i don't know. I tried to solo chess, but the first cheat (fire on the floor) occurs while i'm still stuck behind pawns that have yet to be slaughtered. So i can't solo that, either. Basically it looks like i can clear Kara up to NS.
Later in the evening the ICC raid was rebooted and i now have a LK kill under my belt and some achievements to boot. My dps is lame compared to everyone else in the raid, but we beat the rocket ship with only two jet packs (yeah i accidentally started it when i went to the wrong npc and didn't read the text fast enough...it had been a while since i was in ICC once before /facepalm).
Screenshots are forthcoming. I really gotta feed the pets and myself.
Why? Well a couple of days ago i was trying to solo UtP again (my choices of where to go next for mounts are getting thinner now that i'm exalted with Sha'tari Skyguard) and i still cannot solo the first boss. I always die, usually with Kill Shot up and with her at about 5% health. The braziers and phase 2 are what do it to me. Maybe if i feigned death at the right time...but i don't know what that time would be. Bandages and pots are insufficient, i need to have heals, just one or two would be enough. So the question become survivability. Iorek doesn't do enough damage to get me out, with Sneux it's a close thing that doesn't always happen. So the only thing i could figure was Spirit Mend. Then i discovered that Chimera Shot heals. I haven't been MM since BC, but i ran as that for a long time, a lot longer than i did as BM (even when that was "the" raid spec, i opted to be the SV hunter, even though i didn't really have "enough" agility for Expose Weakness to be a viable raid buff).
So yesterday i went duel spec finally (last time i had checked it cost 1k g to train! When did it become 10g?) and built a soloing/pvp build. Which is crazy because i always thought that SV was the pvp build with its trap bonuses that i never spec into, but apparently MM and BM enthusiasts are insistent that their way is best.
I no longer have any t5 and i'm still getting raid geared for Cata. I couldn't survive Mag and couldn't get past the High King in Gruul's. Kara, however, was a completely different story. I one-shot everything up to Netherspite. I couldn't solo NS because Sneaux can't take the beams so NS would heal to full while i had fatigue. I don't have the burn to take her down before the second phase 2. The only thing i can think of at this point is to try tanking in melee range. This seems ludicrous, but if i'm taking all three beams at once...i don't know. I tried to solo chess, but the first cheat (fire on the floor) occurs while i'm still stuck behind pawns that have yet to be slaughtered. So i can't solo that, either. Basically it looks like i can clear Kara up to NS.
Later in the evening the ICC raid was rebooted and i now have a LK kill under my belt and some achievements to boot. My dps is lame compared to everyone else in the raid, but we beat the rocket ship with only two jet packs (yeah i accidentally started it when i went to the wrong npc and didn't read the text fast enough...it had been a while since i was in ICC once before /facepalm).
Screenshots are forthcoming. I really gotta feed the pets and myself.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
nostalgia
The irony of WoW announced transmorgification is that i have always been nostalgic about the tier gear and other raid drops that i earned. If there were any way possible, i would still have all of those old pieces. I had four pieces of (new Naxx) Crypstalker and tier 4 and 5 that it seems so wrong that i was forced to delete. But even more than that...i have always felt a strong pull towards Vanilla content. I've seen a lot of t1 and t2 pieces that went the same way. But nothing gets to me more than the fact that as soon as i hit 60 i started looking at tier gear and fell in love with the original Crypstalker set. I would have loved to get that set, attuned for Naxx, was chomping at the bit to get into there, but i only did once and we couldn't down any of the bosses because we couldn't find a large enough group. There's gear that isn't in the game anymore that i would kill to have. I can't even get into a group that can full clear MC (went once, fell apart with two bosses left), have never been to the Sunwell...but those pieces are still in the game. For an instance that i came to know intimately at the beginning of Wrath, i regret that i no longer have those pieces of Crypstalker, but i still want the original deal.
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