*Recruiting, Thanksgiving, a civil suit deposition, and new job responsibilities have delayed my posting. No more!

Three-Three is here….and here’s my take…and give….

Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets. Ony is now Tito’s bitch.

Pet Resilience: All player pets now get 100% of their master’s resilience. Maybe Toofy will last more than 5 seconds now.

Hunters

• Call Stabled Pet: Cooldown reduced from 30 minutes to 5 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas. Yay! Gonna have to look for reasons and ways to break out a different pet every pull.
• Deterrence: Now also increases the chance for ranged attacks to miss the hunter by 100% while under its effect. About time. Still waiting for 360 degree effect. /target Blizz /tap
• Misdirection: Redesigned. Instead of having finite charges, it now begins a 4-second timer when the hunter using Misdirection performs a threat-generating attack, during which all threat generated by the hunter goes to the friendly target. In addition, multiple hunters can now misdirect threat to the same friendly target simultaneously. Appears to generate more threat for each hunter, and obviously MUCH more initial threat on tank if multiple hunters are MDing. But…why? Is the average hunter that clueless about grabbing early aggro? Is the average tank that bad at getting initial threat?
• Talents
  • Beast Mastery
    • Intimidation: If the hunter’s pet is in melee range of its target, the stun from Intimidation will now be applied immediately instead of on the pet’s next swing or attack. PvP buff. Win if he’s ally. BooHiss for all the taurens I’m gonna die to.
• Pets
  • Avoidance: This talent has been replaced by Culling the Herd. Hunter pets now innately take 90% less damage from area-of-effect abilities like all other class pets. This does not apply to area-of-effect damage caused by other players. Nice. More points for dps talents!
  • Cower: Redesigned. This ability no longer affects threat, and instead reduces damage taken by the pet by 40% for 6 seconds with a 45-second cooldown. While cowering, the pet’s movement speed is 50% of normal speed. Cower now only has a single rank and is available at pet level 20. Apparently, tanks are not so bad at threat generation that pets were out-aggroing them. Less pet damage, I’ll take every time.
  • Culling the Herd: This pet talent has replaced the Avoidance talent in the pet trees (Hunter pets now gain that benefit automatically without expenditure of talent points). Culling the Herd increases pet and hunter damage by 1/2/3% for 10 seconds each time the pet deals a critical strike with Claw, Bite, or Smack. More damage=good. Cobra Reflexes is likely a mandatory pet talent now. As CoH obviously is. *CoH procs from Claw, Bite or Smack, which are instants, so Cobra Reflexes won’t help.
  • Demoralizing Screech: The attack power reduction from this ability has been increased by 40%, equaling the maximum possible attack power reduction from the abilities of other classes. Good. I think. Until other classes complain about a pet overwriting/replacing their debuff….
  • Improved Cower: Redesigned. This ability now reduces the movement penalty of Cower by 50%/100%.
  • Pet Leveling: Hunter pets now need only 5% of the experience a player needs to level, down from 10%. Level five pets at once now.
  • Venom Web Spray: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards.
  • Web: Range increased from 20 yards to 30 yards. These two are Spidery things? I doan like Spiders….
  • Wolverine Bite: This talent is now enabled when the pet lands a critical strike rather than from the target dodging the pet’s attacks. In addition, this talent no longer has a prerequisite. With Culling the Herd and Cobra Relexes (to speed up basic melee attack), this Cunning pet talent might actually get my dragonhawk, Figment, into a raid.

The Kitten Liberation Army needs YOU!

The KLA is currently recruiting to enable us to consistently raid 10-man Trial of the Crusader and Ulduar.

This is a Limited Recruitment.

We are recruiting people, not toons, and we ask that your main and primary play commitment be to the Army. We consider ourselves to be casual players, not hard-core, who want to play with folks we like and have an enjoyable raid experience. We do not use DKP or EP/GP loot systems, but simple MainSpec-OffSpec-Downarmor-Please God do we have to shard another? rolls with a LootMaster. We do not force specs upon anyone, or even classes, but also recognize that advancement is sometimes dependent upon not just being our best, but having our best.

While our attitude may seem cavalier, we believe that our highest satisfaction in this game comes from the shared experience of group success.

Both experienced raiders looking for a different atmosphere and those looking for their first raid experience are welcome to apply.

If you are an experienced raider, it is expected that you already know a fight, or at least understand it, needing only practice to execute it properly. And that you know your class and spec, needing little advice or help to perform at your best. While you won’t be carrying us, or us you, seasoned folks who are willing to occasionally help others and place their emphasis on enjoying the game and its social aspect are one type of player we want. Elitists need not apply.

If you haven’t raided much, or at all, but have the willingness and ability to learn the fights, your class, and your role in a raid, we want you too! If you’d like to explore a part of the game you’ve not yet seen, we’ve found a lot of satisfaction in seeing those we’ve helped improve end up being some of our best players. But it does take the desire to improve through work, effort and knowledge. Those not yet ready to dedicate most of their play time to this end are asked to wait until an Open Recruiting period.

Our mix of competent and talented players, combined with those eager to learn and improve, is small but dedicated to the success of our guild.

But we need a few more folks of like mind and body to enable us to meet our goals.

We are taking applicants that meet the following pre-conditions:

-level 76 or higher
-18+ (we don’t wish to compete with homework or parents)
-Able to at least listen in Ventrilo
-Main in guild (no alts looking to gear up while their main raids with another guild, please) OR
Main not played, with KLA toons your primary players
-Able to be on and play during most of our raid times (Server Times):
Mon-Wed, 8-10pm
Sat 9-12pm
These times may be extended, and/or other days made available for raiding, but we anticipate this to be our minimum schedule.
-Previous raid experience, either as a player or with the applying character is nice to have, but is NOT required.

Yes, we have 6 tabs and Vent. No, we don’t do drama.

Those interested should contact one of our Recruiters in game:

Dheede
Martaliza
Shidawg

Recruiters will quickly take basic info and doublecheck the pre-conditions before passing the applicant info to an Interviewer (an Officer), with whom the applicant will have a more in-depth conversation, to ensure that the applicant meets our needs, and that the KLA meets the needs of the applicant.

Thank you for your time and interest!

Garl “Oilcan” Flintlock

My personal list of priorities, and responsibility to my guild, goes something like this:

1) Guild raids

2) Non-guild raids / Guild 5mans

3) non-guild 5mans / other guild activities needing groups, like quests

In other words, I don’t raid outside guild unless my guild isn’t raiding or doesn’t need me. Between outside raids and guild 5mans, I stick with what I’ve committed to and am currently in. I won’t leave either to join the other, but will wait until I’m done.

So……

The other night, the KLA didn’t have enough for a 10man and were talking about running the daily and 5mans, when I got a whisper to go to ToC25 from a friend.

<mentally checks priority list>
The 5man guild runs hadn’t gotten off the ground yet, or even invites out, so I accepted the raid invite.

A few goofy wipes on Northrend Beasts (healer d/c, Jormungar does a 360 and wipes half the raid, etc.), but we get them down and move on to Joraxxus. I start getting Officer chat about how long I’d be, could I bring tankadin Alpham to guild run, etc. I say it’d be a little while, we’ve wiped a few, aren’t likely to go all the way now. I’m wondering what the problem is, that they can’t find a tank for 5mans, even the daily.

We wipe on Joraxxus, we’re by now 30 mins past my original time estimate, I’m still getting asked about Alpham, and so I tell’em one more try, another 15 minutes. We get Joraxxus down and Oilcan is the ONLY hunter in the raid and the ONLY Leatherworker, and thus gets both Pattern: Black Chitin Bracers and the Talonstrike that drop. The crossbow is a huge upgrade for OC, from his venerable Nerubian Conqueror, even though he loses about 1.27% crit.

I tell the raid I gotta go, leave raid, tell guild I’m out and switching to Alpham.

And I find out that while I’ve been in ToC, the night of 5mans has turned into a Naxx10 night, as more folks logged on after I started in ToC.

I’d been holding up a guild raid for over an hour.

Dam. Apologies around, and Alpham starts main-tanking Naxx. We get Patchwerk down, second try and head to Grob.

We wipe. Several times. Once, Alpham d/c’s when Grob is at 50k……TWICE, I mis-click a Lay on Hands, hitting a frakkin’ BUBBLE, which wiped the raid. I think in all the time Alpham’s been tanking, I might have done that ONCE before…and now I’ve done it TWICE in 15 minutes…..

A couple folks by now have to go (don’t blame’em) and we get another pally in guild while I switch to OC so we can 9man it.

But it’s been a while since he’s tanked Grob (although he’s tanked plenty else), and he doesn’t have Decursive but another mod. One that doesn’t ignore Grob’s debuff, but shows it to him….so of course he starts Decursing it….poison pools are all over the middle, we’re yelling at folks to get outta the middle and to the walls…..and we STILL get Grob inside 10% before we wipe. And find out that the tank was decursing.

Arrgggh.

/sleep

Possibly my BEST / WORST night in a very long time.

Deathgoddess has a DK dps blog and started a DPS questionnaire, which I picked up at Pike’s Aspect of the Hare blog. So with no further ado:

What is the name, class, and spec of your primary DPS?

Oilcan, hunter, spec’d SV raid and SV pvp.

What is your primary DPSing environment? (i.e. raids, PvP, 5 mans

Probably equally raids (10s with guild and 25s with outguilders) and 5mans, with about 20% pvp. Single boss 25s every week, and usually a couple nights each 10s and 25s.

What is your favorite DPS spell/ability for your class and why?

Hmm….hunter shots don’t LOOK very different from each other, rather boring to just *watch* a hunter dps…but even though I’m SV I do like when I can launch Volley. It just looks so different from my other shots. Oh, and Snake Trap…you know….SNAKES!!!

What DPS spell do you use least for your class and why?

Arcane Shot, because it shares the same cd as Explosive Shot. It’s not on toolbars and I’ve literally not used it in almost a year.

What do you feel is the biggest strength of your DPS class and why?

Like Pike, I just LOVE being able to ignore Spell Lockouts. Mostly though, I think’s it’s just continous dps. Even when the raid has to move, or a boss teles or something, a hunter can still shoot, as most shots are instant. And if you see a hunter move, stop, move, stop, it’s because he’s stopping to get off his autoshot. It’s been a while since I’ve died on Heigen, so I like dpsing while dancing…and hunters are about the only class that can do it.

What do you feel is the biggest weakness of your DPS class and why?

Melee range, obviously, but that also ties in with the huge hit boxes of some bosses. Melee doesn’t have that problem with hit boxes, and casters don’t have a minimum range. Also, any movement fight. Even though I can still dps on the move, I lose autoshot mostly, and that’s 30% of my dps gone. Finally, pets are both a strength and a weakness. BMs obviously love them, but my wolf’s buffs mean a lot to my dps…and losing him takes a good chunk outta my dps.

Yeah…I know that’s three…

In a 25 man raiding environment, what do you feel, in general, is the best DPS assignment for you?

Patchwerk. Let me MD the tank, stand stock still, and rock and roll while my pet is safe and buff-buff-buffing me

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with most and why?

DKs (mmm…Agility) and ferals for Leader of the Pack are always nice. But I suppose Pallies…MIght, Kings, Wisdom, Sanc….as Survival I get more RAP from ALL OF THEM!!!

What DPS class do you enjoy DPSing with least and why?

Locks actually, just because I have no idea how they do what they do. I have no idea why one lock will do 5-6k and another 2-3k. Seed of Corruption and Chaos Bolt are the only two spells I can even name…

What is your worst habit as a DPS?

um…<whispers>..pulling trash <20% off the tank so I can drop’em with Kill Shot while they’re running towards me…try it, it’s just so cool….

What is your biggest pet peeve in a group environment while DPSing?

Pet buffs. And pallies dithering on Blessings.

Do you feel that your class/spec is well balanced with other DPS?

Mostly. If your good. Tippytop endgame, I don’t know about, but if you’re equal geared and play your class well (not just good), you’ll be up there with or above me. Gearing up, it does seem that hunters hit 3-4k faster than other classes, in equal gear.

What tools do you use to evaluate your own performance as a DPS?

Recount, though not why you’d think. My DPS varies widely depending on the fight and buffs. I use Recount to check my crit rates and the damage spread of my different shots. I’m typically 40-45% Explosive Shot, 25-30% Autoshot, 10% Steady Shot and a few-5% Aimed/Kill Shot/others. If I’m at the low end on Explosive Shot, it means I’ve been late with cds or didn’t have DoTs up (talents boost my damage when I’ve DOTs on target).

What do you think is the biggest misconception people have about your class?

That it is easy. We look like we’re just standing there…our shots don’t look much different from each other…it certainly *looks* easy. But managing cds and priorities is a split-second thing, and often require judgement - Do I hit this now? Will doing so delay a better cd? If I delay this cd for another, will it be worth the bonus to the first, having the second up? Essentially, those multiple decisions are required every 6 seconds. Most may be relatively easy choices, but you need to be aware of them regardless…and you have only seconds to be able to evaluate a difference of just a second or two…when the consequence may be 20 seconds out.

What do you feel is the most difficult thing for new DPSers of your class to learn?

Pet management, easily, is the most difficult. Even for Warlocks, Hunter pets are just so different. And they’re so integral to our dps game, that bad pet management likely costs a hunter more dps than almost any other part of his/her play. And pets are usually the LAST thing a new hunter thinks about.

What DPS class do you feel you understand least?

Locks. Just…do whatever…I don’t care. I seriously can’t judge a lock by anything more than gear, so I don’t.

What add-ons or macros do you use, if any, to aid you in DPS?

Omen. Even with the threat tanks have nowadays, OC still finds himself right behind them, and usually close enough to watch, if not FD. Also, I still use Kharthus’ Hunter Timers, though usually for non-hunter stuff like Heroisms. No Quartz anymore, and I really don’t watch damage numbers. They are what they are (or were).

[Your class's preferred basic stat] over other stats or balanced stat allocation, and why?

Hit, until capped, there’s no easier way to boost your damage. Agility is a great stat for hunters in general and particularly for Survival (Expose Weakness), as it adds RAP and Crit, both the basics behind hunter dps.

Baby Tauren Hunter has hit 30, and Beastmastery is getting interesting. Pets start getting talent points at level 20, so up until then Baby T could out-aggro his pet. Growl has a 5 second cd, and combined with a pet’s intial attack, would generate about 300 threat. He could dps enough to steal aggro in those 5 seconds and so would usually wait a couple of seconds before shooting, allowing a second Growl to land before his damage pulled the mob. Freezing Trap at level 20 helped if he drew a second or third mob. But it was essentially the same process that Oilcan learned while leveling Survival.

But following a BM-only talent spec, at level 30 Baby T learned Intimidation. Intimidation + Growl + pet’s initial attack equals about 900 threat ^-^

Baby T, with pet on defensive and at max range, can open up with Arcane Shot - Multi-Shot - Serpent Sting , blow every cd he has, get in a couple AutoShots…..and when the mob gets halfway to him, his pet nails him…and BAM…pet has aggro on its first attack.

Intimidation is also useful to save for the *second* mob….Growl twice on the first, and hit Intimidation on the second, and Baby T don’t draw teh aggro

Level 30 also teaches two hunter spells from the Hunter Trainer: Aspect of the Beast and Feign Death.

Aspect of the Hawk increases the hunter’s RAP, and thus his damage…to the tune of about a 5-10% dps increase. While using Aspect of the Beast will reduce the hunter’s ranged dps, by increasing his pet’s dps, his pet will aggro better, especially nice against multiple mobs. And remember….BM pets’ dps will become a larger and larger part of a BM hunter’s overall dps as they level.

Finally, perhaps the one spell hunters have the all other classes envy: Feign Death. FD-Envy is an acceptable fact of life for non-hunter classes…..you all want it, you know it, don’t hide it.

With a BM pet able to hold aggro on two mobs, a Freezing Trap laid down for a third, and FD to divert a fourth or fifth…..at level 30 the number of mobs a BM hunter can take on is limited only by the damage his pet can handle. And with Glyph of Mending, that damage is quite a lot. Baby T and his turtle, OldWarsong, are both 30, and easily handled 5-6  level 29s.

I am BeastMaster, hear (my pet) ROAR!!

Well, Blizzard does, that’s who.

The Opening of the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj, and the attendant War Effort, were a staple experience on any server…until February 2009. After that, servers were opened with the Gates already open.

If you started playing WoW after that, or if you began before that but on a server with the gates already open, you’ve missed a rather incredible part of the game, unfortunately. OC’s own experience will be a subject for a future post(s).

Although pets and talents have changed much since I rolled Oilcan, this change is one that while not directly affecting my Baby Tauren, nonetheless plays a large factor in the difference between his leveling and Oilcan’s.

Oilcan leveled up to 20 or so before the War Effort started, and 30ish before the Gates were opened on Steamwheedle Cartel. Prior to the War Effort, his skinning was primarily for getting his Leatherworking up, and leftover mats that wouldn’t help his skillups anymore would be auctioned. A stack of Light Leather would typically sell for 5-10 silver. When the War Effort began, those types of basic mats could now be turned in for Signets, which could be turned in for rep…and prices, literally overnight, skyrocketed. Stacks of Light Leather and Linen Cloth were 5 silver one day, and 1-2 gold the next. A lot of folks got “rich” this way; Oilcan turned his in for rep. Since there were relatively few max levels (level 60 at the time), prices for other things like drops and crafted blues were also low to start (5-10g), but as folks got more gold, they began to rise. Things like Deviate Scale Belt had sold for 4-5g, and soon were selling for 30g. Until level 20, Oilcan thus had to scrimp and save sometimes for training money, and playing the AH really wasn’t possible….there just wasn’t the gold on server. After the War Effort though, the gold was there, and OC began playing the AH some.

This structure of a weak starting economy, suddenly bolstered by a server event, was a staple part of a new server. The contrast between OC and Baby Tauren is pretty startling: Baby T has never wanted for gold, even though he is NOT playing the AH. His first stack of Light Leather sold for 2 gold, the Trade Vendors in a start area or two had early trade recipes that auctioned for several gold, and even his extra crafted goods from skilling up Leatherworking sell for 50s-6g. His server is a new one, but with the Gates already open, folks are free to level, level, level and the economy is already strong and gold abounds.

With the Gates open, with easier XP gain, with max level now at 80…..all this means gold is plentiful. And with that much gold, and easier leveling, folks just don’t spend time grinding an instance for a certain drop. With less gold and longer leveling times, Oilcan actually ran instances not just once for the AP, or twice for quests…he ran them several times, sometimes 5-10 times, in order to get a drop he wanted. But it is MUCH easier now for folks to either simply BUY an upgrade, or it takes much less time for folks to simply LEVEL up to the next instance, the next drop.

Baby Tauren now joins LFG as soon as he logs on and takes a run group any chance he gets, simply because it’s empty most of the time. Not because folks don’t want to, or there aren’t that many folks on, but because leveling is too fast for folks to stick around a bracket long, and gold too plentiful to worry about a drop. No one cares about a level 20 dungeon quest when they’re gonna be 80 in a month. And if they want the AP, they’ll just come back and solo when they are a higher level.

Oilcan ran a fair amount of dungeons while leveling, and if it wasn’t for the BGs and RP and professions and so on, would have run more.

Baby Tauren is barely able to get even ONE run in before leveling past it, and that might be the biggest change in my play experience from Oilcan to now.

It isn’t often I get to spend close to 1000g on gems and enchants in a single night, but after topping damage and dps in VoA on Koralon, I won the Relentless Wristguards of Triumph that dropped (with a 99 no less). We had captured Wintergrasp just prior, and the 3 Wintergrasp Marks were just enough for me to get my Titan-Forged Chain Leggings of Triumph with 40 marks. I had 30+ Emblems of Triumph, so I went for the trifecta and picked up Windrunner’s Handguards of Conquest, my first Windrunner’s gear.

OC’s PvP gear, as mentioned before, is north of 800, so I gemmed and enchanted/leg armored the PvP gear for more dps, as opposed to stamina or resilience. I should end up with about 840 Resilience (down from the 870 previous), but with a 50 dps increase in white damage, a 9-10% increase, so I think I’m better off than before, as long as I’m not up against a pally

I like Koralon, as I get to stand and shoot, hence the *almost* 6k dps (dam, did I miss a cd? late hitting a cd? soooo close….). We wiped on Emalon 3x and ran out of time before WG reset the bosses because folks stood in the fire, but I topped those efforts, also, with 4700 dps.

Dead dps, doesn’t.

Several in raid were suggesting we kick a few undergeared dpsers (had a couple with GearScores under 3k, and several under 4k), to which those of us who were more intelligent responded with a resounding “STAY OUT OF THE FIRE”.

I’d rather have someone doing 2k the WHOLE fight, than a 4ker who dies 25% into the fight because they are stupid.

Again: Dead dps, doesn’t.

Seriously. GTFO the FIRE!

This is Spout, and he’s old school. He leveled side by side with Oilcan, and did it the old-fashioned way: he earned it!

One of the more pleasant changes to WoW over the years has been the various improvements to pets. The differences between Oilcan and Spout, and my BabyTauren and his cat, have pretty much all been improvements.

Kritty isn’t going to run away, for example. Spout never did either…but OC did have a pet or two wander away. Used to be, if your pet got to be unhappy enough (unfed, or usually from multiple deaths - think Gnomer wipe after Gnomer wipe), he’d run away. You’d turn around and *poof*…..no pet. Pets nowadays aren’t subject to that, so hunters aren’t going to lose their pets after all the hard work searching for and finding just the right one.

Having multiple pets is also now much, much easier. Pet leveling experience used to lag behind the hunter’s. It wasn’t too hard to keep just one pet near your level, but trying to keep TWO near-level (and useful) was damn hard work. One pet’s xp was barely enough to stay with you…split that xp into TWO pets, and soon a hunter would find he has two pets, both 10 levels behind him. Pet xp scaling is much improved nowadays, and one pet will more than keep pace with the hunter, dinging soon after him. Also, taming a pet back then meant accepting the level the pet was at….if the hunter was level 50, and the pet he wanted was level 25….well, he now had a level 25 pet! Blizz changed that, so now a tamed pet, if more than 5 levels below the hunter, is automatically bumped to within 5 levels of the hunter. Hunters can get the pet (and more importantly, the color/style scheme) they want now, and not have to work as hard leveling a pet 5x as much as the hunter.

Way back when, pets would have to be trained much like any other class: hunters had to pay for their own training, and then, also had to pay again for just their pet’s training. Various points could be allotted to skills (most similar to the ones they have now), but there was a limit (level-based) on how many points you had to spend. Aside from a pet’s inherent basic attacks (melee, a special, and maybe a DoT), everything else had to purchased and trained. Each spell resistance (Nature, Shadow, Fire, etc.). Each level of Growl, or Cower, or Bite. All cost additional points.  And if the pet was capable of learning an additional type of attack, but it wasn’t inherent (say, Slash)….the hunter had to go out and FIND a beast who knew that attack….tame it..and fight alongside it for a while…and THEN the hunter would learn the attack, which he could THEN teach to the first pet. Ugh…very inelegant, time-consuming and tiresome.

The current Talent Point system is a 100%+ improvement.

Finally, the various pet classes had their basic abilities buffed a bit over the last three years. Tenacity pets’ Growl has more threat….Ferocity pets’ damage is better….Cunning pets’ abilities are more and better.

Neopets are one of the things Blizzard has done right over the last 3-1/2 years

Every now and then, we get the urge to go back to a simpler time, a time without raiding and repairs, without all the complexities that come with having an 80. So we roll an alt, romp around the start areas mashing on stuff, and wonder at what we didn’t know then.

My only hunter has been Oilcan on SwC, until now. I rolled a hunter on a RP/PvP server….and found myself kiting my first mob kills around. KITING THEM. A skill that, when first on Oilcan, I wasn’t even aware of. It’s almost ridiculously easy, of course, killing things with single digit levels. But I wondered whether it was because I had a 80 hunter, or because of the changes in the game between now and 3-1/2 years ago.

The biggest change is a simple one: Blizz made leveling about 30% faster, by decreasing the xp needed to level. In other words, where Oilcan needed to fill 20 xp bars to ding, my baby Tauren only needs the equivalent of 14 bars. Faster leveling, though, has a significant impact on gameplay, in several areas.

Most apparent is quests going green faster. Oilcan could pretty much quest out an area and have only the last few, maybe, be green as he completed them. Baby T has hardly started in Crossroads and already 1/3 are green. Nowadays, finishing the quests in an area before moving on means those last ones will be GREY, well below your level. While this isn’t a bad thing for those just wanting to level, part of WoW’s appeal are the quests (some are among my favorite things in the game), and faster leveling means that most people today are missing out on a part of the game that Oilcan enjoyed very much.

Faster leveling also affects professions. Gatherers who jump to the next area based on level, rather than through the quest lines, find that their gathering skill did not have sufficient time to skill up enough to farm in the new area….and that they have to go back to what is now a low area to get more skill. Crafters find that what they might gather through routine play, and the crafts they can make with them, are beneath their level….they no longer have as much time as before in those areas to concurrently gather mats and craft things in order to keep them at their level. Instead, because their toon is leveling faster, they find that the crafted gear they can make is several levels below them. If they try to maintain their craft to match their level, it means having to buy stuff off the AH…because if they went out and farmed those mats…they would level even further ahead of their crafting. Oilcan was able to farm mats and craft his own gear while leveling, rarely resorting to the AH for even rare mats, because his longer leveling time allowed it. Faster leveling means that professions fall behind, which is why we see folks hit max level with professions 1/2 or 2/3 of max.

Lastly, because faster leveling means that folks pretty quickly are higher level than the quests in their quest log, it leads to a skill problem. If you don’t have to try hard, you won’t. If a mage or priest can whack mobs to kill them….through dozens of levels…casting only minimal spells….well, is it any surprise that many new 80s aren’t competent? Oilcan quickly found out the value of having a pet tank…because he was taking mobs at or slightly above his level in his quest log…and Elites above his level. But when those mobs a several levels BELOW you, well….you don’t learn to surf the edge. I’ve seen, in my travels, folks 10 levels above the mobs they were killing who thought that WAS the game….easily killing stuff.

I understand the business decision Blizz made about faster leveling. But it’s going to take some real attention and work for me to make the leveling experience of my baby T hunter something other than a boring run to 80.

I’m working on two series of posts, which is why I’ve not posted in a bit.

The first deals with PvP issues, based on observations since Oilcan has gotten back into the BGs and Wintergrasp:

1) Pallies are OP. When it takes 3-4 people to take down a single paladin, that’s OP. But why? Looking into hunter vs. pally PvP led me to look at other classes, too.

2) Hunter CC and slows seem to be less effective than those of other classes. Is it the hunter’s spells and talents, or his opponent’s? Is it his countermeasures, or those of his adversary?

3) The issue of incoming damage reduction, and returning health not through direct heals but through doing damage or being damaged, also is something I’m looking at. I’m not talking cast heals here, or damage mitigation, but spells and talents that give a class/spec hp back when dealing or taking damage, or those that directly reduce damage taken.

The second is: I’ve rolled a baby tauren hunter on a RP/PvP server. After a long raid night, or a long night of PvP, when others are off, I figured it’d be relaxing to tool around on a lowbie off-server. I’ve never played a tauren, so that’s new. Also, it’s been over 3 years since Oilcan leveled, and I was struck by the differences between now and then.

So new posts are forthcoming.