WoWcast

Interesting stuff - I really liked the section in the latest one about how people leave online games because they don’t find happiness in them and then lash out bitterly (forum trolling really) at those who still play. I love the way she addresses the issues she is discussing - very different from your typical wow news podcast - although I have started from the latest episode, she does state that oldest issues are like a whole different podcast.

The net is rife with WotLk news. Most of which I am ignoring because I don’t want Wot-Licky burn out before it is even released.

However BKR, Mystic and Petopia (awesome articles at petopia) and a few others have posted the new pet classing and pet skills calculators available over on WowHead – which of course I had to go sticking my nose into.

So pets of various classes will fall into one of three categories:

• Cunning – a PVP spec (also called utility - but heck they can eat corpses!)
• Ferocity – a DPS spec
• Tenacity – a tanking spec

The concept of proper pet tanks has everyone in the hunter community rather excited.

Popular bets are placing the Crocolisk as the best tanking pet because of the rumoured special ability ‘bad attitude’ where the croc attacks everything around it. (This is why you will see a few more hunters out in Shatt-city with crocs in tow.) Second runner up for best tank is the Bear, which may be getting a druidish ‘Swipe’ attack which will hit three mobs.

…my Warp although falling into the Tenacity group sadly will not be getting any kind of area attack and will keep the warp ability (looks like she will get dash though *_* as it may be standardized across pet classes along with the standard physical attacks: bite, bash or claw.)

Wolves (unfortunately for me) stay as ferocity and keep their currently crappy howl (although I’m hoping it gets tweaked at least.) So I wanted a wolf but he came in under dps with the same yucky howl so now I am not sure, another class may dps better. I have always wanted a red hyena from SM but he is another dps type - Dang. A lot of other beasties are getting some darn nice and useful special abilities

• Webs & Pins & Stuns
• Armour reduction
• Movement impairment
• Hit reduction
• Spell interrupts
• Disarm

Although only testing will reveal how useful they are in practice – they will all have cooldowns, and hyenas for example get a movement hindering affect… which at the moment can apparently be parried.

Happily they claim that the WotLK expansion will have a feature which levels anything you tame to within five levels of your own… so it’s not like I have to go out and hunt down a new stable until well into Northrend ^_^ - I am also looking forward to what the hunters who blog will write about the pets in the new system.

Alternative titles:

• Not flagging doesn’t make you a coward
• PVE server rehabilitation for the PVPer
• Displacement therapy - its okay to admit you feel uncomfortable

..all that’s tongue in-cheek by-the-by ^_^

Read a dammed interesting post from MMOG Nation– it’s a take on what a PVPer will experience if they transfer to PVE and then stay flagged like a PVPer is accustomed to doing.

Must say my own experiences with PVE servers have been somewhat similar, I found the only realistic time to pop the PVP flag was in defense of someone else (heals and the like because I couldn’t just stand there and watch) … and I found that you could expect very little backup from a lot of the same faction toons around you (oh we are too low a level to help etc etc.)

Which when I tried to go back to PVE servers retrospectively was very strange for me because some of my best memories of world PVP are incidences like the time my level 60 hunter and about seven baby hunters flushed a level 70 NE rogue who had been ganking baby toons in xroads (it was like flare city overload), or that one time some griever up at Tarren mill was literally swarmed by horde lowbies and actually died from it.

On PVE servers I have found if you are fool enough to flag … well no one will aid you… because “well son you were fool enough to flag”. The solution is always “drop your flag you idiot” or “don’t attack him/her in the first place”. (You can often spot a new ‘usually-PVEer’ in the starting areas of a PVP realm because they will say things like this over general without realizing what areas the rule actually applies to.)

Heck - I know of cases on a PVE realm where when the rumor gets out that someone is flagged (some lowbie will pipe up over defense or general about an enemy in the area) well the opposing faction literally swoops in all a-dragon-back and on mass … heh to discover some hordie simply fishing unflaged.

And I think that’s part of the key to the difference in attitude about world PVP – on a PVP server if you wander around you are flagged automatically and there is nothing to indicate whether you are trying to cause trouble or not, you’re just going about your business. Now on a PVE server a flagged person can be considered trouble or at least potential trouble … like seeing some stealthed alliance druid sitting on the horde zeppelin, or a group of mounted alliance outside the gates of Orgimmar. A flagged person will also attract unto himself every gank starved griever from the opposing faction in the local area who has gotten wind of the situation (it will be like blood in the water if the sharks are there to smell it) – and no one will do a damn thing to help because people who flag on PVE servers are considered trouble looking for trouble, and a lot of the toons who don’t flag are playing on a PVE server because they are uncomfortable with that sort of thing in the first place.

It becomes a bit of a case of “oh you got mugged? Well why were you walking down that dark alley in the first place? It’s your own fault really”

Which is why I rather prefer PVP servers – aye you still lose a lot if you do get in a fight, aye its bloody annoying to have your questing interrupted by an asshat – but suddenly you are that guy who has been down the dark alley at the wrong time. You’re more likely to help others in the same situation and less likely to blame them for getting into trouble and you can commiserate about being upset by it. Also everyone is involved, if there is a griever in the area it actually affects all the lowbies playing in that area, toons will communicate the danger, they pull together, sometimes guilds are contacted or 70’s in the area party-up and create a kinda old west law-man posse to help out the lowbies … because we have all been there in that alley. It does add some definition to the two fractions – every alliance player you see is potential ‘trouble’.

But hey that can be positive too, I mean any good interaction with the opposing faction takes a lot more trust and means a hell of a lot more to the parties involved. Like the other day I gave a little human an escort through the wetlands on my shaman alt and boy was the little human chuffed – it was cute. And yes I did get killed by some jerk of a lvl 70 paladin once I got closer to the alliance port, but I led him a damn merry chase though the swamps before he got me … and I came away with some interesting ideas about how I could have fled better. Also I have this feeling he missed the guys no emote (or thought it was at me not his shiny pally self) and thought I was harassing the baby lol. So it is hard to be too cut by it all, although I would have liked to deliver the human to the doorstep so to say … I hope the paladin took responsibility.

Heh of course it “means more” because the standard reaction in this situation would have been to bite his head off… much like the pally who hammered me to death further down the road - them be the PVP breaks.(Snort - yes… yes I was in wolf mode … the dog mentality tends to take over a little when I run around as a wolf.)

Now I am not saying there is more in the way of honorable characters or asshats on either PVE or PVP servers – just that the ‘all for one attitude’ that is more likely to develop on PVP servers is rather appealing to me.

There was for example this Roleplay PVE server where I once fell in with this Night Elf group that had set themselves up as the ‘Guards of Astranaar’. They just hung in the area and engaged any hordies who attempted to attack that town (I hear this is common on PVE-RP servers) – of course as such it was a pretty happening area and the characters were rather RP awesome. It is what actually got me into PVP servers and Battlegrounds in the first place, before that I was strictly a PVE player.

And lastly PVP servers give the nutjobs so many targets they don’t know what to do with them all - the pain my friends is shared and disbursed.

EDIT:

Oh looky nother blog that agrees PVE server World PVP is nasty: World PVP on a PVE Server by BGbendax

Oh and heres a couple of posts on PVP server retribution: Oh I’m sorry… were you trying to farm? & I’m a troublemaker by Netra of Curse of Shadows

..actually I have never been sure why people are allowed flag on PVE in the first place … well except for capital city raids .. and the NE guards were a fun crew … hmmm still isn’t that what the battlegrounds are for on PVE realms, the PVP outlet?

Okay as a hunter you have probably already heard of the pet emote addon.

Below are some of the variations I have made to what my stable of pets will emote at random intervals.

You can make these changes yourself very simply by opening the “localization LUA file” (in the pet emote addon folder) with notepad scrolling down to the English section and changing what is already there - being very very careful not to delete any of the little symbols because that will break the code - and saving it again.

Why do this? - well because it adds flavour to your game play.

Every time I see ‘wrath rubs up against you’ as a random emote from my pet I actually like him a little more, having real cats I get a kinda lion mane-rub fantasy flash … (I know I know - that’s weird, but still … cool.) And I admit that I really rather disliked my scorpid until it started blowing snot bubbles and doing floozy dances for me

So first up we have The Warp. And that is a good example of the other part of the pet emote addon that allows you to change how a beasties family name is displayed, for example I changed the family from warpstalker to ‘lizard’ using the addon’s in game customization - which amuses many a toon I party with because the warps name is ‘Thing’ (after some kids book about a crazy little pet dinosaur) anyway as a result what they see on their screens when the addon be working is ‘fessran’s pet lizard Thing’ before every emote, and a more apt description of the bizarre and gruesome warp I cannot think of.

Okay the emote has 3 levels of random emote to express whether a pet is unhappy, content or happy - which is rather awesome.

Warp Stalker
[1] =
hisses hungrily
clambers around anxiously
snaps an insect out of the air

[2] =
waits patiently for some food.
stretches her throat upwards while searching for something to eat.
looks for water.
shakes her spines impatiently.

[3] =
grins vacantly.
cranes her neck with pleasure.
gives you a sly look.
rolls her tounge out and licks an eyeball.
flicks her tounge around her muzzle.
tosses her horns.
sniffs at the breeze.
lashes her tail-fin.
rolls one eye back to stare at you.
burps.
bares a japing maw of needle sharp fangs.
licks a scale on her flank.
stands motionless with jaws hanging open.

Scorpid
[1] =
snatches around at the air with its pinchers. Hunger!
hisses and chatters angrily.

[2] =
scurries around anxiously.
chatters with its pinchers half-heartedly.
looks unimpressed.

[3] =
waves its pinchers in the air like a cheap floozy.
scurries around excitedly.
blows a snot bubble.
gives you a weird look.
makes a zoom-zoom noise… freak.
burbles happily.
does the happy dance.

Cat (biggest selection because it is my most used pet currently)
[1] =
is going to rip Fessran’s face off if the kibble is not served shortly.
roars hungrily.
eyeballs the local wildlife.
is giving you the ’starved kitten’ look.
looks at you… hungry.
chews some grass and looks miserable.

[2] =
flexes his claws and growls hungrily.
rumbles unhappily.
looks unsatisfied.
claws at her boots…
looks around hungry.
lashes his tail.
looks agitated and mean.

[3] =
huffs happily.
coughs up a hairball… hrrruk!
rubs up against you.
shakes his mane.
shakes his jowls, sending spittle flying in all directions.
licks a paw.
grooms quietly.
is ready and willing to eviscerate.
starts an extensive catlick.
glances around.
blows a snot bubble.
flicks an ear.
prowls back and forth.
scents the air.
twitches his whiskers.
pounces on a beetle.
flicks his tail.
slinks into the shadows.
bares his fangs.
has a stretch and yawns contentedly.
chews on her cloak.
rolls his shoulder blades and stretches.

Currently I have to put together a selection for the carrion bird (now there’s a ‘procrastinate-at-work’ task if ever I have heard of one.)

Damn dog-darn-it. Why they keep showing me this stuff? Now I have ‘must-buy’ anxiety :p

I have two engineers, no three … wait four… and they all want bikes!

Place of the down-trodden, homeless and broken, a place of internal strife where peace keepers walk the streets while elves and blueberries try to top each other. Shatt-city always kinda reminded me of sin city or the scum-planets the Serenity firefly crew docked with. Shatt-city - where everyone sets their hearth just so they can have the pleasure of vacating the premises for other locales … any other locale.

At least so it used to be.

Then of course with the opening of the isle of gank, the blueberries and blood elves started playing nice, smacking swords in a friendlier manner (fights now dubbed war training rather than the usual ‘mugging’) and they even built a statue together where we can all worship a common god … money.

And in this warmer carebear environment the World’s End Tavern has come into its own with shows live on the hour. The yelled announcement pretty much ensures at least a small audience of bored toons will wander into the tavern to catch the show – and I think that here blizzard has possibly made a role-play friendly outlands pub.

Because people are starting to run their own shows.

Oh not during Level 70 elite Tauren chieftain performances – because they tend to rock the house, but has anyone caught the other show?

The standup comedian?

… he makes Tauren burger jokes … he mimics toons silly lines … I dunno I found him terribly not funny (except in the manner that not funny standup comedians are well funny.) And worse the first time I caught this show I was trapped (BG waiting) with a hardcore roleplayer (elf in fencing get up & on slash walk) who was attempting to attract RP action by /laugh-ing & /clap-ing at EVERY joke and yelling for encores. It was painful.

I took advantage of the recent patch and downed four alcoholic beverages until I couldn’t see him through the blur and the bubbles.

The standup comedian is the perfect act to take over – the second time I caught the standup show some naked elf and his Draenei molls took over the stage and provided us with a dance and light show… much much more entertaining.

EDIT: Spooner has a damn interesting rant about the outlands rep grinds and the effect holding hands over everything has on PVP

Totally!

wow … just wow

Petopia (love love) is already posting new pet models from Wot-Licky, oh god I want wolves and worgs to be viable pets again!

I’ve been letting most the WotLK leak flow right by me - but this one was rather like walking into a wall, a shiny hunter magnet wall, which my hunter mail got stuck to… (I have the office flu if you weren’t able to tell from the rambling thus my lack of posts @_@ still … shiny new pets! woo-hoo)

Spirit healer of Doooom

… heh - the danger of listening for subliminal messages is that even if there are none you’ll hear something because you have just told your brain to find the white pony.

———————————-

And now for some deliberate hilarious mistaken hearing we have Gnome-my-A to the tune of Numa Numa (always a personal favourite) - stick with it at least until you get to ‘Feed a Cheetah’ … that’s about where I snorted tea out my nose.

So basically I took my little level 63 shammy (original main on twisting nether till I caved and rolled another hunter) into the battlegrounds this weekend and I was horrified to realize that I had slipped the 60s bracket and was now playing with all the big boys. So what does one do in BGs when one crumples like wet cardboard every time one comes up against any kind of opposition?

Well the first step is to realize that you really need to fight with a group, because the group is going to be your confusing meat shield. You need a solid group of no less than five toons to help hide your under seasoned body. If you pick a group that has a healer with it you will probably live longer (although frankly heals in a BG are more of a bonus then a given.) So decide if you are going with the Offence or sticking with the Defence, then stick to your group like glue. Really do use them as a meat shield – you are going to be the guy that either stands fairly well behind them dealing ranged damage/heals or you are going to be the guy that stands back and lets the group engage the enemy so you can pick the back of your unsuspecting melee target (Useful PVE skill that.) The main name of the game is RANGE –attempt to keep distance from the enemy, ranged damage/heals if you have them are your friend. In fact anything that keeps you at the back of the crowd is your friend (except perhaps shaman chain heal which just screams *kill the healers - oh look there she is at the end of the great green booger*).

The second thing will be to realize that you may actually be standing out like a sore thumb back there – keep your eyes out for rogues and druids and the other types that circle scrums looking for the weak to pick off.

Now take 5mins out and think of how you can contribute. This is the time to think about all the spells and things you can do which have very little to do with damage. So a basic list of some things a low level toon can contribute:

Can you buff anyone? - All buffs are greatly appreciated because unless you are with a premade they too are more of a BG bonus than a BG right. Buff whenever you have the opportunity because it will make other toons in ‘the group’ fond of you. (They don’t see the meat shield – bwhahahaha) If they like you they may toss a heal or /assist your way.

Can you heal? – This ones a biggy. Any healing at all is appreciated in a BG (including bandages), no group is really going to foul mouth an under levelled toon that is actually attempting to heal. Even if its not what you are specced for, if you can heal go at it, it’s a good hobby for the little fishy.

Can you type a call out? - All toons have a voice & you can use yours to yell incomings and aid communication about troop movement. Stick to useful info and avoid telling people how to play though as you don’t want to attract a ‘hey man you’re not even 70!’ bitch fest.

Can you interrupt? – meh since you are unlikely to be able to be a force of mass destruction it’s time to make like Bin Laden and be a force of total annoyance. Interrupt flag taps (heals and casting if you can), then run away when they look at you, circle round and interrupt their flag tap again. This can actually be rather relaxing because the aim is to put all your frustration on another player … death be damned… just annoy the crap out of an enemy player and foil whatever their original goal was

Can you see something that needs doing? - Take the jobs other people may avoid, since in this pond you are not a big damage dealer or an uber healer you are now the guy who has the time to mind a flag, watch a choke and play the D.

Can you love your CC? – It will be resisted sometimes but CC is probably going to help your group more than piddly damage. Screams and sheeps and traps and totems and flares and banishes. CC what you can whenever you can even if you just fear some hunter pet off another player. (Aye I know your usual form of CC is probably to simply bash it to death, but being a little fish is a chance to get creative.)

Do you have any utility abilities that can help out? – Like bombs, or stealth, or the ability to float, or mana your group up should they happen to be anywhere near you. Working these kinda things into your game play makes BGs a lot more fun, and it can make you unpredictable – being unpredictable will help you live longer.

Are there any BG objectives you can help achieve? – This is a normal consideration, remember the actual goals of the BG and look for opportunities to help meet them: help a flag carrier, defend a node, tap flags if everyone is fighting away from them, cash in AV quests etc etc.

AV Specific:
Well AV is actually really friendly to the small fish.
The groups are huge so the odd under 70 doesn’t stand out and you are not going to get bad mouthed as soon as you step foot in the cave. Both the defence and offence require a significant chunk of toon bodies that you can happily hide in. There are a number of relevant quests you can complete for rep and still feel like you are contributing (everyone gets rep and buffs etc from your cash ins), in fact you can even run around on clean up duty collecting pieces of corpses to cash in back at the base.
A stealthy type can make a solo journey to take a mine or a tower (if you whisper another lvl 70 stealth toon for assistance you can even rustle up that ever required ‘meat shield’ again.) There is always GY guarding further back from the main defence or offence – someone has ta do it.

Important goals to keep in mind:
Do not die so often you are a burden to your team when it comes to lowering the reinforcements. If you picked Offense and you are dying consistently it is time for you to pack your bags and move further back on the map.

AB Specific:
AB can be fairly friendly to the lower level player. I find it’s wise to either stick to the main body of toons or to stick with a really well geared melee type. (The usual oh hey he has Glad gear - be my friend shenanigans.) I usually end up with unpleasant guard duties, but this happens at even 70 because someone’s gotta go it.

WSG Specific:
Probably the worst BG for the under levelled because everyone notices… on the other hand, a lot of 70s don’t play WSG so maybe you will fit right in. I however, find it is the BG most likely to bitch-blame losses on the percentage of under levelled toons.
Buffs are less likely to happen in WSG – so if you can, buff away whenever you are near party members as it really stands out and party members will notice and appreciate it.
As a hunter - setting yourself up to hamper and defend can be a good way to go (depending on your team. I mean if everyone is turtling it’s not so good an idea.) There are some great places to stand in WSG if you can deal ranged damage because map movements are pretty predictable; toons will be going Graveyard (gy), Ramp or Tunnel (tun) and moving from one end of the map to the other. You can easily set yourself up in a hard to reach place and deal damage on the masses below. (I have even seen lvl 70 warlocks and mages plant themselves on this one stump in midfield to do just that.)