Sixth Meme…

So Laeleiweyn tagged me on the Sixth Meme…I had no idea wth this meant! THANKS LAE! MAKING ME DO WORK LIKE READING AND STUFF! 🙂

So I need to find the 6th photo in the 6th day of the…oh hell…read the original WoW Insider article for yourself…WoW Insider.

The original basics are found here…Armageddon’s Coming

  • Go into your image folder
  • Open the sixth sub-folder and choose the sixth image.
  • Publish the image! (and a few words wouldn’t hurt, though I dare say I couln’t stop a blogger from adding a few words of their own).
  • Challenge six new bloggers.
  • Link to them.

So finding the 6th folder is tough on my comp. My iMac’s iPhoto library isn’t broken down like that. So I found the 6th image from me library and also grabbed the sixth image from my WoW screenshot folder.

The first is a shot of my two oldest at the NE Revolution game  from last fall….


This is a a screen grab from the first General kill with Phalanx of Nod…

So any shocks or surprises? My fam and WoW. Kind of the center of my world and all. 🙂

And now its tagging time….

Morynne at Marks 365
Ceraphus at Variant Avatar
Frostheim at Warcraft Hunters Union
Eidotrope at OutDPS!
JC Sway at LOL Survival and the WoW Hunters Hall
Borsk at Borsked.com

Ok. mission accomplished. Lae, thanks for forcing me to be social…revenge is forthcoming 🙂

Slow days…are slow.

*yawwwwn*

So, my guild has gone 8/8 regular mode. We’re not the “Hard modes must be done!!!” kind of crowd, so what’s there to do to fill the WoW time? No, we haven’t given up on Dragon Soul, there are plenty of things to still do there including getting our Rogue his legendary. But the question remains, short of continuing to beat ourselves against the same content over and over again…what is there to do?

Well, for one…ALL the previous content!!! Sure some of the much older content from Vanilla and BC is completely solo-able, but most Wrath raid content is not, nor are Tiers 11 or 12. And to be perfectly honest, there are some nice rewards for players out there to be had.

  1. Transmog Gear: There is gear a plenty available that is absolutely stunning to look at. I am especially fond of anything from Ulduar. I happen to be particular about Mimiron’s Repeater.
  2. Achievement Points, Mounts, and Titles OH MY!: Now, I know not everyone cares about APs, but I am a total achievement lover! They are there for the taking. Additionally many meta achievements still carry various titles and mounts upon completion. Including the beautiful Ulduar proto-drakes.
  3. BiS gear: No, Ulduar and ICC do not have usable items, but heroic modes for T11 and T12 could in fact still provide upgrades or even BiS items based on class & spec.
  4. Development: Some of the encounters can be difficult to still over come even if out-geared/leveled. They can be great opportunities to allow some folks to use alts, try out a new spec, or a new roll. Want to see if that Holy Pally really can tank in Prot…run them as MT in BoT or BWD before heading to DS.
  5. PvP: Doing guild BGs can be a lot of fun, especially with having a more organized team.
  6. FUN!: Seriously. Its fun to sometimes kick back and beat the snot out of some of these old instances. Our 10 man had about 45 min left in raid, so we knocked out Naxx40, MC, and BWL in quick order. MC was particularly fun where essentially 2 people ran to each boss and then we all met up at Rag. I think MC took us 10, maybe 15 min in total. it.was.fun!

I know, not all of these kinds of things are everyone’s cup of tea, but if you give some of them a fair chance you may find them enjoyable…more so than you’d have thought. You’ll notice I did not suggest leveling an alt. At this point, most players have had more than enough opportunity to level additional toons and classes. While getting a 5 man guild group together to Dungeon run can be fun, I really was focusing on what your raid team can do in lieu of the same raid zone over and over again.

What will you be doing with your raid group once you’ve completed your benchmark for progression?

Patch time…mmm, yummy buffs!

With today’s patch we have some Hunter specific changes that will boost all 3 specs DPS to hopefully be more in line with the Legendary toting DPS classes numbers (in line: meaning closer gap…but we won’t be overtaking them any time soon). Additionally some of these buffs will specifically help Survival Hunters out…

Here they are for the Hunter class…

  1. Aspect of the Hawk now grants roughly 35% more attack power.
  2. Deterrence now also reduces damage taken by 30% while active.
  3. Black Arrow now ticks every 2 seconds for 20 seconds, as opposed to every 3 seconds for 15 seconds.  The total damage dealt by the ability is unchanged.
  4. Lock and Load no longer benefits Arcane Shot, nor is it consumed by Arcane Shot.

So #2 gives us a nice damage mitigation for those things not already blocked (which feels an awful lot like everything most days). #1 certainly aids all three specs in raw dps. But numbers 3 and 4 are SV specific.

The Black arrow change will increase proc chance on LnL…nice change. The LnL adjustment will allow for more delicious Arcane Shots as well as Explosive Shots. No more accidental Explosive Shot consumptions on the LnL proc by an accidental Arcane Shot cast and allows us to weave Arcanes in with LnL to bleed focus. If you were not already glyphed for Improved Arcane Shots, you definitely should now.

I’m curious to know why there aren’t buffs specific to Beastmastery & Marksmanship. One could argue the LnL changes are merely quality of life changes to fix an unintended affect, and that the proc rate/format for Black Arrow is also a correction to unexpected behavior (using traps vs BA to proc LnL). So truly its all about a flat dps boost for all 3 specs.

Is this what the devs were thinking? Are they trying to specifically shepherd us to SV as the primary Hunter dps spec? Thoughts to ponder.

Full patch notes.

Blizzcon 2012, Here I come….errr waitaminute!!!

So, no Blizzcon 2012 eh?

Disappointing…sure. Expected…YES! Here’s why:

  1. 2012 game launch: Diablo 3
  2. 2012 game launch: Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
  3. 2012 game launch: World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

So, right there you’re thinking…SO! That was on tap long before 2012, plan ahead dammit, and they’ve had game launches even multiple and still had a Blizzcon. WTF?! Yes, but look at those three titles a little more closely.

Diablo 3: Long anticipated follow up. Final tweaks and revisions going on now. A MUST home-run on this title.

Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm: Now, I am anticipating this won’t actually launch in 2012 but rather in 2013..however timing wise 2012 would make more sense. Wings is getting long in the tooth already for the gaming community. Swarm has been teased enough to this point. Again, it HAS to be a home-run. It cannot miss.

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria: The supposed LAST expansion for WoW. I say supposed only because if…IF…the next gen MMO is not ready for any kind of release, Blizzard will want WoW to have longer legs. So expect at least the possibility of one more expansion to be the back up plan. Additionally, its still possible that Project Titan is in fact the next gen MMO and next gen WoW all in one…WoW 2.0 if you will. Point blank…MoP CANNOT be a failure. If its the last Xpac, then it must leave a good taste in the community’s mouth. If it is not the last one, it must keep players interested a little longer until their next gen is ready for the world.

Now this is enough for them to really want to hunker down and focus on game development and release. No distractions, cancel all vacations and leave, call in the reserves!!! However, there is another consideration here…Blizzard is a business folks. Conventions, Demos, and Symposiums like Blizzcon are all about one thing…driving revenue shares. I.E. MAKE MORE MONEY. Corporations use these things to create buzz about their products usually enhancements or new releases. Assuming the above three titles launch before or near October 2012, they will not be on the table for discussion and stir. Starcraft 2: Operation Protoss, Diablo 4…too far out for any kind of buzz. Only one thing left to talk about, thats right….Titan.

So, what is Titan? We have no clue. Blizzard is more tight lipped about Titan than Romney was about his tax bracket!! How far out is Titan, well up until today I would have said no idea…but this tells me one thing: YEARS. I suspect Blizzcon 2013 will be all about Titan, what ever it is. There will be a nostalgia component about the “retirement of World of Warcraft” and what its future holds (because believe me…they will NOT let a franchise this successful just fade to nothing), the Protoss expansion of SC2 will be previewed and discussed, the ongoing enhancements to D3 (assuming there are any – which I gather there would be), and finally the showcase of Titan.

So will it be worth the wait?

Full announcement from Blizzard.

FOOD PORN!

OK, I know…2 non-WoW posts in one day…BLASPHEMY! BUT, here me out…

Mike O’Connell is a fellow New Englander, and a total foodie. The guy can cook as well as anyone. His food blog is one of the few NON-WoW blogs I read, and honestly…I read his more religiously than my favorite WoW blogs (Sorry Mory, Frost, MMOMeltingPot, et al). Seriously folks, I read and re-read constantly. Just staring at the pictures is an afternoon well spent in my book.

So, Mike’s (aka The Rooftop Gourmet) latest post was his New Year’s Eve food bash. Its drool worthy to say the least. I have a ton of respect for home chefs like Mike. So check it out if you like food!!!

http://www.rooftopgourmet.com/beef/new-years-eve-feast-2011/