It was in the midst of the Feast of Winterveil, and the blood elf huntress stood, hand steady on the hilt of a worn blade, the best she could afford. Her green eyes watered in the icy cold, blinking away wind stung tears as she watched the grass waver and move across the Barrens.
There! She squinted, and the shape of the leopard she had been tracking resolved out from the wind torn shadows of grass and branch. It yawned, topaz eyes blinking briefly. Her breath slipped soundlessly from her mouth, even as her fingers clamped down on the blade, then went soft as the ears flicked towards the sound. She glanced again at her feet. The trap was set. She rose from an easy crouch and her eyes locked with the topaz ones of the beast.
The leopard roared and leapt, fangs bared and claws unsheathed. Kora flung herself backwards, hoping the trap would hold long enough for her to convince the golden furred feline that she was not attempting to kill it, but befriend it. The cat yowled its displeasure, and a bladed paw raked through her shoulder in a lucky strike. Blood sprayed across the frozen ground, and the cat hissed and raged. Her hand briefly touched her shoulder, coming away bloody and then she held it out to the feline, ignoring the gout that ran from her shoulder.
A chant older than herself and the race she came from flowed up and out, wrapping a chain of the spirit around both the huntress and the cat, both who stared into the other's eyes, both needing something that only the other could give. Time slowed, and the wind fell silent.
The trap shattered and Kora's voice faultered, breaking the enthrallment. The cat leapt for her, she dropped the blade and threw up a hand. The crack of a totem hitting ground dazed both huntress and cat as a large wolf threw itself between the two. Kora made a wordless sound of protest as the cat skidded to a stop, fur rising along its back and the growl that issued from the wolf froze Kora in her tracks.
She recognized the pendant that hung around the beast's neck and realized abruptly that the wolf was not a wolf, but a shaman. Lupine lips curled back and fangs bared as the shaman looked between the hunter and the great cat that hissed and spat. A voice flickered through her mind, and she tipped her head up, then down, an aproximation of a nod. She didn't take her eyes from the gold fur. A small part of her will was keeping the feline still.
Her trap dropped at her feet, and she settled into the easy half-crouch, took a breath and the chant rose again as the shaman stepped aside. The cat leapt, and the trap held. As her eyes blurred she heard the shaman snarl, but her soul was locked to the chant her mind twined with that of the cat, she could not look away. When a heavy hand landed on her shoulder she blinked, dazed and trembling. Her eyes jerked up with a flinch, and realized that the shaman had taken his natural form, and a large tauren stood over her, holding her blade out. Then the feline nudged her hip and she realized just how cold she really was as she stumbled. But it was done.
"Thank you, Chieftain. I could not have-"
"We are a clan. You only had to ask."
-Bloodriver Rocks because help is always there-
3/28/10
Dragon Trifecta
Bloodriver took on three dragons last night. Sartharion was the first on our list. We ran it with all three drakes down, that was our "warm up" for the night. I didn't get hit once by lava. It was just a mild... well, we did it. Good... next! feeling.
Second on the list was our arch rival - Malygos. Our guild has not seen him downed as a whole in EoE 10 yet. The last time we tried had been an unmitigated disaster. This round we kept getting closer and closer, and closer. I died at least twice... figured out I could fire while being whipped around in Vortex as Surv... and took aggro away from Vela. That meant that Maly was trying to kill me as soon as I hit the ground. I splattered. I watch them wipe on drakes, get back up, try again.... splatter on first vortex (yep, same mistake) they wipe in Phase 2 this time, let's try that again.... Get to drakes, everyone is alive.... Maly noms me on Drake, I die. Healer dies, the rest of the group soon follows.
Let's try this yet again. Managed to get him to 13% before he enrages. Last try. Phase one flies by, phase 2 soars by, we hit phase 3 and the drakes and manage to say in a semi-cohesive group so the healers keep us healed and we pew pew at Malygos. We've got a minute to go before the enrage timer flashes up. He never got there, we watch Malygos DROP OUT OF THE SKY.
In between me dying on Malygos Torr ran to the store, got me a cappuccino, and came back. He was sitting next to me when the only thing that came out of my mouth was a happy "YES!" My guildmates errupted into cheers when he fell. My only wish, as we all celebrated, was that a certain person could have been there with us to see it. Maybe he was though, and maybe that's why we finally brought down the bane of our existence. Here's to you Solarion. We got the bastard, as you would have said. We got him.
Last dragon of the night was another of the Black Flight. We took on Deathwing's Daughter, Onyxia. Myst and Lin were able to run with us for both Sarth and EoE, but couldn't handle the whelps and the pure spell spectacle that was Onyxia + whelps, and DC'd to the point that they bowed out. We brought in a few to replace them, because the guild wanted its trifecta.
Onyxia nommed on trolls for a while. Troll Flambe is pretty popular amongst the black flight apparently. Either we were getting Belf Sautee with Mushrooms, or the tailswipe was trying to feed somebody to whelps, or somebody else wasn't getting out of Mommy's way when she was flying across the sky. Basically, Ony was being a pain in the neck. Most of the raid had been standing there through all three dragons. We all vowed to drop her and add her head to the Hall.
After scraping ourselves off the floor for the third time... we come back in, nobody dies, manage to kill the last Lair Guardian and bring Onyxia to bay. We dps her down, getting closer and closer and closer... then Vela chirps over vent, "She's down!" Niqo and I both respond with "NOT YET." She wasn't a corpse on the floor at that point.
I guess Niqo and I had both seen too many fails after somebody had spouted the above phrase. She did die though, and we all danced on her corpse and took pics. The Dragon Trifecta is Dead... in one night.
Sartharion - Dead
Malygos - DEAD!
Onyxia - Dead
Second on the list was our arch rival - Malygos. Our guild has not seen him downed as a whole in EoE 10 yet. The last time we tried had been an unmitigated disaster. This round we kept getting closer and closer, and closer. I died at least twice... figured out I could fire while being whipped around in Vortex as Surv... and took aggro away from Vela. That meant that Maly was trying to kill me as soon as I hit the ground. I splattered. I watch them wipe on drakes, get back up, try again.... splatter on first vortex (yep, same mistake) they wipe in Phase 2 this time, let's try that again.... Get to drakes, everyone is alive.... Maly noms me on Drake, I die. Healer dies, the rest of the group soon follows.
Let's try this yet again. Managed to get him to 13% before he enrages. Last try. Phase one flies by, phase 2 soars by, we hit phase 3 and the drakes and manage to say in a semi-cohesive group so the healers keep us healed and we pew pew at Malygos. We've got a minute to go before the enrage timer flashes up. He never got there, we watch Malygos DROP OUT OF THE SKY.
In between me dying on Malygos Torr ran to the store, got me a cappuccino, and came back. He was sitting next to me when the only thing that came out of my mouth was a happy "YES!" My guildmates errupted into cheers when he fell. My only wish, as we all celebrated, was that a certain person could have been there with us to see it. Maybe he was though, and maybe that's why we finally brought down the bane of our existence. Here's to you Solarion. We got the bastard, as you would have said. We got him.
Last dragon of the night was another of the Black Flight. We took on Deathwing's Daughter, Onyxia. Myst and Lin were able to run with us for both Sarth and EoE, but couldn't handle the whelps and the pure spell spectacle that was Onyxia + whelps, and DC'd to the point that they bowed out. We brought in a few to replace them, because the guild wanted its trifecta.
Onyxia nommed on trolls for a while. Troll Flambe is pretty popular amongst the black flight apparently. Either we were getting Belf Sautee with Mushrooms, or the tailswipe was trying to feed somebody to whelps, or somebody else wasn't getting out of Mommy's way when she was flying across the sky. Basically, Ony was being a pain in the neck. Most of the raid had been standing there through all three dragons. We all vowed to drop her and add her head to the Hall.
After scraping ourselves off the floor for the third time... we come back in, nobody dies, manage to kill the last Lair Guardian and bring Onyxia to bay. We dps her down, getting closer and closer and closer... then Vela chirps over vent, "She's down!" Niqo and I both respond with "NOT YET." She wasn't a corpse on the floor at that point.
I guess Niqo and I had both seen too many fails after somebody had spouted the above phrase. She did die though, and we all danced on her corpse and took pics. The Dragon Trifecta is Dead... in one night.
Sartharion - Dead
Malygos - DEAD!
Onyxia - Dead
3/17/10
Leveling does not = End Game
Okay, let me give some background before I launch into a rant post. I've got a new hunter, over on Argent Dawn, Alliance side. I'm part of the blogger/reader/come annoy us guild that is Single Abstract Noun (SAN). I'm leveling BM again, I want to keep my cat with me and not be forced over to a Tenacity pet.
Anyways, I was running Black fathom Depths last night on my 21 SAN Hunter. I was carrying the Impaling Harpoon, and Reef Axe dropped. I spotted + 8 AP and +10 Stam over the older weapon. So, I rolled need.
As soon as the axe lands in my bags this rogue, who was heirloomed out to the gills and had a reportably gender offensive name (which was reported), suddenly piped up about the axe. My jaw dropped and my fingers flew.
Needless to say, as soon as I read that, I knew it wasn't going to end well, so I dropped group, but it sparked a discussion in guild, where again the mis-info of 1 for 2 popped up. Apparently people missed that memo en mass? Or maybe I've been playing for so long I know to drop any info I learned last expac and relearn? Or maybe I was dealing with people that do not regularly play a hunter, and therefore their information is old.
But it opened up the realization that so many people, even some of my wonderful SAN guildmates get locked into the mindset of "If its best at 80 then THAT'S IT."
I know Agility gives Dodge, Crit and a bit of Armor. At 21, 12 Agi is about 1.6 % crit. But AP is straight damage increase. I get about .6% more damage and about 100 health from the axe. Leveling, the health will keep myself and the pet alive a bit longer if we get into deep trouble... and my being a hunter always garentees that fact. I will get into trouble.
I also know that the satchels will not help me when it comes to gearing. Especially not when, with some characters, outlands is looming and my Int pool will shrink like a puddle of water in the Gobi. If I want Int in that case, I'd have to take + spell power with it.
I mean, take how I've geared Koratria for leveling over Tzia at end game. Mind you they are also specc'd diffrently, but Kora is Agi/AP heavy. She will level quicker with strong shots, even if they don't crit as often because the damage is already artificially high.
I also know I'll be seeing a ton of "Of the Bandit" gear dropping come the time I step into Outlands. I'll have to pair with "Of the Elder" or get lucky and find an "Of the Falcon" piece just to keep in mana, and that's not going to change. Leveling, I'm not going to see the Agi/Stam/Int pieces unless I see the Instance Blues that were built to help a hunter gear towards Kara. Leveling means my gear requirements are diffrent from end game.
Wrath brought back Agi/Stam/Int pieces regularly in the reach of hunters and Enhance shaman. I think I can thank blizzard for making Enhancement Shaman want the exact same gear a hunter would want be the only reason for seeing actual good hunter gear drop again. Yeah, I'm not at all bitter about that. Usually I'm running with an Elemental Shaman so the gear, if better, will swing my way.
But until I hit Wrath content, leveling, I'm just not going to see the "best endgame gear stats". I know that and my needs shift as I go through content. Agility/Stam/Int will still be my primary focus, but if AP drops, and its damage gain outweighs the crit lost, I'll take it.
Leveling does not equal End Game. It never has, it never will. The more people that realize that, the better we'd all be. There's a whole game waiting before you get to 80. Let's actually play it.
Anyways, I was running Black fathom Depths last night on my 21 SAN Hunter. I was carrying the Impaling Harpoon, and Reef Axe dropped. I spotted + 8 AP and +10 Stam over the older weapon. So, I rolled need.
As soon as the axe lands in my bags this rogue, who was heirloomed out to the gills and had a reportably gender offensive name (which was reported), suddenly piped up about the axe. My jaw dropped and my fingers flew.
Rogue: "You shouldn't use that your pole arm's better, besides 1 Agi = 2 AP. And Agi is better!"
Me: "1 Agi = 1 AP, not 2. That hasn't been the case since at least Wrath." (found out later that was actually around BC).
Rogue : "Nuh uh. I got an 80 Hunter in Full T10. 1 Agi = 2 AP and the Crit's better!"
Druid : "1 Agi = 2 AP. It does!"
Me : " Also have an 80 Hunter. Sorry, its 1 for 1 when it comes to Agi to AP. Been that way for a long time. Sides 10 Stam + 8 AP as a BM works better for me leveling."
Rogue : "AP iz bad. Agi ALWAYS better."
Me : "Let me guess, Suv Hunter?"
Rogue : "Yah"
Me : "Agi is not as important to the other two specs."
Rogue :"Nuh uh! I play a hunter I know!"
Needless to say, as soon as I read that, I knew it wasn't going to end well, so I dropped group, but it sparked a discussion in guild, where again the mis-info of 1 for 2 popped up. Apparently people missed that memo en mass? Or maybe I've been playing for so long I know to drop any info I learned last expac and relearn? Or maybe I was dealing with people that do not regularly play a hunter, and therefore their information is old.
But it opened up the realization that so many people, even some of my wonderful SAN guildmates get locked into the mindset of "If its best at 80 then THAT'S IT."
I know Agility gives Dodge, Crit and a bit of Armor. At 21, 12 Agi is about 1.6 % crit. But AP is straight damage increase. I get about .6% more damage and about 100 health from the axe. Leveling, the health will keep myself and the pet alive a bit longer if we get into deep trouble... and my being a hunter always garentees that fact. I will get into trouble.
I also know that the satchels will not help me when it comes to gearing. Especially not when, with some characters, outlands is looming and my Int pool will shrink like a puddle of water in the Gobi. If I want Int in that case, I'd have to take + spell power with it.
I mean, take how I've geared Koratria for leveling over Tzia at end game. Mind you they are also specc'd diffrently, but Kora is Agi/AP heavy. She will level quicker with strong shots, even if they don't crit as often because the damage is already artificially high.
I also know I'll be seeing a ton of "Of the Bandit" gear dropping come the time I step into Outlands. I'll have to pair with "Of the Elder" or get lucky and find an "Of the Falcon" piece just to keep in mana, and that's not going to change. Leveling, I'm not going to see the Agi/Stam/Int pieces unless I see the Instance Blues that were built to help a hunter gear towards Kara. Leveling means my gear requirements are diffrent from end game.
Wrath brought back Agi/Stam/Int pieces regularly in the reach of hunters and Enhance shaman. I think I can thank blizzard for making Enhancement Shaman want the exact same gear a hunter would want be the only reason for seeing actual good hunter gear drop again. Yeah, I'm not at all bitter about that. Usually I'm running with an Elemental Shaman so the gear, if better, will swing my way.
But until I hit Wrath content, leveling, I'm just not going to see the "best endgame gear stats". I know that and my needs shift as I go through content. Agility/Stam/Int will still be my primary focus, but if AP drops, and its damage gain outweighs the crit lost, I'll take it.
Leveling does not equal End Game. It never has, it never will. The more people that realize that, the better we'd all be. There's a whole game waiting before you get to 80. Let's actually play it.
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