July 2016

Thoughts on Hunter Changes

stargrace July 28, 2016 2Comments

I try to keep my characters all on two realms, I have horde over on Area 52, and alliance over on Argent Dawn. After playing around with my alliance priest and getting raids done yesterday, I decided to swap over to my horde character and try out the hunter. First though I played with the shaman. Not a fan of the new melee changes. Then I played with my warlock, choosing demonology since that was the entire reason I created a warlock to begin with. Nope. Just not a fan. The class plays very “slow” at level 94, and I just wasn’t feeling it. I’ll have to take another day to try out the other warlock specs, it seems like Blizzard is really keen on people playing a brand new spec outside of their comfort zones. Not a bad thing per say, it’s just different. In fact so far none of my characters have kept their “main” specs from before the Legion Pre-Patch.

I knew things had changed for the hunter but I wanted to start off with a familiar spec, which was beastmaster. Right away I noticed that things were going to be different, my skill rotation consisted of four buttons along with a few temporary self buffs. It wasn’t a huge surprise since pretty much every single one of my class skills across the board have been compressed, but it did make for some pretty boring gameplay. I queued for the first four raids and spent most of my time waiting for focus to regenerate in between auto attacking while my pet did most of the work. My DPS was abysmal, around 13-15k with an ilevel of 670.

I’ve heard some fantastic things about both of the other specs for hunters, most of the positive comments coming from the survival line. I’ve never really been a melee player, I don’t have a rogue or any other class that gets right up there with the mobs, so I decided to try out marksmanship first. Based on a guide, one of the talents I took was “Lone Wolf” and this meant I’d get a nice 18% increase in DPS but it also meant I wouldn’t be using any pets.

Turns out, this is useful.

I was still a ranged class, but without a pet, and the rotation goes a lot faster. On multiple targets my DPS was easily over 70k – a HUGE difference between the BM spec I had chosen before. DPS dropped a bit for single targets, but it could have also been my rotation as I had set it up specifically for group encounters. The more I played this spec, the more I got used to the idea of being ranged without pets. It’s an odd feeling for a hunter, but not a completely inane one.

I still haven’t tried survival yet, that will be next on my list. I also had hopes of testing out the level 100 paladin that has been sorely neglected ever since I boosted the character, but I was just too dang tired, my eyes kept closing. That will be a project for another day. I still have a 91 deathknight, 91 monk, and the warlock sitting at 94 – I’m debating if I want to try to level those up before Legion releases, or if I should just be happy with the 5 characters I already have at 100. I have more than enough choices, really. I suppose we’ll just see how it goes.

Sure, I can be bribed to heal LFR

stargrace July 27, 2016 2Comments

I don’t belong to an active guild in WoW, having decided ages ago that instead of being kicked for inactivity (something that happened on a pretty frequent basis) I’d be better off in my own personal guild. I created it years ago, and I’ve been there ever since. I may have alts elsewhere, especially on other servers (my “main” server these days is Argent Dawn) but I still hold that personal guild quite close. Since I don’t belong to an active guild, getting things done outside of LFR or LFG is something I don’t often do. I know I could find a raid to go along with, or even apply just with one character and leave my other alts at home, but I haven’t felt especially comfortable getting back into that stuff. I’d love to play more with friends, but again due to my nature I always feel like I’m intruding, and I’d rather have someone approach me and invite me instead of inviting myself along, if that makes sense. Dang my passive nature.

One things I will admit right now that gets me into those LFR and LFG encounters is the savage satchel of cooperation. The goodie bags that show up every so often when a specific role is needed. I most often see these requirements for tanks, then healers, and every so often, dps. 90% of the time if I’m queued for a raid it’s because I’m going to get that extra satchel – and they’re incredibly handy.

While garrisons have been nerfed into oblivion when it comes to gold making, these satchels still reward over 500 gold for each one. Plus they’re filled with baleful gear (not class specific, you can mail them to alts and even across servers) the chance at an apex enhancement, and other random treats. It’s a fantastic way for my alts to gear up WITHOUT having to go through Tanaan Jungle (again). Is it wrong that I only feel the desire to queue when there’s an extra incentive in it for me? Well. Maybe if I was going to group with friends and required incentive, that would be a bit morally confusing for me, personally. In a LFG or LFR environment though I feel that these incentives are almost essential due to the nature and vitriol of a large portion of the community. In order to put up with these comments and the stress of grouping in a LFR environment, yes, I need a little extra incentive. With friends, not so much. They’re (hopefully) much more lenient.

Do these treat bags give you any incentive to queue up for dungeons and raids? If not, what would it take to get you into them? As always, let me know in comments below and happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

Figuring it all out – Again

stargrace July 26, 2016 3Comments

The pre-legion patch came and went, and with it any knowledge I had of my classes. I’ve been slowly (we’re talking snail pace here) logging into each one of my level 100 characters to fiddle with their builds, set up their gear so they don’t look like weird aliens in helmets, and take inventory of what has changed.

So far the biggest changes have been to my main character, priest. I used to be a disc spec’d healer, but I found after the patch that there was just absolutely no comparison to the holy priest spec. So I swapped. Not a big deal, I used to be holy ages ago but they nerfed that into oblivion, so I guess now it’s time for a new spec to be awesome. The new disc priest spec relies heavily on dps and applying atonement to players before going all out with dps. I’ve never really been fond of dpsing in order to heal, so the holy spec is much more my level. I did set up a shadow spec too (I usually use it for solo play or when I’m bored of healing) but I haven’t actually played my character yet to know how it runs. It doesn’t bother me that disc is (for me) unplayable, so long as there’s something out there I can replace it with. There is, so all is good.

Next I checked out my druid. Very little has changed for restoration, I found her a bit easier to play, and got rid of a few hot bars. I haven’t tried the dps or tank spec’s out with her yet though to be honest I never really did THAT much with the character aside from heal anyway.

After that I wandered over to my shaman who is currently set up as a melee dps. Lots of options are gone now, and I only have 1 totem that I picked up as a talent. I haven’t actually played her out in the world so I’m not sure about how the overall feeling will be, but without totems it’s already pretty odd.

That still leaves the warlock, paladin, deathknight, hunter, and monk to set up and figure out. I’ve also been contemplating leveling up a warrior because why not. I keep saying I’d like to try one and then I never go through with it. Just not enough hours in the day to play all the things!

What do you think of your class changes? Do your characters still have the same feel to them or have they morphed into some sort of new class that you’re learning all over again? On the plus side – you’re not the only one.

As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!