Hello good people of the World of Warcraft!

I realize that I’ve been out of the picture for a long time recently.  The honest truth is that I haven’t played WoW since before patch 3.3 dropped.  I ran out of WoW time mid-late November and just haven’t been motivated to get out there and pick up another game card.

I know you’re probably sitting at home slapping yourselves thinking:  “What the hell?  Icecrown Citadel drops and he doesn’t want to play?”  Well, I don’t do a whole lot of raiding, and I’ve never even stepped foot in Ulduar, let alone something bleeding edge like IC.  So, that wasn’t a huge deal for me, since it’s unlikely I’ll ever get that far in raid progression- at least in this expansion.

And RL has been keeping me very busy, so I simply haven’t had time for WoW.  I’m still not 100% sure that I’m back, and I haven’t bought that fateful game card at this point.  But I’m working myself up to it!  The idea is that I’ll be back for the new year…

Probably…

…

Ok well I’ll be back for February!

Either way, I’ll be posting again (I still read all the news sites, don’t worry I’m not out of date quite yet) so this blog is now back in action.

However before I can really resurrect this blog, there’s one key detail missing.  The blog is called “Feral Aspect” and is a Hunter/Druid blog.  But as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, out resident Hunter Manolin hasn’t been too active.  He’s been really busy with life  as well and just hasn’t had the time to post here.  And although I still have high hopes for  some guest posts by Manolin, he just can’t put the time into this.  Which means I’m on a hunt for  his replacement.

I’ve basically been talking to all the Hunters I know in-game but I’ve yet to have any luck so far.  Once I get back into WoW I should be able to round one up, but for now this blog is sadly hunter-less.  Therefore, I’m also putting the word out to the World of blogerdom.  If anyone out there is reading this and plays a Hunter (which is likely, since it’s a hunter/druid blog), and would like to contribute, please drop me a line at onike111222@gmail.com and we’ll see if we can work something out.

Anyways, thanks for the support, and here’s hoping that 2010 will see this blog really get off the ground.

~Flairn (Druid extraordinaire)

Utgarde Keep, the site of two Heroic dungeons.

World of Warcraft is a game that is very reliant on the “endgame” or the game at max level.  While leveling from 1-80 can be fun, and there are a few (fairly insane) people that have a passion for leveling, most players spend their early levels with the single goal of reaching the max level.  And once you finally hit that magic 80, the game does get even cooler.  Raid content for the PvEers, arenas and max levle battlegrounds for the PvPers, there’s something for everyone.  But something every aspect of the game has in common, is that in order to accel at your chosen field, you need to get gear.

While that is fairly self-explanatory, something a lot of fresh 80s struggle with, is figuring out how to get that gear.  Especially for PvE, it can be confusing.  It’s the old story, you need to raid to get better gear, but you need better gear to raid.  I remember a friend of mine complaining in the early days of Wrath that players would be recruiting for runs in Naxxramas, and demanding a level of gear only available from having already run Naxx.

The answer to your PvE gearing woes, is simple.  Heroics.  Most experienced players will tell a fresh 80 to get out there and run heroics to get their early gear.  I’ve always been more of a PvP fanatic, but recently I started experimenting with a boomkin PvE offspec.  Surprisingly, I’ve really enjoyed myself, and over the last few days, I’ve spent a lot of time farming heroics.

What is a heroic?  A heroic dungeon is a max level, more difficult version of another dungeon.  For example, while leveling up, do you remember venturing into Utgarde Keep?  Well, Ingvar is back, level 80, and he still wants to paint his face with your blood.  Utgarde Pinacle is another dungeon located in Utgarde Keep, which is actually level 80 in normal mode, and simply harder in heroic difficulty.

Now if you’re a fresh 80, in quest greens and blues, the concept of a heroic dungeon may seem a bit overwhelming.  Yes, people do farm heroics in item level 245 gear, simply for the emblems, but you can run it in your less perfect gear too.  Heroics Dungeons (with the exception of things like Heroic Trial of the Champion) are designed to be doable by anyone, and fresh 80s run them all the time to get geared up.

So, the next question:  why bother to run heroics?  If I haven’t already answered that above, I’ll be more specific here.  Heroic dungeons yield two things of great value to the new 80.  Entry level ilvl 200 blues and purples (the level of gear you generally have to run Naxx 10, for instance) and emblems.  Heroics generally drop Emblems of Conquest, but the daily (which can be picked up outside the Violet Hold in Dalaran) will give you Emblems of Triumph, which is currently the best emblems available.  Emblems can be traded in for much better, Tier gear.  You’ve probably heard the fuss about Tier 10 in the coming patch, and wondered what it is.  Tier gear is simply very good gear generally obtained by raiding.  Conquest Emblems give you acess to Tier 8.5, and Triumph will net you the current gear-du-jour, Tier 9.

Now, when it comes to actually stepping into those Heroics, what should you do?  Basically, the fights are mostly very simple.  If you ran some dungeons while leveling through Northrend, you’re probably already familiar with a good number of the fights.  Bosses don’t change in Heroic mode, they just have more health and hit harder.  If you were able to get through the Nexus, Utgarde Keep, Gundrak and so on while you were leveling, you’ll have no more trouble with heroics.   The same standard party make-up is employed (1 tank, 1 healer, 3 dps) and the same skills you (hopefully) picked up while leveling apply.  If you’re a tank, keep the baddies of your friends.  If you’re a healer, keep people from dying.  If you’re a dps (damage per second), just focus on painting YOUR face with THEIR blood.

One aspect of the game you’ll probably have to deal with is PuGs (or Pick up Groups), which are groups of people you don’t know.  Sometimes you’ll get saddled with a group of people you dislike, or who simply aren’t very good at what they do.  Don’t worry about it, just get through the instance and avoid them in future runs.  The obvious way to avoid this frustrating thing, is to coerce your guild-mates or friends into running with you.  Drop some lines like “Well, you know I’d love to help with that Ulduar run later this week… if only I had some gear.  Oh woe is me.”  Most guildies will probably help you out, and their superior gear will make Heroics even more painless.

Does all this sound confusing?  Don’t worry.  The good news is that, in a day of two of farming heroics (or a week or two for those of us who can’t play all day long) you should be able to pick up, at the very least, some item lvl 200 epics, and probably some T8.5 or even T9 raiding gear from all those shiny new emblems.  After that all you need is gems and enchants (more on that sometime later) and you’re ready for the world of raiding.  Naxxramas will probably feel like a walk in the park, and plenty of people simply skip it, since the gear now easily available dwarfs Naxx.  But, be it Ulduar, or Naxxramas, Onyxia, or even ToC (Note- the last two are included to make the sentence seem more full, don’t ACTUALLY try and run the harder raids with ilvl 200 gear), don’t sweat it.  You’re ready.

Horde hunters decked out in T9

Ever since the announcement of the release of Cataclysm, there’s been a lot of complaints about the new class/race combinations.  Not that people don’t like the idea, but most WoW players seem to agree that the addition of new classes for each race is more an attempt to appeal to the player base, than it is a logical continuation of the storyline.  In the cataclysm trailer, the breif reason given for the new options is that the races of Azeroth have addapted to new conditions, and therfore can train as new classes.  Everyone seems to feel that the idea is 100% fun, but 0% lore, and that lore is now being changed just to fit the addition.

But, I don’t think that’s necessarily true.  As a strong proponent of both the Horde and Hunters (although druids will always be my favourite) I was very excited to see Undead Hunters on the list of new possibilities with the coming expansion.  And it’s this combination in particular that I’m going to talk about today.

So, do Undead Hunters fit with the lore?  While a lot of people will say no (such question as “How does a jawless Hunter whistle for his pet?” have been raised), I diagree.  The answer is actually… yes.

Now before everyone disagrees, think about it for a moment.  Who created the Forsaken?  None other than Sylvanas Windrunner.  And what did Sylvanas do, pre run-in with Arthas?  She was Ranger-General of Silvermoon.  In other words, she was a hunter.  And even now that she’s a banshee in Undercity’s basement, the Dark Lady still sports a heck of a bow, and plenty of hunter skills along with her more traditional, undead arsenal.

Sylvanas is largely credited with having given the Undead  a lot of their power, so when they announced Undead Hunters… what was wrong with the idea?  The foundations of the lore is already there.  Sylvanas taught her people the ways of the hunter.  All things considered, it’s not that big a stretch.

Now that’s not to say that some of the new combinations aren’t pretty out there.  But when it comes to Undead Hunters, I’d like to see a lot of the lore complaints die down a bit.  The basis for the idea definitely exists in lore.  And, even more shocking… it actually makes sense.

The Headless Horseman is once again on the Hunt.

The best holliday event of the year has once again rolled around in the World of Warcraft, and I am extremely close to mastering it.  With only Sinister Calling still eluding me, my name will shortly be Hallowed.  However, before I dive back into the Scarlet Monastery to kill the old Horseman who lacks a head, I thought I’d share my thoughts about this holliday and maybe drop some hints for those of you still in the process of becoming “The Hallowed.”

Hallow’s End (if you didn’t click on my convienient link) is the celebration of the Forsaken’s break from the Scourge.  Although I do play a Forsaken (my main alt, next to my Druid) you don’t really need to in order to appreciate the general awesomness of the event.  Perhaps Blizzard first designed Hallow’s End, before the other World Events, or perhaps they just like it more, but it seems to me that they go a lot further with Halloween then any other of the holliday events.

Brewfest sported a few kegs outside capital cities, and a grumpy dwarf in Blackrock Depths, certainly entertaining, but hardly as cool as millions of Jack-o’-lanterns pretty much everywhere, and a gleefully rhyming Horseman who assaults several towns across Azeroth “relentlessly” as the holliday drags on.

Speaking of which, I promised some help for those of you still struggling with the holliday meta-achievement.  And I will provide that now:

The Holliday “Meta-Achievement” dubbed Hallowed Be Thy Name consists of 11 sub-achievements, one of which (Tricks and Treats of Azeroth) actually consists of another three sub-sub-achievements.  Sounds complicated, right?  Actually… it isn’t really.  If you set aside a little time each day for the event you’ll be sporting a spiffy new title in no time, and you’ll probably have a bit of fun along the way.

The first, and probably the easiest achievement is Trick or Treat.  It’s ridiculously easy.  Go into any inn in the game, and tell the inn keeper you’d like to trick or treat.  He/she will either provide a nice little prize (a treat) or turn you into something interesting (a trick).  It’s pretty simple but it’s a core mechanic of the holliday, so make sure you do it as often as the one hour cooldown allows.

Next up is Out With It.  As you trick or treat, you’ll get Tricky Treats.  Eat a bunch in a row, and you’ll toss your cookies, loose your lunch, and worship the porcelain god all over the ground in front of you.  This pops the next achievement.

For Bring Me The Head of… Oh Wait you sinmply have to venture into the Scarlet Monastery and kill the Headless Horseman.  Although I’ve seen some high 70s in groups, it’s recommended you be 80, or close to it.  Although he’s very, very easy to defeat, lower level characters probably won’t be able to down him.

To be considered The Savior of Hallow’s End you need to go to one of the towns the Headless Horseman attacks and talk to the Orphan Matron.  She’ll tell you to put of the fires.  With the help of a few friendly players, you should be able to grab enough buckets of water from the pool near the Matron and put out all the firest before the Horseman runs off again.

That Sparkling Smile- while Trick or Treating, you will sometimes be given toothpicks.  Use one to clean your teeth and this achievement will pop.

For Rotten Hallow you do a seriest of quests given by either Sergeant Hartman (Alliance) or Darkcaller Yanka (Horde) that involve ruining the holliday for the opposing faction.  I did the two Horde quests in Southshore, and it probably bears mentioning that I ran into a fairly sizeable Alliance raid on my server, camping the town for Horde players attempting to do the quests.  Luckily I was able to stealth past, but I still died three times while trying to do the quests.  Either way, they aren’t all that hard, so you hsouldn’t have too much trouble.

Candy Buckets located in every inn across the game, will give you a candy called G.N.E.R.D.S..  They give you  a defence-raising buff that stacks up to four times.  While under the effect of at least one stack, you must kill 50 members of the opposing faction for G.N.E.R.D. Rage.  This is easiest in a battleground or in Lake Wintergrasp where the HKs really roll in.  This one can be a bit of pain for those of you not so big on PvP, but in general one or two battlegrounds should suffice.  Just make sure you keep the buff up at all times and you’ll be fine.

Weighted Jack-o’-Lanterns drop from the Headless Horseman during you battle with him.  Use these to give a player from each of the races a pumpkin to get the Check Your Head achievement.

For The Masquerade, you must be transformed by each of the seven varieties of wands you obtain by Trick or Treating.  This can only be done by another player (you can’t do it to yourself) so you may find yourself paying a few gold for the service.  However, trading wands is fairly common, so by Trick or Treating regulairly, you should be bale to furnish yourself with enough wands to complete this achievement.

Sinister Calling calls for you to grab a Sinister Squashling pet and a Hallowed Helm.  Both of these are somewhat rare drops from Trick or Treating and the Horseman himself.  Although this is the only achievement still keeping me from my title, and I’ve yet to nab either, with a bit of luck will see you through.

Trick and Treats of Azeroth requires you to visit every inn in the game except those in Northrend.  Collect candy from each of the candy buckets in them and you will be awarded this achievement.  It’s time consuming but fairly easy, and if you have the flight points already (which most 80s will) it’s really just a lot of waiting while you fly.

Becoming “The Hallowed” might take a bit of time, but it’s well worth it.  I’m shooting for my Violet Proto Drake this year so I’ll be seeing them all, but from what I already know, this is by far my favourite.  I might be a little biased, since the first character I actually played somewhat seriously started during Halloween 2008 (a Hunter, incidentally).  The mad cackling and rhyming threats of the Headless Horseman had me hooked from the second I heard his voice echoing from Razor Hill.  So, I moved my little level 12 self all over Durotar, Trick or Treating, and helping to foil the Headless Horseman.

And I think that’s one of the beauty of this event, any level can do it.  I’d been playing my hunter for all of about three days, but I still loved the event.  I feel like incorporating the community as a whole, regardless of level, is one of the coolest parts of these hollidays.  And it’s something blizzard should do more often.

Anyways, I’m off to go shove a furry paw down the Horseman’s throat yet again, so I’ll leave off my Halloween guide here.  Enjoy the holliday!

Flairn (in his early days, the handsome devil) takes his fist steps into Outland.

The druid.  While not as complex in many ways as the hunter, the druid brings something truly unique to the table.  Versatility.  The druid is by far one of the most versatile of all the classes.  Very few other can safely say that they can tank, DPS and heal all on the same toon.  And do it well to boot.  The druid can honestly fulfill any role in a raid and I’ve seen them all.  In PvP, that versatility makes druids a force to be reckoned with.  In an aspect of the game dictated by quick thinking and being on your toes, being able to fill any role is a great advantage to have.  In raids, a well-placed HoT can save the day and although not as popular as traditional tanks, bear form is slowly on the rise from its depression.

I can proudly say that I’m one of the few druids not going the much-touted, subtly overpowered route of restoration (or at least… not very much).  I’m feral to the core.  I’ve played a feral druid since level 1, and loved every second of it.  I don’t do a tremendous amount of PvE, but I do PvP fairly heavily.  Like Manolin, World PvP remains my favourite.

Gearing a druid can be confusing, if only because each role played requires a totally different set of gear (although a healing set and a boomkin set could be used somewhat interchangeably).  Gearing a tanking bear druid requires traditional warrior stats (stamina, strength and defense rating).  However, bear druids gain much of their defense from talents in the feral tree, therefore many tanking druids don’t overly concern themselves with defense rating on their gear.  It’s even been known for druids to tank in PvP gear for the greater stamina it provides.

Gear for a cat druid is similar to that of a rogue (agility, attack power, crit rating, some strength and stamina), while a Resto Druid is akin to priests and other healers: Intellect; spellpower and until it’s removed, MP5.  Balance requires a similar set of casting gear, with less focus on healing (obviously) and would probably include some more stamina then a Resto Druid.  Honestly, I could go on and on about gear for a druid, but doing so would require a breakdown of every role.  Let’s just say there’s a lot to take in when discussing the class in general.

Playing a druid is perhaps (and I’m sure our hunter fans will disagree) the most responsive, intuitive experience in the game.  Druids are sought after as healers, DPS and increasingly as tanks.  Although mastering the balance between a druid’s brilliant range of abilities and roles takes practice and no small amount of talent, it’s well worth it.   I guarantee you’ll enjoy every moment of playing your druid and with no role out of reach, you’ll never get bored.  For the greatest versatility, and some of the most interesting role combinations, I can’t think of a better pick then the druid.

Manolin moseys through Thunder Bluff

Hunters are possibly the most complex of the classes.  Everything from a few talent points, to the type of pet being used or even play style can significantly change the character’s capability, and there is no right way to play one.  For the soloist, a hunter is an amazing class because it has incredible self-sustaining capabilities.  For raid groups, hunters can be an indispensable source of aggro management as well as fantastic ranged DPS, and can even serve well with crowd control both in and out of a pinch.  Though traditionally not hearty in the arena, hunters can be among the most volatile forces on the battlefield.

As a player, I lean someplace in the middle of the spectrum.  I find raiding can often be incredibly stressful and time consuming, but also very rewarding and a lot of fun.  I usually can’t be bribed into regular arena competition, but I love battlegrounds and world PvP—with the latter being my absolute favorite.

Gearing is strangely complex with a hunter as well since there are a few different stats that a player might want to optimize, depending on what angle of the game they are playing.  The four huge stats that hunters are juggling are agility, stamina, attack power, and crit rating.  Having a high crit rating is of course really important, particularly with crit-based procs in mind—but what good is a 70 percent crit rating if only three to four shots are being fired per second?  Generally, any critical hit is better than one that isn’t, for the PvEer, things differ with abilities like Hunting Party.

The goal, ideally, with Hunting Party is to keep it procced constantly during the raid ensuring that raid members all are receiving the benefit.  In order to do this, an explosive, steady or arcane shot must critically hit.  I don’t use Arcane Shot with a survival spec, but I do of course use Explosive Shot.  It can be assumed that within the span of a second, an explosive and one steady shot can be squeezed in.  Thus, assuming there are three hits that could trigger the proc, the raiding hunter really only needs about a 33 percent critical strike chance in order for Hunting Party to remain constantly and reliably active.  Then, it’s only up to the player to decide how much extra critical strike chance they want; it often comes at the expense of raw DPS.

I’ve found that I can’t properly play a hunter with just one hand.  Most times, I’m moving between hotkeys, macros and any one of about 36 other buttons.  I’m even a clicker in a lot of situations.  Hunters have loads of abilities, and in order to effectively use the class, every single one of them needs to be used to some degree.  That’s why I really love the class though.  The hunter was the first character I ever rolled, and it’s my trusty hunter that I find myself constantly going back to despite a handful of alts to choose from.  For me, no other class feels more like an extension of my arm than the hunter.