Why Stereotypes Exist: The Huntard

I just had a horrific Slave Pens pug attempt. I say "attempt" because we only got to the first boss. The newest addition to my ignore list is a Hunter I'll call, um, "Reilys."

• Moaned, "NOOOO" as soon as my hunter, Hawli, joined the party. The other party members asked him what was up, and he said, (sic) "there not the only 1s want there epix." I said, "it's regular SP, where's the epics?"


• Then he agreed to remain in the group so long as he "gets the c-bow its all i want from here." I smiled, and gently reminded him that I would be rolling on hunter loot, as well.


• Walked into the instance with pet on Aggressive from recent PvP play. Said pet aggroed the first group while we were discussing marks.


• As soon as he heard "marks" being mentioned, he announced, "im not trapping."


• We finally killed the first boss after our good friend Reilys backed in to another group, and the Vest of Living Lightning dropped.


• Everyone passed, since we had 2 hunters, warrior, rogue, and a druid (healing). Everyone, that is, except Reilys.


• We insisted that he pass for disenchanting - and he greeded it, claiming that his current epic chest gear was not "socketed or restoers (sic) mana."

I completely flipped out on him, the rogue and I both called for his immediate /kick, but the warrior logged instead. Giving group-leader status to moi. I polished up the ol' boot and SHA-BAM! Out he went. Then we disbanded and all hearthed out, greatly aggrieved and disheartened. Or maybe that was just me.

It just makes me insane the way some players create a class reputation that the rest of us are forced to combat. So, here's to you, Mr. Moron Hunter in Shaman gear. You've earned it.

Free WotLK Respec and Other Goodies

DAY ONE: It appears that talents have undergone an overhaul in the Beta - so - each of my demo toons logged in completely untalented again. What an awesome chance to play with different specs, right?

Hawli Hunter played with tamed and releasing several different pets this morning just to see what kind of new skills and abilities were available to them. Our crocolisk, Giggles, has an ability called "Bad Attitude," it appears to be an AoE-tanking ability. Too cool for school, huh? The duskbat, Detroit, had a "Sonic Boom" kinda stun. Chaos, the dragonhawk, breathed fire. Finally, she dropped by the barber shop in UC for a new 'do.

Next I jumped on Tehrawreyes, our shiny new Death Knight. Tehr had been leveling as Unholy and having an absolute BALL blowing up corpses and summoning Ghouls to do her dark bidding. Today she respecced to full Blood, and hopefully we'll get to see how that works pretty soon. It appears to be more of party-dps spec, although it does have some self-healing abilities. And without even having to go to group therapy!

After respeccing I zep'd her to Northrend in order to pick up the Herbalism and Inscription professions. She's now on a quest for mass quantities of Peacebloom and Silverleaf. I predict that upon the expansion release you won't be able to swing a cat in Tirisfal Glades without smacking 18 Death Knights farming Peacebloom. I have now officially grown weary of my Deathcharger's pained, screeching whinny from all the herb-farming. Don't worry, though - I took it out on a random level 7 undead mob, and I'm feeling much better now.

Next I'll be going to Malarea. First on her list: turning herself into a demon! Yes, D has long suspected it, and now it's true - I am at heart, evil. She's also going to be making the long trek to find Dalaran, lovely purple-domed city that was, for some uber-fun exploration.

DAY TWO: Well - the server was crashing every 30 seconds, but I did manage to set her hearthstone, find the Inscription supplier, and discover the city portals before logging.

Wrath of the Lich King Patch?

So, it's Tuesday... servers are down... I chuckled to myself a bit, gloating, knowing that I have this Beta key and I'll be able to putz around in Northrend while everyone else is waiting for 11am PST.

Lo and behold - yes, lo - upon double-clicking that icon, a patch begins to download. A 235mb patch. GAH!!

Well, it's moving rather quickly, actually, and while I'm not completely sure I'll be able to get right in once it's done, it doesn't appear to be the tragedy I originally suspected. I wonder if I can find patch notes somewhere for it...

*Wanders off mumbling incoherently*

OH! Before I forget - make sure you're listening to the Twisted Nether blogcasts!! I sent them several MP3s for use in future shows, I'm hoping at least one of them gets some air-time. ; )

Get out there and starting Twisting your Nethers!

What's in a Main?

"Who's your main?" I get that question a lot. And truth be told - I'm finding it harder and harder to answer. My very first toon was my mage - and I had no clue what I was doing. I tried to level as Fire, since it was supposed to be the highest damage, and I gimped her with too much Stam and not nearly enough Int. The result was that I quickly grew frustrated with her fragility and horrific drinking problem and I abandoned her with a quickness.


Then I started playing with D, whose first and main was a Shaman. Of course I had to try it out, right? Sigh - she got to 18, 2 levels shy of her Ghost Wolf, and became my bank alt.


Finally I decided to go ahead and try the class I wanted from the very beginning. Everyone told me that Warlocks were complicated, difficult to master. I didn't care - after all, it's not as if I could have been a WORSE player. Malarea was born into the world, and lo, the ground did tremble with that thunder. We had an absolute BLAST learning all the nuances of her class, understanding what we were capable of, testing ourselves extensively, and pushing our limits. /wipe tear, we had us a time, Malarea and me.


I never thought I'd love anyone as much as I loved my Warlock. And then - my good friend B has an amazing Rogue on the Alliance side, on a different server. When she came over to play with D & I in the Horde, she created another Rogue and I watched it grow into a force with which to be reckoned. It looked like fun, sneaking around, pickpocketing, sapping mobs. I decided to give it a go.


Rigatoni leveled to 70 like skating on butter. I totally dug the life less squishy, to be sure, and Rigs had a bunch of cool and fun tricks: lockpicking, stealth, pickpocketing, sapping, and I leveled her Leatherworking skill to 375 for the BoP epics. Ran several BGs with her for Gladiator's Quickblade, and my guildies & RL-friends gave her an epic off-hand sword enchanted with Mongoose for a wedding present when D & I got hitched.

Around this time, I notice Principessa languishing in the low 50's. I created her as a soloing Shadow Priest so that we'd have a potential healer in the group back when D created his Hunter. His first non-healing toon dictated that I needed a healing toon. Well, D's Druid was coming up in the ranks, and wanting to learn the Feral side of life, so we teamed up: the Druid and Prin. Working as a team, we just FLEW to 70.

I can't remember the timing on this, but at one point just about everyone in the guild started pallies. Everyone except me, that is. I think I'd enjoy tanking, but I sure didn't want to level as Prot. And I already had one toon likely to be roped into healing, I didn't need a second. So - I started a Hunter instead. Hawli and and D's pally leveled together quite a bit. Once he hit 40, however, D grew bored with it and we unleashed Hawli to level ahead on her own. Which was incredibly easy, by the way. She's now in the low 60's and on her way to end-game, as well.

So - what's my point? I guess it's just that I don't think I HAVE a main. If I were to join one of those raiding guilds that insist you designated a main for raiding, I don't think I could do it. Each of them is a blast to play, and they all have their strengths for specific instances or zones. Who in the world would want to limit themselves to just one class, let alone just one toon? Not me. Looking back, I probably should have named them all some misspelled variation of "Sybil." I love me some MPD, y'all.

Alt-ernative Lifestyles... I Has Them

Lots of them, actually. Mostly Horde, as previously confessed, but I'm growing a stable of Alliance toons on a different server.

Draece is my Hunter. She was the first to see all of the Draenei starting area. Colbi, the Nelf Druid, was actually created years ago when D and I were first hanging out. She was there to stalk him -I mean, chat with him - while he played with his other friends.

Tytchen is a Human Rogue, and oddly under-whelming compared to her Belf sister Rigatoni. Of course that may just be because it's been so long since I didn't have poisons on my swords.

And finally, starting yesterday, I have a little baby Shaman: Emnyte. Everything I'm reading is telling me to go Enhancement, and I'm cool with that, but I'd LOVE to have any and all play-style tips, sneaky Shammy secrets, advice for dealing with multi-pulls, etc. Bring 'em on!

In Which Prin Convinces D to Go Heroic

more cat pictures

We've run the Imba reports (thanks, Misery, for the link!) We've spent hours pouring over Druid blogs and picked up some valuable advice. We've upgraded gems and re-distributed the over-capped Defense / Resilience. We've practiced on dozens of quests, lower-leveled 5-mans, and even the Nagrand Circle of Blood event. We're ready.

By "we," of course, I mean D's feral Druid. I know that he can tank a beginning heroic. I KNOW it. All we need is 3 other people, one of them a healer, who understand that it's a learning process.

But see - there's the problem. Prin's a decent 5-man healer, if pressed to be, but everything I've read says, "don't try to heal a heroic while Shadow-specced." And if I'm not the healer, then some stranger will be putting his repair bill into D's hands - and that's a lot of pressure for my bear. So - any words of advice out there from experienced bear tanks?

Maroon Is the Color of Your Energy

I suppose there are worse things... but it's never fun looking like a tool, like an idiot, like - as Bugs would say - a maroon. There are some simple ways to avoid it, you know.

• Chat channels. Know what channels are available to you, learn to use them correctly. Trade requests and ads go in - you guessed it - Trade Chat. General Zone-specific comments go in General. (See how this works?) Anything that's only of interest to you and one other person should be in "tells."
• If you are from Babylon (one of those people who likes to babble on, and on, and on) please head over to the Barrens. It's expected there.
• Learn how to tip. As an enchanter and jewelcrafter, sometimes I feel like an Olive Garden server on prom night. Kids simply do not know the meaning of "gratuity." Here's the reasoning: even if you're supplying the mats for your crafted piece, your crafter put a lot - no, a LOT, of time, effort, and money into leveling the skill to get that point. They've also put effort, time, and money into acquiring those patterns. A good rule of thumb is 10% of what the mats would have cost. If you don't think this is fair - then AH your mats and purchase the completed item from the AH. Or level the skill yourself.
• If you're being invited to a dungeon, whether PuG or a trial run with a recruiting guild, do yourself a favor and check your gear, provisions, consumables, etc - BEFORE you accept that summon. Nothing twists my knickers like having to wait for the hunter to go out for more arrows, having the shaman try to bum water off of me, or realizing that I, myself, have an Argent Dawn commision and my fishing pole equipped... in Shadow Labryinth. >.<
• Loot Roolz - make sure you know them BEFORE the run starts. Your guild probably also has specific rules, whether you're in a guild run or just representing your guild in a PuG. Be courteous. Better to be "that awesome mage who passed on the epic gloves" than to be that d-bag mage who ninja'd my epic staff (may he burn - slowly).
• Basic class-specific skills: learn to ASK POLITELY for lockpicking, ports, summons, food & water, buffs, etc. No one owes you anything. Being willing to hand out your own class-specific goodies (buffs, healthstones, etc.,) makes it far more likely that karma will treat you well when you're in need.
• No begging. I can't stress this one enough. Absolutely ZERO begging. Now that having been said, there IS a difference between, "Crap - I'm one piece of silk short for my item - anyone have a spare?" and *random player opens trade with you and yells, 'GOLD PLX'*.
• If you don't know - say, "You know, I really don't know." Don't try to bluff your way through a strategy or pull that you're unfamiliar with. Don't try to convince your party that you know everything there is to know about each of the classes. Better to be quiet, and thought a fool - than to open your mouth and remove all doubt, no?

Use your best judgment, keep in mind that this IS a game, and follow the Golden Rule. It's not that hard, people.