$379,040 Soul Dollars
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
damnit... i think i got screwed when i sold it the first time
Monday, July 28, 2008
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
75 Things That Every Man Should Do Before He Dies
In honor of Esquire’s seventy-fifth anniversary, we look at the seventy-five things, from flying a Cessna to building a reputation, that every man should do before he dies.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Karazhan for Huntards
I created this guide using several resources i found online and deemed to be the most informative. The source links are provided. I don't intend to pass this off as my own. enjoy:)
A Brief word about Add-Ons
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgk8jj7m_507mtxj3
Hunter Specific Addons
Before we get onto discussing Shot Rotations proper, the first thing every hunter needs to do is get an Auto Shot timer bar, there are a number of these, and it doesn’t matter which you use. Some that I know that work ok are:
Zhunter Mod: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/7900/
Has a number of huntery menus which are useful, and a simple autoshot bar.
Little Trouble: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6728-LittleTrouble.html
This is an ACE2 mod, which should mean it uses less memory.
Quartz: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/7960/
More complicated tool this, but the fact it shows lag on your cast bars mean it’s vital for /stopcasting mages and locks, and may work particularly well for hunters with high pings.
It doesn’t really matter which you use, the important thing is we get a bar showing when autoshot is firing, and when it’s lining up to fire.
While we are talking about add ons– I also find this add on useful for making sure I keep up Hunter’s Mark, Scorpid Sting etc.
Kharthus's Hunter Timers:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/4803/
General Add-ons
There’s obviously lots of add ons people may or may not choose to use, but a quick note on a couple useful for hunters:
As a hunter monitoring your DPS is worth doing. Not to engage in idle boasting, but to allow you to asses your performance over time, after kit changes, using different rotations etc.
The primary tool most people use for DPS monitoring now is:
Recount - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/8840/
This allows you to click on yourself and see breakdowns of your DPS which is nice.
Threat Management is also very important for hunters, even with FD. Generally we should be FDing proactively, not waiting until we pull agg and praying that we don’t get a resist.
Omen is the best mod for this – and is useful even when just playing with a pet as we can see how much agg they generate and learn to stay inside it.
http://www.wowace.com/wiki/Omen
So how do I DPS at 70?
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgk8jj7m_507mtxj3
Well a few things come into play. Our primary concern is we want to use keep the clipping of our AutoShots to a minimum (sometime they will necessarily get clipped when we have to move). Then we want to thread our most damaging shot in-between the autoshots firing. The generally accepted order for this is: Arcane Shot, Multishot (if possible due to CC) then when the other two are on cool-down Steady Shot. This can change on particular fights, or with particular pieces of kit, but that’s beyond the scope of this document.
Two other factors come in here however, firstly Mana:
Arcane Shot and Multi Shot are much more mana intensive that Steady Shot, and it is much better to cast Steady Shot, than no special at all, so for most players, unless they have a lovely Shadow Priest in the party they normally can’t always use their absolute top DPS rotation with AotH up even when chugging Fel Mana pots, instead we end up compromising, using AotV, using Steady Shot more, whatever. (With the 2.2 changes on AotV it may be easy to get around this, switching between Aspects during a fight several times.)
The other factor is the Kill Command, added DPS from your pet, not from you, but that is available after you Crit. This ability causes no GCD, so can be slipped in for extra damage.
A lot of players macro this with Steady Shot, so they can fire it off with that if needed, some prefer to weave it manually (personally I add it manually if I’m using Arcane or Multishot in a rotation, but use the macro if I’m just spamming Steady at the time).
(As a side note: one variation of the macro for this looks like this:
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Macro Suggestions for Hunters:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976369727&postId=1&sid=1&pageNo=1
Melee Macro
#showtooltip Attack
/castsequence Wing Clip, !Attack, Raptor Strike
/castrandom [target=target, exists] Mongoose Bite
/castrandom [target=pettarget] Kill Command
We all know that hunters should avoid Melee, but sometimes you just gotta. This will put all your melee abilities on one-button so you don't eat up space on your bar.
Target the Tank's Target and cast Hunter's Mark
/assist [target=TANKNAME. help][help]
/cast Hunter's Mark
(NOTE: You will have to hand-type the name of your group's tank every time you group. Annoying, but it only takes a second)
Misdirect on the Tank
#showtooltip
/cast [target=TANKNAME] Misdirection
(NOTE: You will have to hand-type the name of your group's tank every time you group. Annoying, but it only takes a second)
Stings
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:ctrl] Serpent Sting; [mod:alt] Viper Sting; Scorpid Sting
All your stings, one button. Just hold down the modifiers to access the appropriate one, and just press the button without holding a modifier to fire Scorpid
Kara for hunters
http://gibwow.blogspot.com/2008/01/kara-for-hunters_25.html
So i've been in Kara a while, and a post on Blog Azeroth has preached that we should preach what we practice. Okay, fine. Here's what I know about Kara from a hunter perspective.
Gear
I've already talked about pre-Kara gear. Basically you want the best stuff you can get. There are some things that most hunters should get.
1) Stalker helm of second sight. This is from the longish quest chain in SMV. Its the best helm you'll get south of Kara.
Enchant - Glyph from CE, need revered.
2) Crystalforged War Axe. This is a very common axe in AH, expect to pay a few hundred g for it, max.
Upgrade - consider the S3 axe from Arena for only 1000 arena points (thats about 4 weeks of 2v2). Huge upgrade.
Enchant - Savagery (+80 AP) or +35 agi. I went with savegery, i may be wrong in that.
3) Valero's Longbow or equiv. Also a very common AH item. I found it while questing.
Upgrade - many! I did the crystalforged crossbow from Ogri'la. It will take several months to finish the quests and get to revered, and finally to get those crystals. But its a substantial upgrade. That or hope the wolf rifle or xbow from attuman drops.
Enchant - Definately a +35 crit scope, costs about 350g.
4) other stuff. So many! Do the best you can with a good mix of +hit, RAP, int, agi, sta. I got a few pieces of S1 gear and a bunch of AH stuff. I had a hard time with group/instance stuff but there are alot of instance quests that reward you with nice blues, provided you can get a competent group together. Whatever you get, make sure it's enchanted. You can get shoulder enchants from alder/scryers using the holy dust they give you, essentially its free. Dont forget everyone gets a ring when they enter kara, and the ring increases over time. Plus the badges of justice (although the badge rewards for hunters are practically non-existant).
Numbers
There is no right rule, and honestly i can't even remember my pre-kara gear. But i was floating around 6000 health, 4000 mana, 60ish +hit, 20% crit, 1200 RAP. Now i'm only slightly better, but my +hit is higher, my health/mana pool is larger, my mana/5 is greater, and I'm #1 in damage meters. When i started I was definately in the middle of the pack as far as DM goes. So yeah everyone's gear has improved in the months we've been in kara, but you could argue that my gear has improved the most. I also worked the hardest. Strong correlation. Lots of gold helps, too.
Hunter To Do before Kara:
• Gear up in level 68+ blues or epics. Enchant every piece of gear that can take an enchant. Put a superior-quality gem in every socket that can take one. Prioritize hit rating, agility, and attack power.
• Spec for Beast Mastery, with Improved Hunter's Mark, Mortal Shots, Serpent's Swiftness, and Improved Revive Pet.
• Choose a cat, ravager, raptor, or wind serpent. Train it with Cobra Reflexes, Avoidance, and Claw, Gore or Lightning Breath, as appropriate.
• Set up a shot rotation macro and targeting macros.
• Install Omen, Recount, and Deadly Boss Mods.
• Use Auto Shot, Steady Shot, and Kill Command to do damage. Keep Scorpid Sting and Hunter's Mark up all the time. Use traps, snares, and stuns to control trash. Feign Death when your threat gets too high. Use cooldown abilities and trinkets when it is safe.
• Bring agility food, mana oil, a Flask of Relentless Assault, and plenty of mana potions.
Inside Kara:
Bosses
Attumen is the first boss you'll encounter. He's optional but a good idea. He's a gear/raid check, and drops a decent T4 bracer and the beloved crossbow. Here's the deal. You have 25 minutes from first trash clear to down the boss, otherwise trash respawns occur. Because of the circular nature of the region, the boss will definately pull the early trash mobs if they respawn. So you can not wipe at all. If you wipe, then allow the early trash to respawn and clear again. If your raid doesn't have sufficient skill/gear to down Attumen, there is no point going forward because all other bosses are harder.
For hunters, a few things of note. First be careful with your pet. During trash clears, they will periodically fear everyone nearby, so pop TBW whenever you can. Also equip the PVP trinket and use it when you get feared. Between these two, you should be unfearable. Pull the trash well away from others closer to the boss, so the fear doesnt accidently add. Even well geared raids can wipe here if they are lazy about the trash clear.
The boss himself is very easy, just takes a long time. Get real close to your tank, hit him with MD when the fight starts, and step just outside of melee range so you are both close to your tank and able to fire your weapon. Do a standard arcane/steady/autoshot rotation. Drink pots when you are at half mana. In fact, do this for all bosses. If you worry about OOM, switch to aspect of viper, otherwise use aspect of hawk. (I'm a little higher in mana/5, so I do a multi/arcane/steady/auto combo until i can't do it anymore). I'll also through a scorpid sting on the boss to help the tank out. When midnight is at 5% health, the two (attumen and midnight) will combine. The danger here is the aggro clear. So hit tank with MD again, and be suer you are close to him. Phase three is just like phase two. Rinse and repeat. It will take 2-4 minutes to down this boss.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: None
Boss notes: This is a pretty straight forward fight. The only time you have to call your pet back is when Attumen jumps his mighty steed, in which case he will clear all aggro, putting your pet in a vulnerable spot. Just call your pet back, wait until the tank has a bit of aggro, and send it back in to rip Attumen to pieces.
Moroes
Go up the stairs, and be ready for trash pulls. The timer here is 1 hour I believe. You'll have some AOE pulls, so when the tank pulls these, drop an explosive trap, back off, and launch a volley (assuming tank is paly). You can easily wipe here due to the pet and inproper targetting. Generally i get as close to the top of the stair as I can and attack mobs on the same step, so as not risk targetting mobs on the dance hall floor. You can leave your pet on passive here, the mobs will die so quick the pet wont be useful.
To the left is Moroes. Clear trash, be aware of the very hard hitting Ghostly stewards, which come in pairs. Do scorpid sting, and go balls to the wall dps, FD if you need to. Burn your CDs if you can (ie rapid fire).
Moroes and his adds (from wowwiki)
Hunters can chain-trap one add indefinitely. This is made easier by survival talents or the Beast Lord Armor set bonus. They can also kite.
However, given the importance of high damage output in this fight, it is not always a good idea to trap or kite for a long time. If the hunter is busy trapping, he can't put out as much damage. It may be best to pull a target into a trap, drop a second trap, and trust in an off-tank to pick up the trap target before the second trap breaks.
Hunters can use Misdirection to help the off-tank maintain threat on Moroes.
Hunters can drop a Freezing Trap on any (player) priest that is keeping a target shackled. If the shackle breaks, this will give the priest time to re-shackle the target instead of taking hits.
Hunter pets specced for armor and stamina can tank kill targets, so long as they get heals.
This is all largely true, however my uber-pig couldn't tank the adds well at all, there wasn't enough healing to go around. If you are hunter heavy you can through two or three high armor pets on an add, and work as a team to freeze-trap another. But by and large the best approach is two priests shackling adds, an OT tanking moroes, and the MT tanking two adds (usually healers). Intially I will do the following in such a case. Lay a FT down at a designated priest. MD the MT for the first add. Watch and wait while MT adds go to MT, and the shackle adds get shackled. If the shackles are resisted, the FT should work. If that doesnt work, turn growl on and have pet tank the add briefly (but at this point you are pretty much SOL). Burn down the two MT adds quickly while playing backup CC for the priests. If you can get all this down in the beginning, it should be cake.
Dwarves are particularly useful here as they can get rid of the garrotte attack of Moroes (once). Usually we have holy palys to help w/ garrotte. I almost never die from garrotte, but instead due to the initial startup dance. Once two adds are shackled and the MT can handle two adds plus maybe moroes, you can do it.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Medium
Boss notes: From time to time, Moroes will vanish and garrotte a member of your raid, and sadly, Mittens can be a target of this. You won’t be able to keep your pet up with mend pet, and your healers are sure to neglect your pet altogether and see it as a free card. I tend to sacrifice my pet and then resurrect it unless the boss is nearly down.
Maiden
Maiden is an optional boss. The trash clears should not prove difficult for you as a hunter. Occassionally the trash will seduce the party and that could be problematic. But generally just sit back and dps. When you get to maiden, there are a few things you need to know. First, positioning. Have everyone hug the wall and pick one pillar per person. Be smart and get close to a healer for what's to come. Grab healthstones (cookies) and a restorative pot
MT will start the event, and move to the exact middle of room. When she gets there, start dps. The only thing you have to worry about is Holy Fire, it will kill you in seconds. The resto pot or any type of debuff (outlined in wowwiki) will cleanse it. During repentance you cant move, but your pet will still take damage. At end of repentance, throw a mend pet on it. As long as you can cleanse holy fire you wont have issues. Your tank/healers may but that's not your problem. If the tank dies its a wipe as usual.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: Your pet will be a benefit here, but it will take damage. Maiden's AOE damage, which affects all melee, is spread out among the people that are affected by it, meaning your pet will lower the damage even more. With Avoidance rank 2 and a mend pet once in a while, you will have no problem keeping your pet alive.
Opera
One of three events: Oz, BBW, or R&J. We almost always get Oz for some reason.
Oz is somewhat like Moroes where you have a bunch of stuff you have to do at once. Your primary job is dpsing the kill order (Dorothy, Toto, Roar, Straw, Tinman). Roar and Straw you can swap. The second job is helping tank Straw. Put a immolation trap by the mage, and hit the mage with MD, first thing. Second, send pet to Dorothy. Every CD, drop another trap on Straw. Burn down the kill order as quick as possible. When you get Tinman (or whoever) down last, Crone will spawn. You can eat/drink if you are quick right after tinman goes down. Crone will need to be aggroed, so try a MD to tank here. More impt, watch out for cyclones, move out of the way at first. When she appears its sometimes best to do nothing and see which way the wind is blowing (meaning the cyclones).
BBW (Big Bad Wolf). Pretty easy. DPS the wolf, if you are LLRH, kite the wolf by wall hugging the stage. Don't let him get too far away or he will cut accross. Stay alive as long as possible, dont draw aggro.
R&J. Not much for you to do here except dps. If you are MM it will help for silencing J. The main issue here is interruptign her big heals. if you can't do that the the fight is significantly harder. You really need a rogue or warrior here. Once she's down, R comes in, he goes down, they rez, and you need to take them both down at the same time. We only did this once and I wasn't around to see it successful. Pray you dont have this event.
Curator.
This is where ranged dps becomes very useful, and is a gear check for the raid.
Killing the Curator is basically a gear check. It's not a coincidence that this boss drops the first class set tokens - they really want to be earned. There's not much strategy or room for fancy maneuvers - either the raid has the required DPS and the necessary mana endurance, or it does not.
The fight consists of four possible phases. Most of the fight consists of two alternating phases: a Flare Phase (which lasts 90 seconds) followed by an Evocation Phase (which lasts 20 seconds). Once the Curator's health drops below 15% it enters the Enrage phase, when it stops summoning Flares and Evocating, but melees and casts Hateful Bolts more rapidly. If it is still alive ten minutes after the pull, it enters the Berserk phase and wipes the raid in a few seconds.
Use the wowwiki macro for targetting flares. Your main job is downing flares asap. We found it useful to have all dps on flares until evocation starts, at that point have one dps down the last flare while everyone else is on curator. Positioning is critical again, don't get too close to each other. Its helpful to have Hawk eye to get the extra 6 yards of range. (Deadly boss mod helps here again) Good raids can down him in two-three evocations. At the end he enrages and really starts to increase damage. Scorpid and burning CDs is a good idea here, we will wipe half the time (when we wipe) during enrage. Generally if you can down curator you have enough dps to take down remaining bosses. You just need skill to learn each boss.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: While Curator doesn't pose a threat to Barney, the Astral Sparks that he summons are very dangerous. Not only will they target your pet, but your pet will also chain the lightning to other members, and your pet will be at high risk when killing the sparks. I suggest leaving your pet at the door, and only send it in to damage Curator during his evocation. Other people prefer to stick the pet on Curator for the duration of the fight, but beware that your pet will take at least one hit from each Astral Spark when it spawns.
Shade
Shade is all about positioning and knowing what he does. The main points for hunters are to watch the phases (use the deadlyboss mod addon). These are:
1) Blizzard. Best thing to do is stay close to middle of room and dps when you can. More important thing is to stay ahead of the blizzard, which goes clockwise. Do not plant and dps here.
2) Flame wreath. Very simple. Don't move, for any reason.
3) Arcane explosion. He'll draw you to the center. At this point you run quickly back to the door (you should stay near the door always during this fight, unless moving around due to #1 and #2). DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR PET (hit passive).
Interrrupts are again critical, you really need a rogue to pull this off. Once you get the fight down it's easy (I guess, the raid has done it but not in my presence).
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: Aran can be a nasty old bugger if you don't keep your pet under control. When he teleports you to him, just before an arcane explosion, you must be sure to drag your pet along as you run to the wall, or your pet will surely take a lot of damage. When he does blizzard, you should recall your pet for a second or two while you dodge it yourself, which will position your pet on the same side of Aran as you, and usually keep it out of harms way. Your pet can move freely when Aran does flame wrath, as it will not trigger the explosion.
Illhoof
For hunters its pretty simple, just dps Illhoof. When chains appear, target them again with macro, and dps them. You may want to get close to illhoof so you can visually see the chains.
I haven't cleared this boss (the raid has). There are other strategies such as targeting his imp companion or the trash spawn imps.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While this boss is more or less safe for your pet, you might see it aggro Illhoof's imp if its tank isn't fast enough. Once in a while your pet will also take a hit from a small imp, but that damage is hardly anything to note.
Prince
Again this is a easy fight for dps. Positioning is important. We did him successfully by tanking him in the far corner from the door. Take a left and go straight back. Tank should have him facing a wall. The main issue is the spawns, which you have no control over. Do your CDs when he hits 60% health, go really hard until 30% health. Throw scorpid sting on MT (important!). Hope you get lucky with the spawns. We downed him once.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While your pet won’t be affected by Enfeeble, it will be hit by his Shadow Nova, but with Avoidance rank 2, your pet will only take 1500 damage. The only other thing you have to look out for then, is the infernal spawns - your tank might not be in range of their fire AOE, but your pet might, so keep and eye out for that and reposition if needed.
A Brief word about Add-Ons
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgk8jj7m_507mtxj3
Hunter Specific Addons
Before we get onto discussing Shot Rotations proper, the first thing every hunter needs to do is get an Auto Shot timer bar, there are a number of these, and it doesn’t matter which you use. Some that I know that work ok are:
Zhunter Mod: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/7900/
Has a number of huntery menus which are useful, and a simple autoshot bar.
Little Trouble: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6728-LittleTrouble.html
This is an ACE2 mod, which should mean it uses less memory.
Quartz: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/7960/
More complicated tool this, but the fact it shows lag on your cast bars mean it’s vital for /stopcasting mages and locks, and may work particularly well for hunters with high pings.
It doesn’t really matter which you use, the important thing is we get a bar showing when autoshot is firing, and when it’s lining up to fire.
While we are talking about add ons– I also find this add on useful for making sure I keep up Hunter’s Mark, Scorpid Sting etc.
Kharthus's Hunter Timers:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/4803/
General Add-ons
There’s obviously lots of add ons people may or may not choose to use, but a quick note on a couple useful for hunters:
As a hunter monitoring your DPS is worth doing. Not to engage in idle boasting, but to allow you to asses your performance over time, after kit changes, using different rotations etc.
The primary tool most people use for DPS monitoring now is:
Recount - http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/8840/
This allows you to click on yourself and see breakdowns of your DPS which is nice.
Threat Management is also very important for hunters, even with FD. Generally we should be FDing proactively, not waiting until we pull agg and praying that we don’t get a resist.
Omen is the best mod for this – and is useful even when just playing with a pet as we can see how much agg they generate and learn to stay inside it.
http://www.wowace.com/wiki/Omen
So how do I DPS at 70?
http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgk8jj7m_507mtxj3
Well a few things come into play. Our primary concern is we want to use keep the clipping of our AutoShots to a minimum (sometime they will necessarily get clipped when we have to move). Then we want to thread our most damaging shot in-between the autoshots firing. The generally accepted order for this is: Arcane Shot, Multishot (if possible due to CC) then when the other two are on cool-down Steady Shot. This can change on particular fights, or with particular pieces of kit, but that’s beyond the scope of this document.
Two other factors come in here however, firstly Mana:
Arcane Shot and Multi Shot are much more mana intensive that Steady Shot, and it is much better to cast Steady Shot, than no special at all, so for most players, unless they have a lovely Shadow Priest in the party they normally can’t always use their absolute top DPS rotation with AotH up even when chugging Fel Mana pots, instead we end up compromising, using AotV, using Steady Shot more, whatever. (With the 2.2 changes on AotV it may be easy to get around this, switching between Aspects during a fight several times.)
The other factor is the Kill Command, added DPS from your pet, not from you, but that is available after you Crit. This ability causes no GCD, so can be slipped in for extra damage.
A lot of players macro this with Steady Shot, so they can fire it off with that if needed, some prefer to weave it manually (personally I add it manually if I’m using Arcane or Multishot in a rotation, but use the macro if I’m just spamming Steady at the time).
(As a side note: one variation of the macro for this looks like this:
#showtooltip Steady Shot
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, Auto Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Macro Suggestions for Hunters:
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=4976369727&postId=1&sid=1&pageNo=1
Melee Macro
#showtooltip Attack
/castsequence Wing Clip, !Attack, Raptor Strike
/castrandom [target=target, exists] Mongoose Bite
/castrandom [target=pettarget] Kill Command
We all know that hunters should avoid Melee, but sometimes you just gotta. This will put all your melee abilities on one-button so you don't eat up space on your bar.
Target the Tank's Target and cast Hunter's Mark
/assist [target=TANKNAME. help][help]
/cast Hunter's Mark
(NOTE: You will have to hand-type the name of your group's tank every time you group. Annoying, but it only takes a second)
Misdirect on the Tank
#showtooltip
/cast [target=TANKNAME] Misdirection
(NOTE: You will have to hand-type the name of your group's tank every time you group. Annoying, but it only takes a second)
Stings
#showtooltip
/cast [mod:ctrl] Serpent Sting; [mod:alt] Viper Sting; Scorpid Sting
All your stings, one button. Just hold down the modifiers to access the appropriate one, and just press the button without holding a modifier to fire Scorpid
Kara for hunters
http://gibwow.blogspot.com/2008/01/kara-for-hunters_25.html
So i've been in Kara a while, and a post on Blog Azeroth has preached that we should preach what we practice. Okay, fine. Here's what I know about Kara from a hunter perspective.
Gear
I've already talked about pre-Kara gear. Basically you want the best stuff you can get. There are some things that most hunters should get.
1) Stalker helm of second sight. This is from the longish quest chain in SMV. Its the best helm you'll get south of Kara.
Enchant - Glyph from CE, need revered.
2) Crystalforged War Axe. This is a very common axe in AH, expect to pay a few hundred g for it, max.
Upgrade - consider the S3 axe from Arena for only 1000 arena points (thats about 4 weeks of 2v2). Huge upgrade.
Enchant - Savagery (+80 AP) or +35 agi. I went with savegery, i may be wrong in that.
3) Valero's Longbow or equiv. Also a very common AH item. I found it while questing.
Upgrade - many! I did the crystalforged crossbow from Ogri'la. It will take several months to finish the quests and get to revered, and finally to get those crystals. But its a substantial upgrade. That or hope the wolf rifle or xbow from attuman drops.
Enchant - Definately a +35 crit scope, costs about 350g.
4) other stuff. So many! Do the best you can with a good mix of +hit, RAP, int, agi, sta. I got a few pieces of S1 gear and a bunch of AH stuff. I had a hard time with group/instance stuff but there are alot of instance quests that reward you with nice blues, provided you can get a competent group together. Whatever you get, make sure it's enchanted. You can get shoulder enchants from alder/scryers using the holy dust they give you, essentially its free. Dont forget everyone gets a ring when they enter kara, and the ring increases over time. Plus the badges of justice (although the badge rewards for hunters are practically non-existant).
Numbers
There is no right rule, and honestly i can't even remember my pre-kara gear. But i was floating around 6000 health, 4000 mana, 60ish +hit, 20% crit, 1200 RAP. Now i'm only slightly better, but my +hit is higher, my health/mana pool is larger, my mana/5 is greater, and I'm #1 in damage meters. When i started I was definately in the middle of the pack as far as DM goes. So yeah everyone's gear has improved in the months we've been in kara, but you could argue that my gear has improved the most. I also worked the hardest. Strong correlation. Lots of gold helps, too.
Hunter To Do before Kara:
• Gear up in level 68+ blues or epics. Enchant every piece of gear that can take an enchant. Put a superior-quality gem in every socket that can take one. Prioritize hit rating, agility, and attack power.
• Spec for Beast Mastery, with Improved Hunter's Mark, Mortal Shots, Serpent's Swiftness, and Improved Revive Pet.
• Choose a cat, ravager, raptor, or wind serpent. Train it with Cobra Reflexes, Avoidance, and Claw, Gore or Lightning Breath, as appropriate.
• Set up a shot rotation macro and targeting macros.
• Install Omen, Recount, and Deadly Boss Mods.
• Use Auto Shot, Steady Shot, and Kill Command to do damage. Keep Scorpid Sting and Hunter's Mark up all the time. Use traps, snares, and stuns to control trash. Feign Death when your threat gets too high. Use cooldown abilities and trinkets when it is safe.
• Bring agility food, mana oil, a Flask of Relentless Assault, and plenty of mana potions.
Inside Kara:
Bosses
Attumen is the first boss you'll encounter. He's optional but a good idea. He's a gear/raid check, and drops a decent T4 bracer and the beloved crossbow. Here's the deal. You have 25 minutes from first trash clear to down the boss, otherwise trash respawns occur. Because of the circular nature of the region, the boss will definately pull the early trash mobs if they respawn. So you can not wipe at all. If you wipe, then allow the early trash to respawn and clear again. If your raid doesn't have sufficient skill/gear to down Attumen, there is no point going forward because all other bosses are harder.
For hunters, a few things of note. First be careful with your pet. During trash clears, they will periodically fear everyone nearby, so pop TBW whenever you can. Also equip the PVP trinket and use it when you get feared. Between these two, you should be unfearable. Pull the trash well away from others closer to the boss, so the fear doesnt accidently add. Even well geared raids can wipe here if they are lazy about the trash clear.
The boss himself is very easy, just takes a long time. Get real close to your tank, hit him with MD when the fight starts, and step just outside of melee range so you are both close to your tank and able to fire your weapon. Do a standard arcane/steady/autoshot rotation. Drink pots when you are at half mana. In fact, do this for all bosses. If you worry about OOM, switch to aspect of viper, otherwise use aspect of hawk. (I'm a little higher in mana/5, so I do a multi/arcane/steady/auto combo until i can't do it anymore). I'll also through a scorpid sting on the boss to help the tank out. When midnight is at 5% health, the two (attumen and midnight) will combine. The danger here is the aggro clear. So hit tank with MD again, and be suer you are close to him. Phase three is just like phase two. Rinse and repeat. It will take 2-4 minutes to down this boss.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: None
Boss notes: This is a pretty straight forward fight. The only time you have to call your pet back is when Attumen jumps his mighty steed, in which case he will clear all aggro, putting your pet in a vulnerable spot. Just call your pet back, wait until the tank has a bit of aggro, and send it back in to rip Attumen to pieces.
Moroes
Go up the stairs, and be ready for trash pulls. The timer here is 1 hour I believe. You'll have some AOE pulls, so when the tank pulls these, drop an explosive trap, back off, and launch a volley (assuming tank is paly). You can easily wipe here due to the pet and inproper targetting. Generally i get as close to the top of the stair as I can and attack mobs on the same step, so as not risk targetting mobs on the dance hall floor. You can leave your pet on passive here, the mobs will die so quick the pet wont be useful.
To the left is Moroes. Clear trash, be aware of the very hard hitting Ghostly stewards, which come in pairs. Do scorpid sting, and go balls to the wall dps, FD if you need to. Burn your CDs if you can (ie rapid fire).
Moroes and his adds (from wowwiki)
Hunters can chain-trap one add indefinitely. This is made easier by survival talents or the Beast Lord Armor set bonus. They can also kite.
However, given the importance of high damage output in this fight, it is not always a good idea to trap or kite for a long time. If the hunter is busy trapping, he can't put out as much damage. It may be best to pull a target into a trap, drop a second trap, and trust in an off-tank to pick up the trap target before the second trap breaks.
Hunters can use Misdirection to help the off-tank maintain threat on Moroes.
Hunters can drop a Freezing Trap on any (player) priest that is keeping a target shackled. If the shackle breaks, this will give the priest time to re-shackle the target instead of taking hits.
Hunter pets specced for armor and stamina can tank kill targets, so long as they get heals.
This is all largely true, however my uber-pig couldn't tank the adds well at all, there wasn't enough healing to go around. If you are hunter heavy you can through two or three high armor pets on an add, and work as a team to freeze-trap another. But by and large the best approach is two priests shackling adds, an OT tanking moroes, and the MT tanking two adds (usually healers). Intially I will do the following in such a case. Lay a FT down at a designated priest. MD the MT for the first add. Watch and wait while MT adds go to MT, and the shackle adds get shackled. If the shackles are resisted, the FT should work. If that doesnt work, turn growl on and have pet tank the add briefly (but at this point you are pretty much SOL). Burn down the two MT adds quickly while playing backup CC for the priests. If you can get all this down in the beginning, it should be cake.
Dwarves are particularly useful here as they can get rid of the garrotte attack of Moroes (once). Usually we have holy palys to help w/ garrotte. I almost never die from garrotte, but instead due to the initial startup dance. Once two adds are shackled and the MT can handle two adds plus maybe moroes, you can do it.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Medium
Boss notes: From time to time, Moroes will vanish and garrotte a member of your raid, and sadly, Mittens can be a target of this. You won’t be able to keep your pet up with mend pet, and your healers are sure to neglect your pet altogether and see it as a free card. I tend to sacrifice my pet and then resurrect it unless the boss is nearly down.
Maiden
Maiden is an optional boss. The trash clears should not prove difficult for you as a hunter. Occassionally the trash will seduce the party and that could be problematic. But generally just sit back and dps. When you get to maiden, there are a few things you need to know. First, positioning. Have everyone hug the wall and pick one pillar per person. Be smart and get close to a healer for what's to come. Grab healthstones (cookies) and a restorative pot
MT will start the event, and move to the exact middle of room. When she gets there, start dps. The only thing you have to worry about is Holy Fire, it will kill you in seconds. The resto pot or any type of debuff (outlined in wowwiki) will cleanse it. During repentance you cant move, but your pet will still take damage. At end of repentance, throw a mend pet on it. As long as you can cleanse holy fire you wont have issues. Your tank/healers may but that's not your problem. If the tank dies its a wipe as usual.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: Your pet will be a benefit here, but it will take damage. Maiden's AOE damage, which affects all melee, is spread out among the people that are affected by it, meaning your pet will lower the damage even more. With Avoidance rank 2 and a mend pet once in a while, you will have no problem keeping your pet alive.
Opera
One of three events: Oz, BBW, or R&J. We almost always get Oz for some reason.
Oz is somewhat like Moroes where you have a bunch of stuff you have to do at once. Your primary job is dpsing the kill order (Dorothy, Toto, Roar, Straw, Tinman). Roar and Straw you can swap. The second job is helping tank Straw. Put a immolation trap by the mage, and hit the mage with MD, first thing. Second, send pet to Dorothy. Every CD, drop another trap on Straw. Burn down the kill order as quick as possible. When you get Tinman (or whoever) down last, Crone will spawn. You can eat/drink if you are quick right after tinman goes down. Crone will need to be aggroed, so try a MD to tank here. More impt, watch out for cyclones, move out of the way at first. When she appears its sometimes best to do nothing and see which way the wind is blowing (meaning the cyclones).
BBW (Big Bad Wolf). Pretty easy. DPS the wolf, if you are LLRH, kite the wolf by wall hugging the stage. Don't let him get too far away or he will cut accross. Stay alive as long as possible, dont draw aggro.
R&J. Not much for you to do here except dps. If you are MM it will help for silencing J. The main issue here is interruptign her big heals. if you can't do that the the fight is significantly harder. You really need a rogue or warrior here. Once she's down, R comes in, he goes down, they rez, and you need to take them both down at the same time. We only did this once and I wasn't around to see it successful. Pray you dont have this event.
Curator.
This is where ranged dps becomes very useful, and is a gear check for the raid.
Killing the Curator is basically a gear check. It's not a coincidence that this boss drops the first class set tokens - they really want to be earned. There's not much strategy or room for fancy maneuvers - either the raid has the required DPS and the necessary mana endurance, or it does not.
The fight consists of four possible phases. Most of the fight consists of two alternating phases: a Flare Phase (which lasts 90 seconds) followed by an Evocation Phase (which lasts 20 seconds). Once the Curator's health drops below 15% it enters the Enrage phase, when it stops summoning Flares and Evocating, but melees and casts Hateful Bolts more rapidly. If it is still alive ten minutes after the pull, it enters the Berserk phase and wipes the raid in a few seconds.
Use the wowwiki macro for targetting flares. Your main job is downing flares asap. We found it useful to have all dps on flares until evocation starts, at that point have one dps down the last flare while everyone else is on curator. Positioning is critical again, don't get too close to each other. Its helpful to have Hawk eye to get the extra 6 yards of range. (Deadly boss mod helps here again) Good raids can down him in two-three evocations. At the end he enrages and really starts to increase damage. Scorpid and burning CDs is a good idea here, we will wipe half the time (when we wipe) during enrage. Generally if you can down curator you have enough dps to take down remaining bosses. You just need skill to learn each boss.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: While Curator doesn't pose a threat to Barney, the Astral Sparks that he summons are very dangerous. Not only will they target your pet, but your pet will also chain the lightning to other members, and your pet will be at high risk when killing the sparks. I suggest leaving your pet at the door, and only send it in to damage Curator during his evocation. Other people prefer to stick the pet on Curator for the duration of the fight, but beware that your pet will take at least one hit from each Astral Spark when it spawns.
Shade
Shade is all about positioning and knowing what he does. The main points for hunters are to watch the phases (use the deadlyboss mod addon). These are:
1) Blizzard. Best thing to do is stay close to middle of room and dps when you can. More important thing is to stay ahead of the blizzard, which goes clockwise. Do not plant and dps here.
2) Flame wreath. Very simple. Don't move, for any reason.
3) Arcane explosion. He'll draw you to the center. At this point you run quickly back to the door (you should stay near the door always during this fight, unless moving around due to #1 and #2). DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR PET (hit passive).
Interrrupts are again critical, you really need a rogue to pull this off. Once you get the fight down it's easy (I guess, the raid has done it but not in my presence).
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: High
Boss notes: Aran can be a nasty old bugger if you don't keep your pet under control. When he teleports you to him, just before an arcane explosion, you must be sure to drag your pet along as you run to the wall, or your pet will surely take a lot of damage. When he does blizzard, you should recall your pet for a second or two while you dodge it yourself, which will position your pet on the same side of Aran as you, and usually keep it out of harms way. Your pet can move freely when Aran does flame wrath, as it will not trigger the explosion.
Illhoof
For hunters its pretty simple, just dps Illhoof. When chains appear, target them again with macro, and dps them. You may want to get close to illhoof so you can visually see the chains.
I haven't cleared this boss (the raid has). There are other strategies such as targeting his imp companion or the trash spawn imps.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While this boss is more or less safe for your pet, you might see it aggro Illhoof's imp if its tank isn't fast enough. Once in a while your pet will also take a hit from a small imp, but that damage is hardly anything to note.
Prince
Again this is a easy fight for dps. Positioning is important. We did him successfully by tanking him in the far corner from the door. Take a left and go straight back. Tank should have him facing a wall. The main issue is the spawns, which you have no control over. Do your CDs when he hits 60% health, go really hard until 30% health. Throw scorpid sting on MT (important!). Hope you get lucky with the spawns. We downed him once.
Pet Notes:
Pet danger: Low
Boss notes: While your pet won’t be affected by Enfeeble, it will be hit by his Shadow Nova, but with Avoidance rank 2, your pet will only take 1500 damage. The only other thing you have to look out for then, is the infernal spawns - your tank might not be in range of their fire AOE, but your pet might, so keep and eye out for that and reposition if needed.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
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Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Sawed-Off USB Flash Drives Going on Sale
I know I would give some distance to anyone I saw using one of these. Don't look at the crazy person who thinks there's something plugged into their laptop...
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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The 20 Healthiest Foods for Under $1
Food prices are climbing, and some might be looking to fast foods and packaged foods for their cheap bites. But low cost doesn’t have to...
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28 Man Laws
28 Man Laws
Humor/Funny
it\'s a little long, but some of these are pretty damn good... rules to live by, that\'s for sure... heh.
1. Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella
2. t is OK for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances: (a) When a heroic dog dies to save its master. (b) The moment Angelina Jolie starts unbuttoning her blouse. (c) After wrecking your boss\'s car. (d) One hour, 12 minutes, 37 seconds into \"The Crying Game\".(e) When she is using her teeth.
3. Any Man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his buddies.
4. Unless he murdered someone in your family, you must bail a friend out of jail within 12 hours.
5. If you\'ve known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off limits forever unless you actually marry her.
6. Moaning about the brand of free beer in a buddy\'s fridge is forbidden. However complain at will if the temperature is unsuitable.
7. No man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering your buddy\'s birthday is strictly optional. At that point, you must celebrate at a strip bar of the birthday boy\'s choice.
8. On a road trip, the strongest bladder determines pit stops, not the weakest.
9. When stumbling upon other guys watching a sporting event, you may ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who\'s playing.
10. You may flatulate in front of a woman only after you have brought her to climax. If you trap her head under the covers for the purpose of flatulent entertainment, she\'s officially your girlfriend.
11. It is permissible to drink a fruity alcohol drink only when you\'re sunning on a tropical beach... and it\'s delivered by a topless model and only when it\'s free.
12. Only in situations of moral and/or physical peril are you allowed to kick another guy in the nuts.
13. Unless you\'re in prison, never fight naked.
14. Friends don\'t let friends wear Speedos. Ever. Issue closed.
15. If a man\'s fly is down, that\'s his problem, you didn\'t see anything.
16. Women who claim they \"love to watch sports\" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to drink as much as the other sports watchers.
17. A man in the company of a hot, suggestively dressed woman must remain sober enough to fight.
18. Never hesitate to reach for the last beer or the last slice of pizza, but not both, that\'s just greedy.
19. If you compliment a guy on his six-pack, you\'d better be talking about his choice of beer.
20. Never join your girlfriend or wife in discussing a friend of yours, except if she\'s withholding sex pending your response.
21. Phrases that may NOT be uttered to another man while lifting weights (a) Yeah, Baby, Push it! (b) C\'mon, give me one more! Harder! (c) Another set and we can hit the showers!
22. Never talk to a man in a bathroom unless you are on equal footing: i.e., both urinating, both waiting in line, etc. For all other situations, an almost imperceptible nod is all the conversation you need.
23. Never allow a telephone conversation with a woman to go on longer than you are able to have sex with her. Keep a stopwatch by the phone. Hang up if necessary.
24. The morning after you and a girl who was formerly \"just a friend\" have carnal, drunken monkey sex, the fact that you\'re feeling weird and guilty is no reason for you not to nail each other again before the discussion occurs about what a big mistake it was.
25. It is acceptable for you to drive her car. It is not acceptable for her to drive yours.
26. Thou shalt not buy a car in the colors of brown, pink, lime green, orange or sky blue.
27. The girl who replies to the question \"What do you want for Christmas?\" with \"If you loved me, you\'d know what I want!\" gets an Xbox. End of story.
28. There is no reason for guys to watch Ice Skating or Men\'s Gymnastics. Ever. We\'ve all heard about people having guts or balls. But do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definition of each is listed below:\"GUTS\" is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being assaulted by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to say, \"are you still cleaning or are you flying somewhere?\" \"BALLS\" is coming home late after a night out with the guys smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the ass and having the balls to say, \"You\'re next!\" We hope this clears up any confusion, The International Council of Manhood, Ltd.
Humor/Funny
it\'s a little long, but some of these are pretty damn good... rules to live by, that\'s for sure... heh.
1. Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella
2. t is OK for a man to cry ONLY under the following circumstances: (a) When a heroic dog dies to save its master. (b) The moment Angelina Jolie starts unbuttoning her blouse. (c) After wrecking your boss\'s car. (d) One hour, 12 minutes, 37 seconds into \"The Crying Game\".(e) When she is using her teeth.
3. Any Man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his buddies.
4. Unless he murdered someone in your family, you must bail a friend out of jail within 12 hours.
5. If you\'ve known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off limits forever unless you actually marry her.
6. Moaning about the brand of free beer in a buddy\'s fridge is forbidden. However complain at will if the temperature is unsuitable.
7. No man shall ever be required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering your buddy\'s birthday is strictly optional. At that point, you must celebrate at a strip bar of the birthday boy\'s choice.
8. On a road trip, the strongest bladder determines pit stops, not the weakest.
9. When stumbling upon other guys watching a sporting event, you may ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who\'s playing.
10. You may flatulate in front of a woman only after you have brought her to climax. If you trap her head under the covers for the purpose of flatulent entertainment, she\'s officially your girlfriend.
11. It is permissible to drink a fruity alcohol drink only when you\'re sunning on a tropical beach... and it\'s delivered by a topless model and only when it\'s free.
12. Only in situations of moral and/or physical peril are you allowed to kick another guy in the nuts.
13. Unless you\'re in prison, never fight naked.
14. Friends don\'t let friends wear Speedos. Ever. Issue closed.
15. If a man\'s fly is down, that\'s his problem, you didn\'t see anything.
16. Women who claim they \"love to watch sports\" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to drink as much as the other sports watchers.
17. A man in the company of a hot, suggestively dressed woman must remain sober enough to fight.
18. Never hesitate to reach for the last beer or the last slice of pizza, but not both, that\'s just greedy.
19. If you compliment a guy on his six-pack, you\'d better be talking about his choice of beer.
20. Never join your girlfriend or wife in discussing a friend of yours, except if she\'s withholding sex pending your response.
21. Phrases that may NOT be uttered to another man while lifting weights (a) Yeah, Baby, Push it! (b) C\'mon, give me one more! Harder! (c) Another set and we can hit the showers!
22. Never talk to a man in a bathroom unless you are on equal footing: i.e., both urinating, both waiting in line, etc. For all other situations, an almost imperceptible nod is all the conversation you need.
23. Never allow a telephone conversation with a woman to go on longer than you are able to have sex with her. Keep a stopwatch by the phone. Hang up if necessary.
24. The morning after you and a girl who was formerly \"just a friend\" have carnal, drunken monkey sex, the fact that you\'re feeling weird and guilty is no reason for you not to nail each other again before the discussion occurs about what a big mistake it was.
25. It is acceptable for you to drive her car. It is not acceptable for her to drive yours.
26. Thou shalt not buy a car in the colors of brown, pink, lime green, orange or sky blue.
27. The girl who replies to the question \"What do you want for Christmas?\" with \"If you loved me, you\'d know what I want!\" gets an Xbox. End of story.
28. There is no reason for guys to watch Ice Skating or Men\'s Gymnastics. Ever. We\'ve all heard about people having guts or balls. But do you really know the difference between them? In an effort to keep you informed, the definition of each is listed below:\"GUTS\" is arriving home late after a night out with the guys, being assaulted by your wife with a broom, and having the guts to say, \"are you still cleaning or are you flying somewhere?\" \"BALLS\" is coming home late after a night out with the guys smelling of perfume and beer, lipstick on your collar, slapping your wife on the ass and having the balls to say, \"You\'re next!\" We hope this clears up any confusion, The International Council of Manhood, Ltd.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
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