Monday, November 3, 2014

Monday Random Thoughts

- Only 2 more garrison building posts to write.

- I am so glad I did these because writing them helped me make some decisions.

- But also confused me some just the same.

- Beta is shutting down today.

- Sucks because I will not be able to log in and double check things like I had been doing.

- Oh well.  I tried to get it done before they shut it down.

- Wonder if they will ever finish some of the professions.

- Inscription seems still mostly undone.

- The alchemy lab seem mostly useless unless you have alchemy.

- Being the work orders give you the special item needed for alchemy greater flasks and if you do not have alchemy you can not make greater flasks, what is the use of doing the alchemy work orders if you are not an alchemist?

- I am sure that is not working as intended.

- All other buildings can make something out of the special crafting materials they get from work orders even if they do not have the profession to go along with it.

- Would you believe we are this close to release and they still have so much undone?

- You would have figured all the little things, like the profession and alchemy building thing, would have been finished months ago.

- Still wondering what buildings to have with my double gatherers.

- Really nothing worthwhile if you ask me.

- You still need the profession to make anything decent.

- Oh well, I'll figure it out I am sure.

- Got three new mounts this week.

- Got the panther mount from the priestess in ZG.

- Got the Grand Black War Mammoth from VoA.

- That one was many years in the coming really.

- I can't believe how many times I have killed those bosses on so many characters over the years and never saw it drop except for the first time I was ever there in wrath.

- The group leader ninja looted it and left group.

- Never saw it after that.

- And I finally got the hearthstone one.

- Had been putting it off for no particular reason.

- Was rusty but managed to get my three kills quick.

- Played a hunter of course.

- One match is worth mentioning because I love when someone says something and then makes a complete ass of themselves.

- They did the "that didn't go as well as you expected" emote thing after they killed my two big mobs with spells.

- They were winning, could have won easily, but they got cocky.

- I had one mob left, that when it dies summons 4 1/1 mobs.

- I had a secret that when I am attacked spawns 3 1/1 mobs.

- So after it looked like a loss for me, and they made their comment removing my two big mobs they set themselves up to play the role of a fool.

- They killed my mob spawning the 1/1s, then they attacked me, spawning more 1/1s from my secret.

- With 7 1/1s on the table I summoned one mob with 1 attack that gave +1/+1 to all my mobs and another mob with 4 attack and gave all my mobs charge.

- I then attacked for 14 from the 7 1/1s that were now 2/2 and another 6 from the two mobs I summoned for a total of 20 damage.

- Then he was sitting at 5 and I was sitting at 2.

- I had to win this turn and looked to my hand and saw kill command.

- Hits for 3 but if a beast is in play it hits for 5.

- Can you say game over?

- Cocky bastard never saw it coming.

- Winning 25 to 2 after killing my two large beasts he made a comment thinking he was in control.

- Nope, he was never in control.

- He was only setting himself up for his own demise.

- Even out of practice in this type of game you can not leave an opening like that.

- If only he had attacked one of my 1/1s instead of attacking me to get me down to 2 and spawning more 1/1s he would have won.

- He got greedy.

- When you get greedy, and cocky, you make mistakes.

- I guess that is what you see at the low levels of hearthstone, bad moves like that.

- Hey, I will take an easy win from someone any day.

- Either way, I got my mount, and that was all that matters.

- Do not think I will go back to playing it again.

- But I did manage to nab a legendary.

- I had gotten 2 free packs from something, reaper or souls maybe, and one of them had Sylvanas Windrunner.

- That pack with the legendary also had an epic in it.

- Great pack huh?

- Yes, but not enough to woo me into playing it.

- I am not going to let myself get dragged into a pay to win game.

- And do not let anyone tell you otherwise, hearthstone, while skill is required, it is not enough to make a difference, you need to pay to get the good cards.

- Sorry, not going to do that.

- I'd rather pay to get my alts into mythic runs so they can get some gear than pay for the cards in a pay to win game.

- Thank you, no.

- Speaking of cocky people, did a few pugs this weekend and there was this one I was in with some cocky hunter.

- I was on a different character but when the fight was over one hunter said in raid he should have the other hunters gear because he earned it.

- I looked at his gear, half heroic, half mythic, looked at the other hunters gear, mostly mythic, some LFR.

- I'd say they were probably the same item level, or really close to the same.

- I am guessing the first hunter, looking at the gear was a main, and the second hunter, looking at the gear was an alt.

- The guy who said he deserved the others gear did 11,700 as MM, the other guy was 11,680 as SV, both 7.7% damage done.

- Seriously, there was less than a 2,000 damage done difference between them.

- But the other hunter had the mythic weapon, so that guy, the one without one, thought he was better.

- I was so tempted to say something, but I didn't.

- However, I will say what I wanted to say here.

- Being a hunter this really got under my skin.

- I hate hunters who act like that, we are supposed to be better people than the other dregs of the game.

- This is what I really wanted to say, but it was not my battle so I stayed out of it.

- It is eating at me now, I should have said something and protected a fellow hunter from a dick hunter even if I was not on a hunter at the time.

- You are playing the best hunter spec in slightly better gear, even if it might be lesser item level, than a hunter playing the absolute worst spec with some LFR pieces, and you think you are great because you beat them?

- You should have beat him by more than that but, ah... congrats I think.

- Seriously in his gear he should have been doing at least 15K if he wanted to reach bragging level and the SV hunter in his gear should have been pulling at most 12K.

- So lets see, if max potential of the MM hunter 15K and you do 11K and max potential of the SV hunter is 12K and they did 11K, which one did better?

- The SV hunter did better, by a mile.

- Once again, wish I said something, this was right after the hearthstone thing, and all I could think of is that he must be the same guy I faced in hearthstone.

- Another person talking all cocky, but doing so poorly.

- The other hunter never said anything.

- But I wonder what they were thinking about that?

- If it bugged me, it had to have bugged him.

- In those pugs I met a lot of asshats like that one talking crap but not being able to back it up.

- Saying you carried someone that did the same exact numbers as you just because they have a better weapon?

- Oh come on, get real.

- But that one guy does not take the cake for worst behavior from a pug I ran into this weekend.

- Three times during my pugs someone was kicked from the group for poor performance and pulled the boss to wipe us.

- Hey blizzard, when someone is kicked from the group port them out to the graveyard, instantly.

- Either that are you better pay my repairs blizzard because you can't say you did not see people doing this when you thought up the group finder function.

- I do not think it is much to ask for the person to be ported out when they are kicked.

- Sucks wiping because someone was kicked.

- Yes, I do agree that many times people are kicked for the wrong reason.

- But even if you are kicked for the wrong reason it is not acceptable to wipe the raid.

- It is immature, childish, and should get a mandatory 7 day ban from the game for doing stuff like that.

- So I was bored one night and decided to bring my mage into an SoO run.

- I had not raided really on it this expansion.

- Got the legendary through LFR, still do not have tier gloves from the celestial boss, and ordos has no love for me.

- So at a 543 item level I tried to find a group.

- I managed to get in on iron jug and ran the whole thing from there with the group.

- We had a few wipes here and there but it was not a bad group at all.

- More so when you think they were inviting people like me in crap gear.

- I thought it was funny I could try to get a group on my hunter saying 577 know fights but keep getting turned down yet on my mage I put 543 know fights and get invited instantly.

- After the run was over I understood why.

- Not really having my mage grove on, as I have not played it, I was doing at or near what my hunter does on every fight.

- In over 30 item levels less.

- Either I have really gotten bad on my hunter suddenly or mages are really OP.

- I am going to lean toward mages being a little OP.

- Sure I am not taking to quickly to the hunter changes but I did not suddenly get that bad over night on it.

- The mage doing 13K on most fights at 543 is kind of sick.

- Even manged 18K on Mal.

- That was insane.

- Maybe, just maybe, for someone that knows how to play a mage that might make sense, but for me and my ToT trinkets and lack of practice, I do not fit that bill.

- Got a few pieces, and the heirloom of course, as it was my first ever garrosh kill on my mage, so that bought me up to a 554 item level now.

- I expect 15K now, which is about what is my average decent fight on my hunter is at the moment.

- Kind of sad that my hunter still out gears it by over 20 item levels.

- Glad this is over soon, sucks being this under powered.

- Hope it is better at 100.

- Would hate to have to shelf my main because it is not the best option to help the group.

- Can't believe blizzard would leave a pure that broken for an entire expansion.

- Funny that survival is the worst off, you would figure that would be the easiest one to balance.

- Being it has no burst ability you could mildly tweak things up and it would not really cause any unforeseen things.

- I'd think survival with their no surprises rotation would be the easiest to balance.

- Boring, yes, but I would rather boring and viable than new and interesting and not.

- I am still really sucking things up as MM.

- I did some runs on my horde hunter this weekend as MM in an effort to get some trinkets and I felt off.

- Every step of the way I felt like I was doing something wrong, and I was.

- Just so many powerful shots like aimed, chimaera, barrage, crows, and they all cost a lot of focus, and I want to do them all right away, and I can't.

- I know I should just be hitting aimed at the beginning, I know I should not worry that crows is just sitting there or chimaera is left sitting there, or barrage is unused, but it just feels wrong.

- It feels uncomfortable.

- I could play the rotation where it feels natural, comfortable, but it is the wrong rotation, or I can play the rotation where it feels wrong and contorted, but it is right.

- Why can't we have it so the one that feels good is good?

- I've gotten a bit of a hang of the mastery for MM and my up time is looking nice.

- Got three more heirlooms this weekend.

- The mage one of course as it was my mages first kill and another bow because one of my hunters got their first kill and the agility two hander.

- Got the agility two hander on my main hunter.

- How is that for a kicker, I had gotten none in all my kills before it was 100% and have gotten 2 since then.

- Random is random they say.

- I hate random.

- But random was nice to me this week I guess.

- Got two rare drop mounts I had been farming for.

- And one extra heirloom.

- Did some guild runs for garrosh kills for alts and guild mates that do not raid but wanted the kill and the weapon.

- Managed to get a ton of non raiders their heirloom and their kill.

- And they did not have to pay for it, which is even more important.

- I think I killed garrosh 14 times this week.

- Kind of fun being able to kill the same bosses over and over.

- Gives you time to work on a class some and get some practice.

- Or to roll again if you are seeking something specific.

- Killed garrosh multiple times on my disc priest this week.

- Not even to roll, just because it is freaking fun to spam holy nova and rock the charts.

- And I love love love love love having an interrupt now.

- Did I mention I love having an interrupt now?

- In one run I went with 2 of our main mythic healers and outhealed them both in HPS and healing done.

- Just by spamming holy nova.

- It won't last, but it is fun being so OP sometimes.

- In one of the guild heroic carries where we were cycling people in for their garrosh kills I managed to top healing and beat 3 of them in DPS all thanks to holy nova.

- For as much as I hate being under powered on my hunter I love being over powered on my priest.

- It felt like the days of old in battle grounds where I would guard a flag solo and kill 5 horde at the same time as a disc priest mostly thanks to holy nova spam.

- Recruited some new PvPers to the guild recently.

- Maybe we can call it preparing for next expansion.

- With so little in the ways for PvE content I can see myself getting into PvP some next expansion.

- After all I do want all those gladiator sanctum titles.

- And these guys are good.

- As in it would probably get them laughed at to be seen with the likes of me.

- Yeah, that good.

- One of them was selling 3 carries all season.

- Himself.

- Yes, he was carrying 2 people at the same time and winning.

- I told him I do not want to be carried, I want to learn.

- He said, it will be a lot less pressure on me to learn then.

- I sure hope they stay in guild, with some teachers like that, I might actually start to get good at PvP.

- If they can put up with my noobness.

- Recruited some other new people and took them on carries.

- Two of the three were in a hard core guild at the beginning of the expansion but took off for a year after killing garrosh on heroic (now mythic).

- So that could bode very well for us starting next expansion.

- I do hope the characters they brought with them were not their mains however, because they were not all that.

- Maybe they were just really out of practice.

- It is understandable after being gone for a year.

- Been running mythic since the changes but it is not going well, we only get 3 down on our 1 night working it.

- Doesn't help that we are scraping the bottom of the barrel for people being many mains are taking a short break before the expansion and the picking are slim on who to bring.

- But I am happy to still be in a mythic at all.

- Knowing it needed 20 and we only had 10, on a good night, lately.

- When we did it the other week with 20 and downed 3 bosses with 13 of the 20 people having never killed a boss on mythic before I was actually very happy with it.

- As I say, I would rather wipe with people I know than one shot with people I don't.

- So I could pug and get a clear on mythic or try to assemble a make shift group and down three.

- The thing is, this group, while not great, could turn into something later on, but a pug is a pug with no lasting benefits.

- I think at this stage I would rather just work on seeing what people can do, how they handle themselves, and look forward to trying to get a full 20 for when the new raid opens.

- And I am better off doing that with my people on my server.

- Even if we wipe for an hour on the first boss.

- You can tell a lot about a player from wiping like that.

- In all honesty I think you can tell more about a player from wiping for an hour than from one shotting bosses.

- Got the darkmoon toys yesterday, no pet from the new pet battle.

- No new pets at all this week.

- So no closer to 600 there.

- But right now that 250 mounts is looking really possible.

- Damn, just forgot I did not solo firelands this week.

- So much to solo, so little time.

- Gotta love it.

- Wonder if I could solo it with holy nova spam.

- Now wouldn't that be cool?

- I am going to have to try it.

- I expect to die a horrible death, but at least I will have fun doing it.

- Have a great day.

43 comments:

  1. I can't decide if I even want to go to the effort of looking for a SoO normal pug to get my guaranteed heirloom on my main. Hearing your stories about fail groups on the finder makes me think it'l be a waste of time. The thing will get quickly replaced at 100 anyway.

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    1. It is not so bad really. Lots of failing from time to time sure, but if you get a lucky group it is like gold.

      I had one pug I joined in we transitioned garrosh in the first phase after only 1 weapon and we pushed him to the last phase after he came down with only 3 weapons. So it was an awesome group. Good groups happen, it is just no one talks about them because they were good. People only say something when it is bad because it makes people feel better to complain.

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    2. Pugging is a luck thing. You can find great people there, but also very bad ones (not in the sense of gameplay). Sometimes, you even make some new friends. It is rare, but it can happen. I've still got some people I met in pugs long ago on my FL.

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    3. Make friends in pugs? Never. :P

      I used to make lots of friends in pugs. Heck, most of the people on my friends list are from back before the group finder and the only way you made a group is by having friends.

      However with that said I can not recall the last person I added to my friends list since cross server raiding was added. If I said none, I would probably be spot on. Maybe there is 1 I forgot about, at most.

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  2. I benched my disc priest after an expensive wipe fest on the UBRS revamp. She has only healed Horseman and that's more of a joke than anything. Average fight time 30 seconds.

    Warlock has seen a lot more play time, but haven't tried Garrosh again since the 100% drop rate. I guess it's now or never.. I need to get OQ fired up again or check out the new group finder..

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    1. Try a garrosh pug with everyone stacking and spamming holy nova. You will see how amazing it is. Of course you will still need to use other abilities from time to time but the majority of the time is holy nova time. Trust me, it is really powerful.

      I have not even dabbled on my lock since the chances. I might need to, just to get a feel for things. Even if my heart will always be a hunter, I still like to have a feel for all classes and a basic understand of how they are played.

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  3. Weird about holy nova. All the guides I have read on disc since the patch rolled never mention that as an ability to use. I still use it though. On a side note, I was gonna retire my dk for a while, but switched specs to unholy, and it kinda plays like a melee lock, so it's a bit different and feels new. Frost was just getting a bit boring.

    I did get a mount that I've been farming since the end of Cata, the one in Vortex. Lately, I've been using at least 6-7 toons to farm Ony, VOA, and ZG, as well as one toon running the 10 instances an hour in Strat. I did get lucky and finally get the Horseman mount...thank goodness for healer and tank queues.

    You mentioned professions not being finished. Have you seen anything in the Beta that will keep us occupied at level 100, besides garrisons?

    Thanks again for the garrison posts, it continues to be helpful.

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    1. Actually nvm on Holy Nova, I got it mixed up with something else lol

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    2. Unholy DKs are sort of like locks, a necromancer melee DPS if you will. I always liked the pet idea being a hunter of course, just could not get into it when I tried it. I only enjoy tanking on my DK but if they ever went back to wrath style I would gladly DPS as blood again.

      Congrats on the mount. I got that one back in cata. As a hunter with camo it was easy to solo so I was doing it from the moment I hit 85. Still no luck with the stonecore one however.

      As for 100 Beta closed down today and as of yesterday, which was the last day I was on, they had not added any level 100 content yet. So everything you heard me complain about when I said there is nothing to do at 100, there is still just as little to do at 100. It is raid or nothing. I guess we will get a lot more time to farm those mounts huh?

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  4. - Garrison posts have been helpful. And I agree, the details about them are confusing. Players that are not following wowhead/blogs, etc, are going to totally make bad choices about it.

    - Yeah, it doesn't seem like they finished balancing the professions.

    - They changed alchemy because flasks were going to be super restricted due to the double daily CDs (CDs for lesser flasks, then again to combine lessers into greaters). That had to change. However, I don't think they know what to do now. As you said, the work orders are useless w/o alchemy.

    - For my gatherers, I'm thinking to put the Store on one just because... and I'll put one for the prof that I'm missing on another (eng or bs, haven't decided yet what crafting prof to put on my DK). For the third... I need to put a prof where I can take advantage of the work orders. I may go with another Tannery to try and create LW items faster for my hunter.

    -Assuming they don't change a bunch of stuff before launch. Perculia over at wowhead was commenting that there have been an unusually higher number of changes during this pre-launch period. Lots more builds and changes for them to be datamining than in the past.

    -Got my Druid to 90 yesterday. Started leveling alchemy on it. Didn't get too far.

    -Did the blasted lands quests to get my upgrades and used some timeless gear. Still need to go to the Isle to open chests.

    -Even at iLvL 470ish, the blasted lands quests were quite doable. Nice to see things balanced for fresh 90s, or Feral druids are just OP...

    -Leveling from 60-80 seemed really slow compared to 80-90 and pre-60 content. I thought 85-90 would be really slow like it was before, but they must have greatly reduced the xp required or something.

    -Haven't played hearthstone since they added the mount. I got it that day I think and then never played again. Not my type of game I guess.

    -Haven't tried MM since Heroic Dragon Soul progression. Ended up going SV for those fights though and sticking with BM the rest of the time.

    -MM was ok then, but it's totally different now. I don't like the sound of it.

    -I've played BM since ICC, so I don't really intend to change that even if MM is the flavor of the month. Got to live up to my BM_Jaeger name anyway. :)

    -I've seen a lot of guilds actively recruiting. I've been debating if I should do the same. Not sure how to encourage people to join an "almost dead" guild... We'll see, but I doubt I'll end up barking in trade.

    -Blood DPS FTW!!! Best playstyle for DK for sure! I went between Blood and Unholy usually but switched to Frost in Mists. Frost seems OK, but Blood DPS was fun.

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    1. I think the garrisons, while great, are WAY too in depth for something we will be leaving behind in a year (if they stick to their word of this expansion being only a year).

      You will be able to catch up leveling alchemy on it next expansion, no rush really. I think the daily cooldown, which I am sure you will be doing, gives you 5 skill points up to 650 so you can level it doing your daily.

      I love that the blasted lands things were for the people it was meant for. Hate when they make things so 560s can do it, and then award 515 gear. It makes no sense. It is nice the content was designed for who the rewards are meant for.

      I miss wrath MM with the armor penetration build. It was my favorite hunter spec of all time. I actually was thinking of making a post about it when I am done with the garrison stuff. Two more days to finish the buildings.

      Say "rebuilding for WoD". A lot of older raiders might be willing to jump on figuring there is no pressure. If they come back, awesome, if they don't, it gives you numbers and activity, which helps recruits want to stay.

      I really miss blood DPS. I was always a blood tank / blood DPS.

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  5. Now not meaning to be rude, but I am happy Garrisons posts almost over. Selfish me prefers to read Monday random thoughts and think about hunter and mage DPS (which I have noticed as well is just crazy - our 2 guild hunters with the highest ilvl in the guild are being beaten by a mage who is 15 ilvl below them and it's not like they are crappy hunters they are good hunters). Anyway, grats on your 3 mounts!

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    1. I was starting to feel sorry that I even started them being it has taking so long. I, of course, will still probably make a post with suggestions for garrisons. Most so to plan out my ideas so I can come back and copy them later.

      I hope some people found some use out of them. Writing them has really helped me make decisions on what I plan to do. As much as I like them, after writing all this, I can't help but think blizzard wasted WAY to much development time on throw away content. I've written a lot of guides in my years and none of them took as much space, and two weeks, to barely scratch the surface of.

      Mages are doing some sick numbers. I knew something was wrong when my mage got invited to groups my hunter with 30+ item levels was being turned down for. And trust me when I say, I am a much better hunter than I am a mage. lol

      Thanks. Any week with three mounts is a good week. Think that makes 8 over the last 2 weeks. Must say I am happy with that.

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    2. well, GE, you know I appreciate them.

      Some of us aren't that smart and need things like your guides written at a level we can understand.

      Otherwise, with the way my brain is now, I would be stuck for years.

      Thanks again for them.

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    3. Heck, nothing about smarts, just so much to remember. I needed to write it so I had it all in one place for me to go back to look also. lol

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    4. I feel a bit bad, it's not that I don't like TGE's posts on Garrisons... I just don't like Garrison talk but I like every other bit of TGE talk. So I can't help it when I'm hanging out for a non Garrisons TGE post :P

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    5. If only I would make a few posts per day. I've had so many things I have wanted to complain about recently that I have just let go. lol

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  6. You do get rusty after a year of not playing. Especially when being used to the slower more methodical ex-heroic versus the new LFR-style Mythic crap.

    I really don't know what to do with the buildings. I have alts with all professions, but my main has enchanting and mining and I'd rather not drop mining. So I don't know what third building to pick for small.
    Then there's Trading Post / Tavern / Barn which I want on medium. Not sure if I should move the barn on an alt since savage bloods are BoE (I think). And for large Barracks / War Mill / Stables. Would really like to keep Stables, maybe if the buffs were applied account wide (like rep bonus from Trading Post) but probably not. Meh.

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    1. I think it is not really a "new" LFR mythic thing, it is the fact we have been doing the same content for 14 months. Really there should be no need to explain any longer. Even more so in mythic. If you are doing mythic you should either be able to pick up on things rather quickly or know the fights already or at least read up on it or watched it. I know when I pug people for it now I keep my strategy short and sweet, 2 or 3 lines and pull the boss. It isn't a new style... it is old content.

      Yeah savage bloods can be traded so an alt can work that building for you. It would be cool if the stables buff were account bound but I see why it isn't. It would make making buildings less of a choice, throw it on some alt you rarely plan to use, all your chracters benefit. There are some interesting choices to be made. I see myself making, and remaking, a few buildings.

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    2. It is "new". Take Siegecrafter for example. A year ago it was tactics, cooldown and positioning. Now it's all gather in one spor and burn the boss down, ignore everything else. Mostly every boss uses lfr tacts now since mythic and it throws you off how different it is. My guild does a full run in 1.5-2hrs, squeezing two runs back to back in a raid day to get everyone the mythic achi and as many mounts as possible. With 400+ unique accounts, we're taking everybody, from social to core. I dnt recall this ever being the case.

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    3. My guild is not that good. I don't think we could stand in one place and burn it down, and even if we could, I would never allow it. I never let people slack off on movement and mechanics. If you let people do that it gives them the chance to fall into bad habits.

      A better guild with better players can surely get away with it. But when you are talking a bunch of casual players that could fall into bad habits, you can't let things like that happen.

      I do agree however that is it a lot easier now. It is much more forgiving now. You can make mistakes and get away with stuff. So yes, I see what you are saying. Mythic (old heroic) is maybe just a tiny bit harder than heroic (old normal) was now. For this late in an expansion and for one month only, I see no problem with that.

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    4. I don't see a problem either. I'm actually happy the guild can get achi and mount for a lot of our people. Was just saying that after one year of not playing, it feels really off.

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    5. I am sad to say my guild is not capable of helping other like that. :(

      We can carry a bunch of people to a heroic kill, we do a dozen kills a week lately for them, but are not skilled enough to do that on mythic. I am jealous.

      That is pretty awesome of you to help out your guild members, even the ones that do not raid, so they get a shot at the mount and get the achievement. Sounds like you are a good group of people you have there.

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  7. My report as of late:

    * I leveled three chars to 85 via two exp holes that surfaced after 6.0.2 (Zanvess and Deepholm). I know that's an edgy topic, but somehow I am not feeling guilty. I saw what others did on streams and did the same, that's all. Leveling was so boring for the last two years that I don't want to level ever again in the future - these were the last three classes that I didn't have, and I am happy that they are now level 85 (actually, 87+, I did a couple of levels normally already).

    * Stocked a lot of pets. Several new cats from the new Hallow's End, about 15 Macabre Marionettes from the Day of the Dead, about 30 Iron Starlettes which are going away soon, plus several others.

    * I don't think I will do garrisons much. They take too much time in daily maintenance. I think I will do exactly 4 garrisons in order to get all buildings and all achievements, and that will be the end of it. I think professions will stop being the biggest source of gold in WoD, so I will just do the bare minimum to cover my own needs and nothing else. Another issue is that I don't really have a lot of things to spend gold on. All mounts which you can buy (or buy materials for) are about 500k, I already have most of the pets, I don't care about PVE (so, don't need BoE gear), and, well, there's little else. Chimaerok's recipe for 100k? Seems silly...

    * I am looking forward to Blizzcon and hope they announce their plans post-WoD. We need to be sure SoO never happens again. even 8 months is too long, to say nothing of 13 months.

    Yeah, almost forgot. Ready for PVP, LOL. Have all FOTMs, etc. Folks who weren't on the beta won't even know what hit them. Not that I wouldn't prefer some balance, but if they don't care, why should we. :-)

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    1. By the way, I predict serious burnout issues from garrisons, particularly on alts - out of the desire to get some gear for your main or just to cover more than two professions - in the beginning of WoD. On the scale of burnout from dailies which were the gateway to pre-raid gear in MoP.

      Garrisons just take too long in daily maintenance. It would have been fine if you had one garrison per account (with professions untied from it), but it's per char.

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    2. I wish I had been able to take advantage of that experience loophole but it was fixed by the time I got home from work.

      Hate to sound bitter here, but I wish blizzard would either 1) let me do it the way everyone else did or 2) delevel the people that did it.

      I feel slighted. I read about it and was so excited to go level a few characters that way only to get shafted and not be able to. Lets face it, I level in less than 24 hours to begin with, so what am I really skipping, a few hours? Let me level fast.

      If anything blizzard screwed themselves out of some money by fixing it before I got home. I was going to level a few horde characters to 60 and then pay to boost them. So they lost at least $120 and maybe more by fixing it.

      Garrisons take maybe 5 minutes. More if you go and mine, but otherwise just 5 minutes, at most. Not exactly what anyone would call a long time. Trust me, garrisons will not fill the loss of content because garrisons, once built, are not content as all, they are background.

      They say SoO will never happen again, but they said DS will never happen again, they said ICC will never happen again, they said there will never be flying in the old world, they said... you get the idea. I do not buy it, we will be sitting for a year and a half in this raid because they only designed for 2 raid tiers. I do not believe blizzard can get better when they keep getting worse. I won't believe it until I see it.

      I do not see the burnout you mention, as I said, garrison have little to no upkeep and what they have takes no time at all.

      If there is burn out it will come from people trying to level so many characters so quickly so they can get the buildings they need. Not the garrisons themselves. The leveling to open them up. Once they are opened, there is nothing to garrisons except logging in and collecting old work orders and starting new ones. I can honestly see you managing 20 characters once max out faster than it took to do 1 farm in mists.

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    3. Here's where I think the burnout is:

      You see garrisons, somehow you decide you need more than one, you do more than one. You now have to gather herbs and ores daily else they are wasted, that's some time. You also have to keep all the buildings running = have to farm mats (no, what you got from garden / mine isn't enough), that's some more time. You also have to get the right followers and these should be high level = have to send them on missions, that's more time. Missions require garrison resources, so you likely take LM or take TP and farm more mats to exchange for these resources - that's more time. Add gear for followers, which also takes time, add double followers for each professions so you can level one and have another work in the building, that's more time, etc. And all of that is per char.

      Garrisons are 5 min only after you got everything, including a big stock of mats in advance. Before that, they aren't 5 minutes at all. At least that's what I saw in the beta. And even 20 minutes per, say, 4 chars, is more than an hour a day. Just to keep it all running in order to maybe bring some profit in the future.

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    4. The herb and ore things could cause burnout if you force yourself to get them. That is the only part of running a garrison that could take any real time. I think it took me twice a long to clear the mine as it did to do everything else combined.

      I know what you are saying, and I know the obsessive nature of people like me who will feel they "have" to gather everything from every garrison every day. So you are right there.

      But to equal it out there is no valor grind, no reason to cap each week, no dailies, no scenarios, no dungeons (after you got your gear from them), no anything to do really. So all you have is your garrisons, raid night, and PvP.

      So it is balanced by the fact there is nothing to do in warlords, which might, just might, help with the burn out feeling.

      The dailies burnt people out because they felt they had to do them and by doing them they were not doing other things they also needed to do. The garrison are all there is to do. So doing them is not keeping you from doing something else. So yes, you are right, some people will suffer burnout, but I do not see it being as bad as mists dailies.

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  8. - Thanks for the garrison posts. Lots of food for thought and very interesting, and useful for looking stuff up. Now if there only would be some sidebar thingy where we could access them quickly, that would be great! Wading through 3+ pages to find a specific post is kinda meh.

    - Hunter DPS is fine, actually. I remember pulling 20-25k on my 585 hunter last mythic run. Might be lower now due to the CS nerf. Still, it's good enough. Mages might be OP but a really good mage (and occasionally, a warrior) was just barely topping us hunters, and he had similar gear. Another, not-so-good mage, was clearly below. Maybe he played a not-so-op-spec? Of course it fully depends on boss too. The first ones tend to be bad for hunter dps, with some classes completely wrecking the place using their multi-dot-spread-bomb-thingy abilities. But the further you progress the better. Unfortunately nobody was able to produce working logs from this raid, something was broken. I might be talking out of my ass but that's what I remember. Hunters always being in the top half, often top quarter and higher. That's good.

    - BM is still bad despite KC buff i guess? Was doing some soloing and simply some mob grinding as BM, but quickly switched to MM because it is just so much better, despite an abysmal mastery uptime. If it stays like this I might lvevel MM until l100 where adaptation and all the perks become available.

    - I'll have to make a big careful aim weakaura. You're right about the rotation being annoying, but with a big visible weakaura, I might get used to it better due to it's psychological effect. I know I have to do that, but it's not enough and really unconfortable. It's like it's screaming "AiS IS OP ONLY USE THIS" all over the place. And CS of course. CS is doing insanely-high dmg. Or was, before the nerf, at least. Didn't raid anything significant since, it might have changed. But it had to be used with careful aim up too, it was that strong.

    - Btw, I am doing my best numbers using Stampede and ToTH. It's just much better to play, I often had trouble to keep up with focus generation using AMoC and Steady Focus. I haven't tried Stampede with Steady Focus, but I will, given time.

    - Congrats on the new mounts. That filthy VoA mount. Glad to hear it drops, because I've been farming this raid for years without luck.

    - I don't think that 600 pets pre-WoD is realistic. Unless you plan on paying RL money, that is. Last I looked, it seems that you really need at least some pets that are or were available through promotions. Good luck with that.

    - I love the blazing wing toy. It happens to look gerat with my latest x-mog set I just recently managed to complete (damned baleroc refused to give me his shaman robe for weeks, but thanks to 6.0.2 I was able to do him on 25m where it finally dropped). Now I have to bind it to a few spammed macros.

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    1. You're welcome.

      When I am all done I am going to make a merged post and put it on the sidebar for easy access.

      Hunters might be "top half" in some groups but if you get a quality group we are "bottom half". Guess you can call it middle of the pack but I am not okay with that. I am a pure DPS class, if I am not top of the pack there is something wrong with the spec. The fact I can come close, and on some fights equal, my hunter on a mage over 30 item levels lower shows there is an issue with mages. I am not a great hunter, but I am no slouch either. All I want is the ability to complete with people of like skill and the class, at least at 90, is absolutely not capable of doing that.

      Yes, I have had fights were I did well, but because of the game play of MM, boring and stationary, it does not feel like a hunter. I would rather be doing the poor numbers we are doing if the class were fun to play, but I am not happy playing a broken and boring spec only to be middle of the pack at best. If I am going to be forced into playing a boring and broken spec, it better be #1.

      I have not played around with BM much, and for soloing I prefer SV. Things die so fast and having the dots and the ability to multi dot is a million times better than being able to do 10% more damage as MM and have to wait 3 hours for a cast because I have no instant. There is only one boss I actively need to be MM for to do, blarok 25 heroic in firelands. Otherwise that extra little bit of DPS does not matter at all and survival with its instants is much better than the slow play style of MM. Not to mention when soloing I am constantly moving, another reason MM sucks for it.

      I need a careful aim one as well. I've already gotten used to the mastery. I know when I have moved and when I have to stop. It only took a couple of runs to get into the grove for that, but I still think it is annoying and an unnecessary game play change for a class that is intended to be completely mobile. The careful aim aura might be nice so I know when RF is still up, but I guess in time I would get used to that as well.

      I was debating switching to stampede, maybe I will give it a shot. Crows just adds something to the mix that costs a ton of focus in what is already a very focus heavy rotation. Might be nice to have something that takes some of the pressure off the focus management and stampede can do that.

      Thanks, maybe you time for the VoA one will come soon.

      I know a few people with the 600 pets already. Also looking at the AH I think there are enough to get me there as well. I had spent money in the past for pets, before pet battles were out. I collected them. So I had all the card games ones and never paid much for them back then either. That might be enough to get me over the hump, but I refuse to pay 20K-60K per pet for the ones on the AH. 3K max for a pet. Maybe, just maybe, if it is leveled and really hard to get I might pay up to 15K.

      The wings look great with my mog too. If you have the leandras locket (spelling) use them with that, it looks awesome, as if it were designed for that.

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    2. Blazing Wing toy??? wtf - where did you guys get this?

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    3. They come from the new quest at the darkmoon faire if you can get 50 rings before falling. Took me three tries to find a good pattern for it. Check over at bubbles of mischief on my links at the side, she made an awesome post with a link to a path that makes it really easy.

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    4. I knew there had to be a reason for this new ride. I will check - thank you.

      -roo

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    5. went to that site, found teh map, saw the pattern and got them all. fun, fun, fun. Now on my 4th toon to get it. I know, I know, only 1 toy, and really 1 achievement needed, but I like the ride! Thanks for pointing it out and that goes to Ril also!!!!

      -roo "that magnificence dwarf in that flying machine"

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    6. Awesome. Enjoy, and be sure to thank her for the awesome map. :)

      Aren't those wings cool?

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    7. I did thank her and told her I came over via you.

      And yes, they are cool.

      I just wish I could have the rocket pack as a mount. :) Now that would be cool.

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  9. I think you may be mis-remembering some of the details on that Hearthstone game, but either way it's always fun when you come back from the brink like that.

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    1. Yeah, I have not played in a while so I do not know the card names or anything. The idea still get across. I was dead, they were smug, I won. That, in the end, is all that matters right?

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  10. http://www.polygon.com/2014/5/9/5699178/hearthstone-pay-to-win

    If you want to have every card you generally have to pay, but that's similar to wanting every mount in WoW you have to pay for that as well. If you just want to be competitive there are a number of cheap decks that still get to legend. The difference usually comes down to if you want to do it completely free then you need to focus on one class. It is more similar to paying for the level boost in WoW, which you have said you are for, that it just saves you time. If you just don't like it that's fine. If you don't have the time to play that's fine, but don't just say it's pay to win. That's just an excuse for bad players.

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    1. It is not an excuse for bad players. That is something people that are offended by the term "pay to win" say to defend against the term.

      I am not against the instant 90s, but not for levels, for professions. I would never pay for a level 1 to 90, but I would pay for a 60 to 90 because it also boosts professions.

      Now, to put that in hearthstone terms. If I could pay to buy a entire "set" of cards, I see no problem with that. As long as all cards can be attained otherwise it is just a time saving method. This would be equal to the boost to 90.

      But being it is packs, and packs are based on luck, the person who spends the most, or is the luckiest with what they spend wins. It is pay to win.

      Trust me. I was a top DCI player of magic many many moons ago and I spent a small fortune buying cases to get the rares. So I know more than a little bit about the topic.

      Yes, there is a lot of skill involved in making a winning deck and using it effectively. But even if my skill made me a top rated player, it was money that put me in the position to be so.

      It was pay to win, same as hearthstone. And I would have never got offended by someone who said I paid to win even if it was my skill that won, because I DID pay to win. That is why I had the right cards, I paid for them.

      So no, it is not an excuse for bad players. It is a flat out fact. Sorry if that offended you but often the truth does hurt.

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    2. You had to pay to buy the cards in MTG that's what made it pay to win. You don't have to pay to get the same cards as anyone else in Hearthstone. Paying only saves you time to collect those cards. You can be successful without paying. Has been proven many times with F2P accounts still taken to top legend. If you could pay money for all your cards to be more powerful, or if certain very powerful cards were only available for money, that would be pay to win.

      You can still level your professions in wow without paying, so paying to level it isn't pay to win, it's pay for time. Same concept.

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    3. I see where you are going and I actually do agree. But without spending an insane amount of time on the game a persons skill would get them nowhere. I would have never won a single thing if I did not spend money because I did not spend thousands of hours otherwise. Sure, buying "speeds" things up, but it does not change the fact that it is pay to win.

      But once again, it was the same for magic. All buying did was "speed" things up. I knew a great many top ranked players, higher than myself, that never spent a dime. They borrowed cards, played for bets, won packs, won tournaments, spent hours upon hours at neutral ground (was in Manhattan, huge magic place, now closed, you can look it up) working trades and moving up and getting that one card they needed.

      They, like you said, could only work one deck without paying, but they managed to do it with a lot of time and effort.

      So being you CAN do it without paying doesn't mean it is not pay to win. It just means you have an insane amount of free time and dedication and skill.

      If you put those things together, free time, dedication, and skill, you can do okay with hearthstone just like you could with magic. But if you are a normal person you need to spend money to "speed" the process up. That is pay to win.

      And no, me boosting for professions is not the same. I can level them myself if I so wanted to. I am a hoarder and have all the mats. I just look at it as buying gold. Why waste the mats leveling a profession when I can sell the mats and make gold.

      Effectively, the 60 to 90 boost is me buying gold legally, nothing more, nothing less. That is also why I do not boost 1 to 90, there is nothing in it for me. Also gold does not "win" the game. But the right cards do.

      The difference is skill.

      With gold or without gold, I play at the same skill level, it does not effect me in any way, shape or form in warcraft. So me paying makes absolutely zero different. Boost to 90 is NOT pay to win as it makes no difference.

      With or without cards, regardless of my skill, even if I were the best player in the world, I would never win without the cards. They are required to win. Being money buys cards and cards win games, it is pay to win.

      I am not sure which type of player you are as you did not say but I am not trying to offend you here because I said a game you like is pay to win. I am just stating facts.

      Here, let me put it this way, which should completely end the conversation.

      Can a person that "pays" to buy cards but is much lesser skilled beat someone that has never paid but has a higher skill level?

      Absolutely, due to the strength of the cards.

      That is the definition of pay to win. When someone with less skill can win due to spending money.

      At the top level of hearthstone you need to both spend AND have skill, lots of it. But the middle of the pack and lower, whoever spends the most win. Fact, like it or not.

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