Last night I noticed that FuBar TopScore is working again, and now I can keep track of my highest crits. Still no luck on the DPS monitor though.
TopScore is a pretty sweet little mod though. Worth checking out.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
More Hunter nerfisms
In patch 2.4, there was some stealth changes to the way aggro is generated by pets. Folks have been complaining about pulling hate from their pets far more often than pre-patch, and Blizzard decided that there were enough complaints that they would investigate.
Long before I started playing, it became common hunter knowledge that Boars were the best tanking pets in the game. They have the Charge skill that was able to generate massive amounts of aggro on a single target in an instant. It was the perfect tank, and almost impossible to pull hate off of. Been that way for years.
Unfortunately, when people brought up the aggro issues, Blizzard's "investigation" revealed that the Charge ability has not been functioning properly for years. It's not supposed to generate any addition aggro on a target at all. Hunter's have sworn by Boars as solo-tanking pets for years, and Blizzard has now said "yeah well... tough shit guys."
Long before I started playing, it became common hunter knowledge that Boars were the best tanking pets in the game. They have the Charge skill that was able to generate massive amounts of aggro on a single target in an instant. It was the perfect tank, and almost impossible to pull hate off of. Been that way for years.
Unfortunately, when people brought up the aggro issues, Blizzard's "investigation" revealed that the Charge ability has not been functioning properly for years. It's not supposed to generate any addition aggro on a target at all. Hunter's have sworn by Boars as solo-tanking pets for years, and Blizzard has now said "yeah well... tough shit guys."
Friday, April 4, 2008
Life of a Porcupine, Pt. 1
With such mixed views of paladins out there, and very little view from people who seem to know anything about them, I thought I would attempt to help out anyone looking to play a pally. First off I would like to say that this is mainly for Protection Paladins. Other paladin builds have their uses, but they are not what I play. I will touch a little on them all, but later installments will be Protection specific.
There are resources out there to see what prot palies are capable of. Hobbs videos are a great place to see some good work at it. There should be a link over on the side there. He is good, but he doesn't ever really explain what he's doing, so it's a little much for someone new to figure out. So after about 53 lvls of playing around with it, here's what I know. First, the intro.
Paladins are a class not quite like anything else. You are feared, but why? Our melee damage is laughable at best. We wear plate, but so do warriors. It's all in the playing that makes us feared. Here's a few reasons why in my opinion.
Lesson 1 to playing a Paladin: you make everyone else around you awesome. It's true. With the largest assortment of selectable buffs in the game, you get to choose how to influence everyone around you. Make everyone tougher, cast better, have better resists. Make a rogue hit better, a mage regen faster, keep that squishy shaman from pulling too much agro. All of it is possible with just your buffs.
Lesson 2 to playing a Paladin: Make yourself unkillable. With healing spells, heavy armor, a shield, mana-free bandages, and potions a plenty you should be hard to kill anyways. Add in your bubble shield, and it should be easy to figure out. The fact that the later Divine Shield doesn't stop your attacking either should make this a surefire advantage over other classes, who's bubble either absorbs, or redirects. Ours is invulnerability for a period of time. Game over.
Lesson 3 to playing a Paladin: stopping others. As a Blood elf, you already have a racial ability to AE silence all those around you for a few seconds. This is a serious advantage for a pally who doesn't want a mage to move anyways, and who is forced to play as a blood elf anyways on horde. I always see b elf pallies use this ability more than any other b elf. On top of that you have Hammer of Justice which stuns your target for x amount of seconds. Both of these abilities have cool down, but do NOT be afraid to use them ALL the time. Your hammer should always be used. That rogue running away? NOT ANY MORE! that mage about to get a fireball off? NOPE! My biggest recommendation is to turn on target casting bars in your interface so you always know if your target is casting. As a paly you can't stop every spell out these, but you should never let someone just cast away. Just cause you're hard to kill doesn't mean you need to just take it to the chin.
This will end the first segment. These notes should help you get started and see the view point differences for paladin vs. other classes. We can't out damage you, we can't outrun you, or out cast you. But we sure as hell can outlast you.
Tune in next time, when I attempt to handle paladin combat. The weird and original thing it is.
There are resources out there to see what prot palies are capable of. Hobbs videos are a great place to see some good work at it. There should be a link over on the side there. He is good, but he doesn't ever really explain what he's doing, so it's a little much for someone new to figure out. So after about 53 lvls of playing around with it, here's what I know. First, the intro.
Paladins are a class not quite like anything else. You are feared, but why? Our melee damage is laughable at best. We wear plate, but so do warriors. It's all in the playing that makes us feared. Here's a few reasons why in my opinion.
Lesson 1 to playing a Paladin: you make everyone else around you awesome. It's true. With the largest assortment of selectable buffs in the game, you get to choose how to influence everyone around you. Make everyone tougher, cast better, have better resists. Make a rogue hit better, a mage regen faster, keep that squishy shaman from pulling too much agro. All of it is possible with just your buffs.
Lesson 2 to playing a Paladin: Make yourself unkillable. With healing spells, heavy armor, a shield, mana-free bandages, and potions a plenty you should be hard to kill anyways. Add in your bubble shield, and it should be easy to figure out. The fact that the later Divine Shield doesn't stop your attacking either should make this a surefire advantage over other classes, who's bubble either absorbs, or redirects. Ours is invulnerability for a period of time. Game over.
Lesson 3 to playing a Paladin: stopping others. As a Blood elf, you already have a racial ability to AE silence all those around you for a few seconds. This is a serious advantage for a pally who doesn't want a mage to move anyways, and who is forced to play as a blood elf anyways on horde. I always see b elf pallies use this ability more than any other b elf. On top of that you have Hammer of Justice which stuns your target for x amount of seconds. Both of these abilities have cool down, but do NOT be afraid to use them ALL the time. Your hammer should always be used. That rogue running away? NOT ANY MORE! that mage about to get a fireball off? NOPE! My biggest recommendation is to turn on target casting bars in your interface so you always know if your target is casting. As a paly you can't stop every spell out these, but you should never let someone just cast away. Just cause you're hard to kill doesn't mean you need to just take it to the chin.
This will end the first segment. These notes should help you get started and see the view point differences for paladin vs. other classes. We can't out damage you, we can't outrun you, or out cast you. But we sure as hell can outlast you.
Tune in next time, when I attempt to handle paladin combat. The weird and original thing it is.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
What I wish I had done with my first character, or "Learn from my Mistakes"
Lilt is my 2nd character I've focused on getting to level 70. My first was a Night Elf Hunter named Sylvaris on the Perenolde server. On Lilt, I've done things much differently, and it's made things much more fun. So I'm going to try and give as many tips to new players as possible so they can avoid ending up a clueless level 70 player like I was. This will be done in installments, since each might be somewhat long. I'll try to keep them simple and to the point.
1. PVP
The best time to start running battlegrounds is in the late 20's. You will have 2 available to you: Arathi Basin (AB) and Warsong Gulch (WSG). WSG is a classic capture the flag game, and it's layout is fairly basic. Hunters typically play defense here thanks to their traps and tracking abilities, Rogues and Druids are typically the bes
t flag runners. These aren't set roles, so don't be afraid to defend or capture flags if you're a Paladin or Warrior. This is just typically what certain classes excel at.
AB is a little more complex, requiring your team to hold different points on the map in order to build up points. The first team to 2000 wins. There are many strategies to winning AB you can find online, but I've found that a team that communicates wins. Pay attention to your chat box and always have your minimap open.
Don't be afraid to play defense on either of these battlegrounds when you start out. You will still get small amounts of honor, and you'll gradually develop solid PVP skills that will help you as you progress. Don't be discouraged by losses. You still get marks (which you can spend at the Hall of Legends in Orgrimar or the world entrances to each battleground). Since Venture Co. is a PVP server, you're definitely going to want to establish a reliable strategy for beating other players.
As your leveling, keep in mind that each battleground has a bracket. Each bracket typically caps at 9. Meaning you will be the highest possible level in each bracket at 19,29,39, and 49. There is also a 50-60 bracket, and a 61-70 bracket.
I also find it's helpful to go to the world entrance to the battleground you want to fight in. WSG's entrance is near the border between Ashenvale and Barrens. AB's entrance is in Arathi Highlands, directly behind Hammerfall. When available, the entrance to Alterac Valley is north of Tauren Mill (found in Hillsbrad Foothills). At the world entrances, there are different consumables and rewards that can be bought that aren't available in the Hall of Legends. If you plan on doing se
veral matches in a row, you can spend a few silver and honor points for Battleground specific bandages, food, and potions. They are cheap and easy to resupply between matches.
Don't put off PVP battlegrounds until you're 70. You will be terribly unprepared, and insanely out-geared, and it will be much harder to learn at that point. Every time you've got an 8 or 9 in your level, spend some time to play some matches. It really pays off over time.
How do you do well in these battlegrounds? Well, your gear is a good start, and I'll cover that in the next installment.
1. PVP
The best time to start running battlegrounds is in the late 20's. You will have 2 available to you: Arathi Basin (AB) and Warsong Gulch (WSG). WSG is a classic capture the flag game, and it's layout is fairly basic. Hunters typically play defense here thanks to their traps and tracking abilities, Rogues and Druids are typically the bes
t flag runners. These aren't set roles, so don't be afraid to defend or capture flags if you're a Paladin or Warrior. This is just typically what certain classes excel at.AB is a little more complex, requiring your team to hold different points on the map in order to build up points. The first team to 2000 wins. There are many strategies to winning AB you can find online, but I've found that a team that communicates wins. Pay attention to your chat box and always have your minimap open.
Don't be afraid to play defense on either of these battlegrounds when you start out. You will still get small amounts of honor, and you'll gradually develop solid PVP skills that will help you as you progress. Don't be discouraged by losses. You still get marks (which you can spend at the Hall of Legends in Orgrimar or the world entrances to each battleground). Since Venture Co. is a PVP server, you're definitely going to want to establish a reliable strategy for beating other players.
As your leveling, keep in mind that each battleground has a bracket. Each bracket typically caps at 9. Meaning you will be the highest possible level in each bracket at 19,29,39, and 49. There is also a 50-60 bracket, and a 61-70 bracket.
I also find it's helpful to go to the world entrance to the battleground you want to fight in. WSG's entrance is near the border between Ashenvale and Barrens. AB's entrance is in Arathi Highlands, directly behind Hammerfall. When available, the entrance to Alterac Valley is north of Tauren Mill (found in Hillsbrad Foothills). At the world entrances, there are different consumables and rewards that can be bought that aren't available in the Hall of Legends. If you plan on doing se
veral matches in a row, you can spend a few silver and honor points for Battleground specific bandages, food, and potions. They are cheap and easy to resupply between matches.Don't put off PVP battlegrounds until you're 70. You will be terribly unprepared, and insanely out-geared, and it will be much harder to learn at that point. Every time you've got an 8 or 9 in your level, spend some time to play some matches. It really pays off over time.
How do you do well in these battlegrounds? Well, your gear is a good start, and I'll cover that in the next installment.
Alterac honor tip
I haven't tested this to verify, but I thought I would pass it along.
This is much easier to do if you have the Deadly Boss mod installed, since it gives you a convenient set of movable bars that give countdowns for capture points across the map.
Typically capturing a graveyard or tower in Alterac Valley takes somewhere around 3-5 minutes and nets you healthy amount of bonus honor whenever your team takes one. Once the battleground ends (in victory or defeat, doesn't matter), you have 2 minutes until it closes. You can review your stats at this time. However, if your team was in the process of capturing any tower or graveyard when the match ended, if it completes while you are still reviewing your stats, you get the bonus honor (typically around 42 honor if i recall).
So my tip is, if you have the Deadly Boss mod, check your countdown bars and see if anything will cap during the post-match wrap up. If so, just let it ride.
In the photo below, the Deadly Boss timer is to the left of the minimap showing 1:23 left before that capture succeeds. At the bottom of the stat sheet, you can see the BG closing in 2 minutes. I'm going to test to make sure this works in the next day or two, but waiting that 2 minutes should net me another chunk of free honor.
(click for full screen version)
This is much easier to do if you have the Deadly Boss mod installed, since it gives you a convenient set of movable bars that give countdowns for capture points across the map.
Typically capturing a graveyard or tower in Alterac Valley takes somewhere around 3-5 minutes and nets you healthy amount of bonus honor whenever your team takes one. Once the battleground ends (in victory or defeat, doesn't matter), you have 2 minutes until it closes. You can review your stats at this time. However, if your team was in the process of capturing any tower or graveyard when the match ended, if it completes while you are still reviewing your stats, you get the bonus honor (typically around 42 honor if i recall).
So my tip is, if you have the Deadly Boss mod, check your countdown bars and see if anything will cap during the post-match wrap up. If so, just let it ride.
In the photo below, the Deadly Boss timer is to the left of the minimap showing 1:23 left before that capture succeeds. At the bottom of the stat sheet, you can see the BG closing in 2 minutes. I'm going to test to make sure this works in the next day or two, but waiting that 2 minutes should net me another chunk of free honor.
(click for full screen version)
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Faction add-on
Check out Fizz-widget's Faction Friend.
I highly recommend it.
http://fizzwidget.com/factionfriend/
The thing I like the most is that it actually adds a line in the tooltips so when you hover over an item that can be turned in for faction, it lets you know what faction it's for. For those with access, you'll see I've already placed some faction turn-ins in the guild bank for other people to use if they want.
I highly recommend it.
http://fizzwidget.com/factionfriend/
The thing I like the most is that it actually adds a line in the tooltips so when you hover over an item that can be turned in for faction, it lets you know what faction it's for. For those with access, you'll see I've already placed some faction turn-ins in the guild bank for other people to use if they want.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Note to self regarding pets
At level 64, I need to go to Terrokar and tame a Scorpid Bonecrawler in order to learn Claw 9
from it.Then teach Claw 9 to both of my cats.
Then I need to tame a Dreadfang Widow in Terrokar to learn Bite 9 from it.
Then I need to go to Blade's Edge Mountains and tame my 3rd and final permanent pet, The Rip-Blade Ravager. I will learn Gore 9 from him, then teach him Bite 9 and Dash 3, which I have already learned by that point.
This "3 stable slots only" thing is lame. They had better increase
the # of slots in WotLK.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)