Gitr Knows WoW

Gitr · November 30, 2007

Gitr finally got into some PvP with Paladr this week. Other than about 2 hours of total time in WSG matches for over 40 days played, this was my first entry into hard-hitting PvP. Of course, Deadr grew up to level 66 on a PvP realm and was the victim of hundreds of gankings, world PvP is nothing like fighting in a battleground setting, that is for sure.

This will be an ongoing series of my personal exploits in BGs as a complete and total noob for this kind of playstyle. See it as your one opportunity to openly laugh at me and have a good old time at my expense, because I’ve made some seriously dumb mistakes, but learned a lot already. I’ll be as transparent as possible in an attempt to comfort other noobs who are coming to learn from scratch.

[Read more…] about The Evolution of a BG Noob: Let the Battles Begin

Growl · November 29, 2007

The “new” Alterac Valley sucks. It sucks Giant Eggs. It doesn’t suck because the Horde win or lose or because the Alliance have that spiffy bridge – or because of any of the myriad of exploits that pop up on one side of the other. No, in this long time players opinion it sucks because it just doesn’t matter any more.

<Start_Grandpa_Rant>

I hit exalted with Frostwolf on my first character a good long time ago. Back when games could literally take hours to play and where you *had* to pull out all the stops, gathering the meat and blood of your enemies, killing rams, upgrading your forces and summoning Lok’ to have any chance of breaking the Alliance turtle around Dun Baldar. There was an epic flavor to AV back in those days – the rush from graveyard to graveyard, the exultation at seeing Balinda go down and the Alliance towers in flames. There was the urgency to gather your shaman and summon the elemental, the need for fleet cheetah form druids that knew how to kite the Alliance druids when they tried to summon their tree. It was a dirty, cold, blood filled battleground where everyone had a place. Even protection warriors had part to play, stepping forward with honor as we began to pull Marshalls and eventually big Van’ himself.

AV back then was HUGE, intense, vital and marvelously flawed, and I loved it.

Strangely enough, it was the the PvE element and its intermixing with the PvP that I enjoyed the most. It was like world PvP almost – a small raid wheeling in around Stonehearth, fighting the Lieutenants and warding off assaults by Alliance players. I always felt that of all the battlegrounds, AV was the one that truly had the most to offer players looking for challenge on multiple levels. Sure it wasn’t as quick or as accessible as WSG or AB, but it wasn’t supposed to be. This was where the *real* war was. You had to be at the pinnacle of your characters leveling career to even gain entry and the reputation rewards were some of the most sought after.

Yes – games took too long. Yes AFK’ers and fisher-folk were rampant. But I loved it still.

I’ve lived through and appreciated most of the changes that have occurred since the death of the old PvP honor grind. After the great NPC nerf, AV became more of a race and the game seemed to benefit from a more rapid pace vs. the protracted battles of old. Sure you could still get into some stinkers from time to time, but at its heart, there were still Marshalls and Warmasters to worry about. Wandering Lieutenants to kill and the Captains of each faction, waiting in their respective halls. From time to time as the Alliance started getting better at AV (or their turtles more determined) – we actually had to pull out frosty Lok’ to finish games – or worse – we had to worry for our own general as Alliance zergs were making it into our village, burning our towers and capping our relief hut.

Win or lose though – the game retained much of its epic heart if not so much its epic length.

Then 2.3 came along and Blizzard claims that the battleground is now better than ever. Better at what? It’s fast – or at least the few games I’ve seen since the change have been. Strategy is slightly different as defense is more important and you can no longer simply throw bodies at a problem until one side cracks. The reinforcement aspect of the game is a good one I’ll grant and it makes players think differently about what they attack, who they attack with – and who’s healing. But that’s all. The battlespace seems a vast empty place now. Not only are the mobs that guard the towers and graveyards nerfed beyond all belief, but the Lieutenants are gone and the once hazard filled expanse between Dun Baldar and Frostwolf now a small empty place.

Sure you might say – you play Horde, it’s easy for you to miss the old AV – seeing as how you never used to *lose* back then. Maybe that’s true – but I’ve spent more than my fair share of time in the valley on Alliance toons as well. I’ve hit exalted on a night elf druid and won only a single game through the entire ordeal. I know about the valley – I know from both sides.

And still – I miss the old AV.

<End_Grandpa_Rant>

With my latest character, Skychaser now in the 50’s – I know that there is a fair amount of AV left for me to do before I enter Outlands. But unlike before, where the valley represented a true destination and a valid place to camp and grind honor and reputation, I don’t think Sky’ will last any longer than the time required to gather enough tokens for his Frostwolf Howler.

Sad.

Time will tell and perhaps the new AV will grow on me more as I spend more time there. But at the heart of it all, I miss my old PvE opponents the most. There was nothing quite like tanking Captain Galvanger from start to finish for the first time when my old Alliance guild took control of the raid and actually nearly won the game. Nor will I forget the mishappen shapes of the Horde constructs at Iceblood, the massive furball of each force meeting at that forward chokepoint and the desperate fight on both sides to win through. Some say that after 2.3, PvP has finally come to the valley – but in my opinion, it was always right there. Mixed and spiced with an epic (if perhaps sometimes too epic) PvE element that gave the battleground character.

Time will tell of course and the truth will be told in future patches.

Gitr · November 28, 2007

It was a quiet evening in the lowland of The Hinterlands, killing turtles and making a path to get Lard’s lunch off the North coast. Paladr was enjoying the scenery and the challenge of wearing down multiple tank-like hard-shells when an unusual sight caught his eye underwater off the coast: a red nameplate hovering over a turtle.

Seeing that the UI indicated a level 51 gray elite named Ironback, I sat up a little bit when I saw SilverDragon pipe up that it had spotted Ironback. A quick hop on over to Petopia, and I learned that Ironback is a rare elite beast that just so happens to be tamable. I wanted him for myself, or Huntr, actually. As a level 62, it should be a pretty easy feat, but still a special pet due to the rareness. Some research reveals that the respawn time is between 12 and 24 hours. Time to go fetch Huntr, and quickly.

The Location

As I mentioned, Ironback was swimming along the northern coast of The Hinterlands, just East of the waterfall from the highland. The approximate coordinates came out to be 83, 48.5, just to the west of where Paladr accidentally aggroed him and had to die to leave Ironback there. /silly pally. Let the screenshot and dot speak for itself. The map location will read The Overlook Cliffs.

The Tame

The steps are about as mundane as possible, with only two things to really be aware of:

opposing faction on PvP realm
Gammerita – a roaming aggressive turtle who will aggro you if she wanders while you are standing on the shore

Of course, the basic tactic is to drop a Freezing Trap to ice block Ironback while you tame him. So, place the trap on the shore and swim out and hit him with a Concussion Shot and spin 180-degrees and swim back to shore and just past the trap and immediately start spamming Tame Beast, which you conveniently have on a toolbar, right?

If all goes as I have foreseen, your tame should end at the exact moment the ice block breaks. There is an awkward moment when it does, because you are not quite sure if OldIron is a friend or foe until you see him join you at your side. Feed him some fruit and he will begin to smile. Congratulations, you now have a pet with a great skin, cheap food, and more armor than he knows what to do with.

Runnik · November 27, 2007

Is it just me or has our world gone hybrid? I mean seriously, back in the day when seeing a level 60 with The Unstoppable Force was breath-taking everyone seemed to be the spec they were suppose to be, and that’s all. If you were a warrior that raided you were prot; if you were a mage you were frost. There were no disputes on what type of resto shammy you were, you just were. Ever since BC has been released and we were given ten more talent points to use, it’s as if everyone in Outlands decided to stop for a second and actually experiment.

Now, before I continue I must admit: I too have suffered from the talent tree bug. I am a level 70 druid that can’t seem to figure out what he is. My spec is called the Moonglow Spec for those of you that aren’t familiar with the druid talent tree, and yes, I’m a healer. I know, I know- you’re gasping for air, trying to figure out how and why a druid could possibly heal without the almighty Tree of-freaking-Life (ToL). Well my friends, I won’t bore you with my personal biases, I’ll just say this: it’s because ToL sucks… Okay, that may have been a little harsh and untrue but I obviously sometimes let my personal opinions get the best of me.

Just like the ToL druids my spec has it’s ups and it’s downs. Because of my points in the balance tree I get things like Lunar Guidance (Increases your spell damage and healing by 25% of your total Intellect) and Moonglow (Reduces the mana cost of you Moonfire, Starfire, Wrath, Healing Touch, Regrowth and Rejuvenation spells by 9%). In relation, the ToL form grants an aura that increases the healing received by 25% of your total Spirit for all party members. It also reduces the mana cost of your heal over time (HoT) spells by 20%. The difference between the two personally is this: 1. I have more Intellect than Spirit therefore my heals will get more +healing benefit with Lunar Guidance than with the ToL form. 2. ToL’s mana reduction of the HoTs is far greater than mine, but I can actually use Healing Touch (which for me hits at 6-7K non crit and 10-12K crit).

With my spec you have a way better chance of owning the healing meter, but with the ToL form you give off an aura that, if is on the MT, will help every healer in the raid. I’ve heard that ToL druids are far more mana efficient than Moonglow druids, but I say stick me in a group with a shadow priest and no one will die. The biggest difference is this, if you want to be a back up healer that will keep the MT topped off with HoTs while the holy priests and the holy pallies make sure everyone is actually alive, then ToL if for you. But if you want to main heal and be an actual contender on the healing meter, then you need to get Moonglow or re-roll.

That, of course, is my personal two cents. With this Moonglow Spec I’m almost always topping the healing meter in my raids and I can main heal any heroic you want me to. I’ve also seen a hybrid shammy spec that’s pretty much the exact same thing as the Moonglow Spec. It’s a cross between Restoration and Enhancement and it’s wonderful. Ever since TBC release I’ve seen so many hybrids it’s crazy. I ran a Black Morass with a pally tank that was a hybrid Retribution and Protection Spec, and a mage that was a hybrid Frost and Arcane Spec. My point is this: hybrid speced players can be used and can benefit any group. But to counter that, what are you giving up when trusting a hybrid spec over a standard speced player of that same class, and is it worth it?

I believe the biggest question is this: can you, or can you not survive as a hybrid player? Every time I tell someone about my spec I get the same question: “who lets you raid with them?” I found the loop hole in that one, I made my own guild. But for those of you that don’t have that luxury, how do you survive? I know some of you probably switched back to the norm just so you can find yourself a spot in Gruul’s. Then again, for those of you who perhaps refused to change your spec, did you ever end up convincing your raid leader to let you go as a hybrid? And if so, how’d you do it? Make nice with the officers? Prove your worth in normal 5 mans? I’m so curious to know how many fellow hybrids there are out there, and what is it that you do or did to make sure that you still have a place in the game? So with that said, what spec are you?

Growl · November 26, 2007

So it had to happen right? Great big bank – full of loot – it’s only a matter of time before someone decides to make off with it.

For members of a guild on Bleeding Hollow, not only was their guild bank ninja’d – but from the looks of it – Blizzard can’t or won’t tell them who the culprit was.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, the guild leaders were doing a regular audit of the transaction logs for the bank. According to one of their members who posted the report on the Blizzard Customer Service Forums, the audit log detailed over 1500G worth of gold and items had been removed early on the morning of November 25th by a character named “unknown.” When the guild officers checked their bank log on the Armory, the name was reported as “null.”

The rank of the guild member was apparently that of an “officer” with full access to the bank tabs. Blizzard GM’s are reported to have confirmed the following in regards to the missing “name.”

The only way the name would be showing as “unknown or null” in the logs are if:

The character name was changed
The player switched servers
The character was deleted

Guild officers are continuing to contend with Blizzard over whether or not they can find out the identity of this mysterious thief. The members claim that the officers involved are all long time friends or dedicated and loyal players. They also claim that no one with the needed access had recently joined (or left) the guild.

While it is impossible to speculate how the banking system might be exploited from outside, most players are seeing the likely culprit to be a dishonest officer who decided to jack the bank and abuse one of Blizzards recent service offerings:

i.e. Paid server transfers and paid name changes….

It would have been fairly simple for an officer to invite an alt to the guild – promote that alt to the needed rank for bank access – and then proceed to ninja at leisure before buying $10-25 worth of anonymity.

While perhaps not a perfect crime it’s a pretty good one. Guild members are angry because Blizzard cannot provide a list of guild promotions during the time in question nor is Blizzard willing (or able) to give the guild members names of any characters that /gquit, transfered, or changed their name over the same time frame. While it’s pretty certain that the data is available in Blizzard server logs – the question of release to the guild impacts Blizzards need to protect the privacy of other customers.

No one from Blizzard has commented on fixes or changes to the guild bank in the future, but it’s safe to say that until they do – it’s important for guild leaders to think long and hard about who gets the keys to the guild vault.

Growl · November 26, 2007

After about 10k of damage and a lot of forums screaming – one of our tanking druids went bear form and sat on the class officer. She immediately calmed down enough for us to call in a medic. Moments later one of our resto brethren tossed off some heal-dotz and after a few minutes, both had calmed or coagulated enough to carry on a reasonable conversation….

The Evolution of a BG Noob: Let the Battles Begin

[Read more…] about The Evolution of a BG Noob: Let the Battles Begin

The New AV Makes Me Sad…

Taming Ironback, the Rare Hinterland Turtle

The Location

The Tame

The Hybrid Spec Horror!

Guild Bank Ninja’d

Of DPS and Druid Lootz