PvP?

Normally, I'm not big on PvP.  I've never done well in Arenas, and never really enjoyed the BGs.  Recently, however, I've been PvPing quite a bit in my free time.  I respecced Ret for arenas last week, and with an arms warrior friend we won 5 of 8 arena matches, which is about the most success I've had in Arenas in my time playing WoW.

So, with this high-flying feeling of success, I've been playing as Ret in my non-raid days and running BGs, Wintergrasp, etc. to get honor and work on getting some PvP gear.  It's been fun...much more fun than it used to be playing as Holy.

So, I've been trying something different lately.  And I encourage you to do the same.  It keeps the game fresh, and you might end up enjoying something you never thought you would.

The Weekend

Well, I got lucky on a Naxx 10 run that my guild threw together and got some T7 shoulders and chestpiece on my hunter during the run.  I was doing about 2.5k dps throughout, which I was pretty happy with.  I volunteered (begged?) the druid leading the raid to let me kite Gluth.  I absolutely LOVE doing it...it's so much fun.  Probably one of my favorite things to do in game right now, as weird as that sounds.

I also respecced Ret to do some arenas with an old warrior friend of mine, and we suprisingly went 5-3 in the 8 games we played.  I've never been a fan of arena (or been any good at it), but it felt good to win some games.  I didn't have any ret pvp gear either, so if I can collect some of that over the next couple weeks we may be able to stick around 1500 or so.  That would be an accomplishment for me.

I seem to be getting a few readers (maybe because I'm starting to post on other blogs? I dunno), but I appreciate you guys coming here and reading my stuff, even if you don't comment.  I'm going to be away this weekend visiting my girlfriend who I haven't seen in over a month, so I'll be back posting probably Sunday night or Monday.  

Thanks again all! Enjoy your weekends, in Azeroth or otherwise.

Adios

Well, BRK went away for the weekend, and when I typed in the URL to his site today to check out how he was doing and if he had posted anything new, I was completely shocked to find his Farewell Post.

He has inspired me (and certainly so many others) in so many ways.  Not just in Azeroth, but in life too, and this is no different.  He is taking (at least) a 3 month break by the looks of the post, planning to rededicate himself to his family.  I applaud him with unbridled vigor, as he embarks on perhaps the most important quest of all: raising a family and maintaining a loving marriage.

WoW is a hobby, and as many of his commentors (210 and counting, which I'm sure is a record of some kind) have already said the obvious: RL>WoW.  Always.

He inspired me to level my hunter, and is the reason I no longer play like a huntard, even at level 80.  His blog was the first WoW blog I came across, not knowing even what blogging was or how someone could blog so much about the game I enjoyed playing.  I was in awe, and still am at his astounding knowledge, wit, and humor.  He kept things light, fun, and informative, and every post made me either laugh or go "aha!" in a way that nobody else could.

As a paladin (which you preached to hate (: ) and as a new fellow hunter, I salute both you and your decision, BRK.  You will be sorely missed by most everyone who plays the game, as you can see in the comments on your post.  Good luck, and may everything work out for you and your loved ones.  I hope you can return to the community one day with a new sense of balance.  

Adios, good sir.

//EDIT//

BRK's Farewell Post has garnered over 750 comments since it was posted yesterday.  This is a true testament to the vast amount of players and readers alike that he had an affect on, all of whom wish him nothing but the best.

Hit

Hit Rating.

Ya need it, there is no way around it.

Of course, on my paladin, its useless for me (unless I am Ret, which is rare.)

But on my hunter, its causing me to pull my hair out!  Everytime I get a new upgrade, I have to look at my hit rating and rework some gems to make sure I am hit capped.  This usually costs atleast 100g to redo it all and make sure my stats are where they need to be.

Thankfully my paladin doesn't have to deal with that.

Screw you hit rating.

Gluth

Playing my hunter lately, I had an old guildie (and good friend) ask me if I could help his guild with their progression through Naxx10, mainly by kiting the Chow on Gluth.  I immediately accepted, and went to YouTube to watch a video on how to do it as a hunter.

Lay down a frost trap, run around in a circle, shoot new zombies.

It was great fun.  Much better than just pumping out DPS or spamming heals on people.  It was fun to use some long lost abilities, and do something useful and necessary that wasn't just "pewpew."

I wish Blizzard would put more mechanics like this into fights.  Priests are needed for Faerlina or Razuvious, and the kiting on Gluth is really cool to do.  But other than that, there isn't much else.

I did a fine job kiting, and I had a blast doing it.  Gluth was downed, and I got my T7 leg token to boot.  We downed Thaddius right after, and then I graciously bowed out of the raid so they could bring in a 3rd healer for Sapphiron.

Anyone else love Gluth or kited his Chow before?

What happened to tier sets?

Well, news is out that the non-set pieces that are dropping in Ulduar are the same models as the Tier 8 set pieces.  The holy paladin Tier 8 shoulders will share the model with the other plate healing shoulders that drop in Ulduar.

Blizzard claims this is to prevent people whining about the "clown" syndrome that occurred in BC.  While the colors may not match, at least most of your armor will match in a model sense, making your look "cohesive and clean."

Nobody wants their character to look foolish, or be wearing blue shoulders, a white cloak, red boots and a bright yellow chestpiece.  But seriously...matching models? What has happened to the Tier sets?

I wasn't raiding before BC came out, but I remember walking into IF or SW and seeing a paladin wearing Judgement or a warrior in his Wrath set was awesome to see, and I knew that they raided and I knew that they were wearing the best gear.  Obviously, Tier sets have come a long way since level 60.  Those sets were for any spec of the class, and now of course we have specialized sets for different specs and such, which is obviously a good thing.

But, now the only difference between the Tier 8 sets and the rest of the gear in Ulduar is going to essentially be color.  This seems ridiculous to me.

Also, weren't the Tier sets in Vanilla WoW the best in slots most of the time?  People strived for them, not only for looks but also because they were simply the best items you could have.  The epics you got along the way were great, but they were there only until that coveted tier piece dropped that you could snag.  Now, at least for Holy Paladins, 3 of the Valorous pieces are really "best in slot," but using a fourth is a good idea for the 5% mana reduction on Holy Light.

So I ask, then, What happened to Tier sets?

I'm Back

First, let me apologize for the disappearance.  I have been incredibly busy for the last month or so, and posting has been something I've had to put on the back burner.  Things have settled down now, and I am going to be putting up a post every 1-2 days from this point forward.

Updates from Azeroth:

My hunter has just hit 80.  I've been playing him quite a bit for a little change of pace, and its been great.  Survival is definitely OP.  I just hit 80 yesterday, and while I only have a few different pieces, I put out 2k DPS on 10 man OS last night after hitting 80 yesterday morning.

I joined a new guild, which only raids Sunday/Monday nights.  This has given me some extra time on the Hunter, hence him being up to 80.  The guild is great, and has Naxx 25 cleared.  Last week we cleared the place out up to KT, and we wiped on him at 13k health left.  It was miserable, but we were already 30 mins past our raid time, so we called it.  He's goin down this week for sure.

So, in summary, I am back, and I will be posting more regularly while I try to balance my game time with my end of the semester workload.