Of Emblems and Such

Emblem System Changes

• Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders’ Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph.
• Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism.
• The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Triumph.
• The existing achievements to collect 1, 25, 50, etc. Emblems of Heroism, Valor, and Conquest have been converted to Feats of Strength since Heroism and Valor Emblems are no longer attainable.
• New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any combination of emblems.

What this means is that you will be able to get the current level of gear (8.5), simply by running heroics and doing the heroic daily. There are legitimate arguments about this killing Ulduar progression, but only time will tell if these prove correct or not.

Blue Thoughts

Well, haven’t posted anything in a while, so I’ll try to turn that around.

The time that traps will exist in the world after being put down has been reduced to 30 seconds, down from 1 minute.

Traps now have separate 30-second cooldown categories: Fire (Immolation Trap, Explosive Trap and Black Arrow), Frost (Freezing Trap, Frost Trap) and Nature (Snake Trap). A hunter can have one trap of each category placed at one time.

What this means is that chain-trapping will require more precise timing than in the past. Before 3.2 you could lay a trap, wait 30 seconds, and be ready to roll. Now, however, your target will need to be in your first trap in the last 5 to 10 seconds of your frost trap cooldown, though you can extend that if you aren’t worried about it breaking early.

Mega Talent Post, Part 2: Survival

This is Part Two of a four part piece breaking down the various talents available to a hunter. Today we’re going to break down which talents you’ll want as a Survival hunter, and which you should avoid.

Survival

Tier One

Improved Tracking – 1% Damage Increase per point, 5/5

Hawk Eye – Take 3/3 as filler points

Tier Two

Survival Instincts -  Pure Damage, 2/2

Tier Three

Survivalist – Synergy with Hunter vs. Wild, 5/5

Tier Four

T.N.T. – You want it for the crit, 3/3

Lock and Load – You will want 3/3

Tier Five

Hunter vs. Wild – 3/3 Damage

Killer Instinct – Again, 3/3

Tier Six

Lightning Reflexes – 15% Agility, 5/5

Tier Seven

Expose Weakness – 2/3 or 3/3 acceptable

Wyvern Sting – Take it to unlock Noxious Stings

Thrill of the Hunt – 3/3 Recommended

Tier Eight

Master Tactician – 5/5 is Recommended

Noxious Stings -  An extra 3% Damage for 3/3

Tier Nine

Sniper Training – Simply stay as far back as possible, 3/3

Tier Ten

Hunting Party – 1/5 to 3/5 are acceptable

Tier Eleven

Explosive Shot – This is your main shot

Marksmanship

Tier One

Focused Aim – Take points as needed if you are below the hit cap of 263(8%)

Lethal Shots – Recommend 5/5

Tier Two

Careful Aim – 3/3 is Recommended

Improved Hunter’s Mark – Only take if you regularly run with other hunters

Mortal Shots – Full points is Recommended

Tier Three

Go for the Throat – Points here are interchangeable with Rapid Killing

Rapid Killing – Points here are interchangeable with Go for the Throat

Tier Four

Improved Stings – Take if you don’t have mana issues

Efficiency – Take if you have mana issues

Beast Mastery

Tier One

Improved Aspect of the Hawk -  1/5 – 3/5 are all acceptable, depending on haste

Example spec: 1/17/53

Mega Talent Post, Part 1: Beastmaster

This is Part One of a four part piece breaking down the various talents available to a hunter. Today we’re going to break down which talents you’ll want as a Beastmaster hunter, and which you should avoid.

Beast Mastery

Tier One

Improved Aspect of the Hawk – 5/5 is recommended to unlock further tiers.

Endurance Training – Stamina is nice, but only 1/5 is recommended.

Tier Two

Focused Fire – 2% More Damage is worth 2/2.

Improved Revive Pet – Since your pet does a large portion of your damage, 2/2.

Tier Three

Aspect Mastery – Highly Recommended for it’s Myriad benefits.

Unleashed Fury – Pure DPS, 5/5.

Tier Four

Improved Mend Pet – Keeping your pet alive is important, 0/2 – 2/2 are all acceptable.

Ferocity – Again, pure DPS, 5/5 recommended.

Tier Five

Spirit Bond – 10% Increased healing is powerful enough to warrant investment, 0/2 – 2/2 are all acceptable.

Intimidation – Required to unlock Bestial Wrath and The Beast Within, practically necessary.

Bestial Discipline – More Focus = More Pet DPS, 2/2.

Tier Six

Animal Handler -  Expertise is very powerful as it reduces the chance for your pet’s attacks to be parried and dodged significantly, 2/2 is recommended.

Frenzy – 3/5 is recommended, add a point if your crit chance is low.

Tier Seven

Ferocious Inspiration – 3% Damage to all raid members? 3/3.

Bestial Wrath – Take it and never look back.

Tier Eight

Invigoration – Looks promising, but provides a smaller gain than what you would think. 0/2 recommended, though possibly 1/2 in a Mana-Starved Environment.

Serpent’s Swiftness – Once again 100% DPS, 5/5 recommended.

Tier Nine

Longevity – Lets you fire off more Bestial Wraths, and lets your pet Rake/Spirit Strike/etc more often, 3/3 recommended.

The Beast Within -  One of the core talents of the Beast Mastery Tree, take it.

Cobra Strikes – Trust me, you’ll be critting quite a bit, 3/3 is recommended.

Tier Ten

Kindred Spirits – More Pet Damage? 5/5.

Tier Eleven

Beast Mastery – Ah the namesake of the Beast Mastery Tree, taking it is extremely recommended as it nets you both 4 pet Skill Points and the ability to tame Exotics.

Marksmanship

Tier One

Focused Aim – This talent is a must have if you are more than 1% under the hit cap of 8%(263 Hit). Take points as needed.

Lethal Shots – 5% Crit chance is nothing to sniff at, 5/5 is recommended.

Tier Two

Careful Aim – 100% of your Intellect as AP is extremely powerful, 3/3 is recommended.

Improved Hunter’s Mark – A 30% buff to Hunter’s Mark is nice, but only invest in if there are multiple hunters in your group. Only one hunter need invest.

Mortal Shots – 30% Increased critical strike damage, 5/5 is recommended.

Tier Three

Go for the Throat – Since your pet will deal quite a bit of damage, 2/2 is recommended.

Improved Arcane Shot – 0/3 – 3/3 are all acceptable.

Rapid Killing – Useful in Mana-Starved environments, as more uses of Rapid Fire = Less Time in Viper.

Tier Four

Improved Stings – 0/3 – 3/3 are all acceptable.

Efficiency – Invest as required if you regularly are in Mana-Starved environments (5/10-Mans).

Survival

Tier One

Improved Tracking – This is a straight up increase in your personal DPS. It’s potent, but since it only affects the hunter’s DPS it loses some luster.

Hawk Eye – This is a utility talent, it’s good filler, but the point(s) are better spent elsewhere.

A sample build using these guidelines would be 53/18/0

Saying Goodbye

Real Life has just taken one of the best and most esteemed Resto Druids out there, Phaelia. So, go on, go give her a fine farewell, but try not to cry too much.

What Makes a “Good” Raider

Now, as you all hopefully know, raiding isn’t all about those shiny purple pixels. It’s much more important to have fun, after all, WoW is a game. That being said, if someone continually screws up on raid night, they’re sucking some of the fun out of raiding. So a good raider isn’t defined by their gear, it’s defined by their skills, attitude and willingness to learn. When you have those, the gear will follow. So, be proactive in researching your class and the fights and come prepared with everything you need to give your best.

“Don’t Stand in the Fire!”

Just a quick post today, if you haven’t heard of it yet, Rohan over at Blessing of Kings has started a wiki that contains guides to “L2P” your class. So go, go and stop being that “Huntard” people talk about in low whispers.

Edit: Doh, forgot to put a link.

Pet Management

Let’s face it, our furry friends can contribute a large portion of our damage. Therefore, it is in our best interests to keep them alive and in good health. These tips will help you control your pet and keep him alive.

• Positioning is the most important part of pet control. It can mean the difference between your pet living or dying when the Holy-Crap-Glowing-Blue-Circle-of-Doom appears under their paws. I highly suggest a macro to toggle between attack and follow, to make sending your pet in and calling them back out a one-click affair.

/petattack

/petfollow [target=pettarget, exists]

• Abilities are the next most important things for pet management. Lick Your Wounds is your pet’s most potent survival ability, followed by Heart of the Phoenix. It’s advisable to make macros to manually cast these long-cooldown abilities.

/cast Lick Your Wounds

•  Knowledge is the most critical part of keeping your pet alive. Ask your healers if they would be kind enough to throw a HoT on your pet. Make sure to listen to what the melee is supposed to do, as you need to apply that to your pet. And finally, keep your pet on passive at all times in a raid, as nobody wants to group with that hunter who simply cannot control their pet.

Achievement Musings

Achievements. Love them or not, they’re here to stay. Ranging from the simple, to the quirky, to the almost impossible, there is an seemingly endless supply of them. No matter who you are or what you do there will always be something that’s new and interesting to achieve. They can be sought after for mounts, titles, or just your right to brag, “Hey! I just slaughtered 15 turkeys and got an achievement to boot!”

However, all is not well with achievements in the minds of some. They believe that, since there is an achievement to be gotten, it must be done. They will tear there hair out in anger when that elusive rare spawn fails to appear, when that item refuses to drop. On the other hand, when they do complete their objective, they may feel an intense rush of relief and swear off achievements forever. Until they’re at it again two days later.

Achievements flesh out the world in a way that gear, mounts, and titles simply cannot. They are there to tell your fellow players about yourself, what you enjoy, and what you’ve accomplished. Of course, without achievements, we’d all be stuck doing those boring, productive things.

Testing… One, Two, Three

Cue lights

Well, hello anyone that may have been tricked into reading this. Hope your stay isn’t terrible.

Welcome to the inaugural post of Feign Death! Home to rants, oddities, and the occasional stroke of genius.