Shared Topic: Digging Archeology?
I don’t know if I’ve ever felt more like a dwarf, at least the Disney version, then when archeology hit. “We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig from early morn till night.” (Make it stop – please!) But, in truth, I’m fairly happy with what the devs at Blizz have come up with. Just a few comments, complaints, and ideas for the future.
On the Road Again….
Well, I’m headed south to start my new job. NOLA, here I come. Can’t discuss it much, but safe to say, I’m still in construction, and I’m going to be working harder than I have in a long while. So, if you see a dwarf riding down the highway on his silver mare, wave. You’ll know it’s me – I’ll be bopping my head to the jazz.
Friday Screenshot 1-28-11
Just before dawn in Stormwind, a lone dwarf takes to the sky. His mount is seldom seen, and this day, only those who rise early and begin their day will chance to see it.
Shared Topic: What makes an encounter click
An interesting topic was posted over at Blog Azeroth this week: What makes an encounter click? In other words, how does something go from head-beating frustration to farm status, excepting the addition of gear.
While there is a certain level of familiarity required on an individual level, there is much more learning on a group level, particularly in raids, required. Let’s consider the individual level for a moment. It is one thing to watch a tankspot video, or read a strat, then to be in the encounter and find yourself thinking a thousand different things. “Don’t stand in the purple poo, stand in the green goo; he’s gonna rage for 15 seconds, stand back.” In WotLK, Lord Marrowgar alone spikes random players (ranged to DPS spike immediately, healers to keep em alive), sends blue fire to a ranged member (dodge), and drops into bonestorm, targeting different players without indication, striking them and releasing a spread of blue fire ribbons into the room. Even with macros to target the spikes quickly, there was still a thought process for quite a while. And moving away and dodging the blue flame without becoming trapped was a bit of an art form – but after a while, everyone did it virtually without thinking. The key here is, however, that everyone has to complete Step 1 and have their individual survival and assignments become automatic.
Friday Screenshot 1-21-11
My poor new mount went out to see the world, and was scared by his somewhat larger cousin…
Guess turtles don’t go quite all the way down. (Yes, I finally fished one up.)
Another Reason to Shun Random Groups…
As a hunter, I’ve received a number or requests while runing random 5-man groups: CC this, don’t CC, dismiss your pet, have your pet attack this, etc. However, being told to respec is a new one for me. I understand that MM isn’t the OP machine that survival is, but there is no reason to expect me to go back, spend cash and respec to what the tank thinks I should run, and expect me to run it as well as I do MM. I have to admit, this one took me back – in retrospect, I should have asked for cash to respec (twice), and if he had ponied up, I should have come back and done miniscule DPS – survival isn’t my main spec (I have off-speced it now, but more for playing around with to learn than anything else.) When I refused, the tank made it clear he wasn’t going anywhere until 15 minutes had passed and he could vote to kick me. Apparently, a 45 minute wait now gives one an asshat with a Napoleon complex.
There was a time when I could have respectfully run a survival hunter, but Cataclysm changed the mechanics of huntering so much (along with about a 3 month absence from the game) that I wouldn’t feel comfortable running it in a heroic right now. I suppose I’m not one of the uber-elite who spends their entire day playing, I have a life that makes demands … I’ll get to the other specs later. Heck, after 4.0.6, folks may not be in such a hurry to grab that spec anyway.
Little Blue Dog 
