Blizzard cancelled Christmas.
Ah well, if we can pull our collective fingers out, I might still have a chance at my full T2 set before the expansion hits. :)
Dear old Chaotic Divinity is a strange place atm. One of our main leaders has gone on extended hiatus, and the other has stepped back due to work and family commitments. Also, in the last few weeks, several of our best and brightest have left for various reasons. Into this vaccum, Ridley, the GM of Surprised Survivors has stepped up to try and keep things ticking over.
For my part, I'm now joint-in-charge of recruitment, attempting to filter out any potentially disruptive influences. So now, I get on average 2-3 separate whisper conversations every time I log in from potential applicants, as well as questions in the main CD chat channels, all whilst I'm trying to raid and grind. That said, I approach things in my typically surly fashion. I do everything in my power to talk potential recruits out of joining and if they still want in, I'll invite them to trial.
The raiding scene's weird atm and CD's raid attendance has been low now for weeks. Since the Burning Crusade Closed Beta started, a lot of folks have come to realise that our gear won't be worth much compared to the items we'll get in the first few levels after 60. Even the most powerful gear currently in the game will probably be superceded by more easy-to-obtain items by lvl 66-67. On one side, this is great, since it means we'll all be on a level playing field again come lvl 70, but on the other, it's taken some of the luster out of any shineys we accumulate now. Added to this, many of our more hardcore players have decided that they'd rather turn their back on the friendship they've developed with us and go take a last look at AQ40/Naxx with a different raid group. Doesn't make sense to me, but hey, they pays their cash for the game same as I do.
As it stands, there's a devoted core to CD, one that will benefit from the smaller raid instances in TBC. By the same token however, I can't shake the feeling that we're just treading water until then. Even if we could be bothered to progress, we don't currently have the raw power to do so.
Ok, and finally, after all that, we come to my overall thoughts on The Burning Crusade changes. I love them.
They've really worked hard to give each of the talent trees their own twist. Beastmasters work closely with their pets, needing a good range of stats and solid micro-management skills to get the most out of thier severely boosted pet. Marksmen can focus soley on getting the most Attack Power and Intellect Possible, relying on a big slow ranged weapon to get big, high-damage shots. Survivalists on the other hand, need to focus in Agility, Stamina and Crit Chance, since their bag of tricks often brings them close to the enemy, a faster ranged weapon will help them activate their special abilities more often, and make them an asset in both PVP and in raids.
As for Wulf, well there's two ways I can take him, depending on the as-yet unreleased information about pets. If pets look like they'll become viable in the endgame, then I'll spec him like this and make him a Beastmaster like he was in his pre-raiding days. If it turns out that pets still don't scale correctly, then I'll adapt his current Marksman build into something like this.
Whichever way I go, the new spells and changes have convinced me that Hunters will have a role in the endgame. Not only will we have damage that will scale properly and make gear upgrades meaningful, but we have our role as pullers cemented by the Misdirection spell. Misdirection will let us open fire early on a target and then pass the aggro our first three shots do straight onto the tank without the need for a clumsy Taunt/Feign Death handoff. It also means we can direct the attention of trash mobs onto the mouthy Mage who's been bugging us, if we were so inclined! ;)
Now all I need is a final word from Blizzard on our pets in TBC and I'll be sound as a pound.
My least favourite tree, I have to say. I've tried playing with a Survival spec a few times, but I've never found it suited my playing style.
Monster Slaying and Humanoid Slaying: Good damage versus certain types of monsters. Not deal makers or breakers, but fun in and of themselves.
Deflection: Up to 5% added to your chance to parry melee attacks. Great if you're PVPing, or if you end up having to be closer to a mob for longer than you expected, but nothing I've ever wanted for Wulf.
Entrapment: This has been a big part of Wulf's current arsenal, but looking at specs post-expansion, it's not one I think he'll be taking. Still it's had it's cost reduced from five talent points to three.
Savage Strikes: Something else Wulf has used extensively in the past, but not something I see him picking up in the expansion.
Improved Wingclip: A useful talent in PVP, it'b be great for raids if most mobs weren't immune. Still, like Entrapment, it's getting a lot cheaperand alot more effective in TBC.
Hawkeye: This used to be in the third tier of the Marksmanship tree, requiring thirteen points to max out, which most Hunters didn't notice in amongst buying Lethal Shots, Aimed Shot and Mortal Shots. Now it's a second tier Survival Talent, requiring me to spend eight talent points on the uninspiring low-end of the Survival Tree to max it out. It's a shame because the extra six yards is almost vital for raiding.
Clever Traps: Great talent for boosting the effectiveness of your traps. Very useful in PVP, but the question of traps usefulness in PVE is still on the board.
Survivalist: You can't argue with +10% health if you're going this far down the Survival Tree, it's amazing.
Deterrance: The Panic Button. This boosts your dodge and parry chance incredibly for a limited amount of time. It can keep you alive when you get unexpectedly attacked at short range.
Trap Mastery: Reduced trap resist chance. Never seen a trap resisted, so I don't know what use this is.
Sure Footed: Gives +3% to hit and +15% chance to resist movement-imparing effects. Useful talent in PVP, or in PVE until the Hunter gets around +9% hit chance from his gear.
Improved Feign Death: Something I've wished Wulf had the spare points for time and time again. Feign Death is a massive part of the Hunter classes viability atm, and having it resisted is the worst thing that can happen.
Survival Instincts: Interesting new talent, reducing any incoming damage by 4%. It'll help keep a Hunter alive longer, I imagine.
Killer Instincts: No reason not to take +3% crit chance if you're this far down the survival tree. It'll boost the chance to get your other abilities later on.
Counterattack: Lets you immobilise a target after a successful Parry. Great escape move in PVP, not sure of the useability in PVE.
Resourcefulness: Nice mana efficency talent, and the reduced cooldown on traps is also good.
Lightning Reflexes: This used to be the reason to spec survival. Since they're reducing the overall effectiveness of Agility for our DPS, I'm not sure how much use an extra 15% will be. Still it's a must for PVPers thanks to the extra dodge and crit chance it gives.
Thrill of the Hunt: Your crits return 40% of the mana cost of the shot used. This will allow the Survival Hunter to survive happily on a smaller mana pool than his Beastmaster and Marksman peers.
Wyvern Sting: This talent's getting a big buff in the expansion, since it can now be used in combat. Taking an enemy out of the fight for 12 Seconds can be a life saver in a bad pull.
Expose Weakness: A 30% chance for your crits to buff all attackers against that target with attack power equal to 25% of the Hunter's Agility. Given Survival Hunters often have over 600 Agility, this will be a nice group buff, balanced by it's unpredictability.
Master Tactician: A 6% chance per hit to gain +10% crit chance for 10 secs. Not that amazing given it's place in the tree, but it should see good results with a fast ranged weapon.
Readiness: Instantly resets the cooldown of all Hunter abilities. This is pretty sick for those who are willing to go that deep in Survival. All in all though, I'm of the mind that Survival is the weakest of the trees. Possibly because it seems to be designed with PVP in mind.
Improved Concussive Shot: Whilst it's undoubtedly a useful talent if you PVP, it's not one I've seen a lot of use for with Wulf, and it's not one I'll be picking up post-expansion,
Lethal Shots: This has been moved down to a first-tier talent, and it's the bread and butter of every Hunter: +5% crit chance with ranged weapons. Indespensable.
Improved Hunter's Mark: Still as dissapointing in TBC as it is now. Still, it'll probably be the place I put Wulf's spare talent points in if I go down the Marksmanship route.
Efficency: Now a second-tier talent since swapping places with Lethal Shots. Still utterly indespensible for any Hunter who regularly engages in long, drawn-out fights.
Go For The Throat: Gives your pet 50% of it's Focus back when you score a critical hit. I fully intend to take advantage of this if Wulf ends up a Beastmastery Spec.
Improved Arcane Shot: With the changes in Arcane Shot, this talent becomes a better investment. Still not one I'm going to bother with though.
Aimed Shot: Currently an indispensable part of any Hunter's arsenal. It's going to be repurposed into more of an opening shot in the Expansion, but I'll probably get it, mainly because it opens up Mortal Shots.
Rapid Killing: Worth it just for reducing the cooldown of Rapid Fire from 5 minutes to 3. There's also a nice damage bonus that'll help in solo grinding.
Improved Stings: Finally a Sting talent worth getting! That said, I haven't yet found the points in any test build to include it, so it possibly isn't *that* worthwhile...
Mortal Shots: This gives +30% damage to all our critical strikes. It used to be indispensable, but some of the builds I'm playing with post-expansion for Wulf don't use it.
Concussive Barrage: Hmmm... 6% chance of your autoshots dazing the target for 4 seconds. This is potentially interesting when combined with the new Steady Shot spell. Of course it's usefulness to Wulf depends how many mobs can be dazed in raid instances.
Scatter Shot: Useful now, unchanged in the expansion. Our last line of defense if someone get's too close for comfort.
Barrage: A major part of Wulf's current arsenal. I see no reason not to include it if he goes for a Marksmanship Spec.
Combat Expertise: This is nice, giving a +4% bonus to Agility, Intellect and Stamina (a Hunter's main stats).
Ranged Weapon Specialisation: Like Barrage, this is an indispensable talent that will retain it's utility in TBC.
Careful Aim: This is sweet! A Hunter gets to add 45% of his Intellect to his Ranged Attack Power. That's easily another 100+ Attack Power.
Trueshot Aura: Unchanged, and one of the nicest group buffs out there. That said, I'm glad both the Beastmastery and Survival trees got group buffs as well, since that gives the Hunter who chooses to specialise elsewhere the ability to buff their group.
Improved Barrage: This is amazing, simply amazing. If you have Barrage, there's no reason not to get this as well.
Master Marksman: An extra 10% Ranged Attack Power on top of everything else makes Marksmanship Hunters undisputed kings of ranged DPS.
Silencing Shot: Interesting final talent. Useful in PVP, not sure of it's PVE use yet.
Well there was a lot changed in the new Hunter Talents, so I'm going to cover it in multiple posts. First up, I'll look at the changes to the Beastmastery Tree, which deals with a Hunters realtionship with his pet.
Improved Aspect of the Hawk: In it's current form, it's one of the staples of Wulf's Damage-dealing ability. It's not been nerfed so much as altered. Rather than the old version that gave your shots a 5% chance to trigger a 30% speed increase, the new version gives a 10% chance to trigger a 15% speed increase. It's still a nice talent, but I imagine that unless I take a Marksman-oriented build, I'll be spending a lot of time with the new Aspect of the Viper on, which means my use of this talent will be limited.
Endurance Training: Interesting change in this talent. As well as giving your pet an additional 10% health, it now gives the Hunter himself an additional 5% health. Whilst this doesn't directly affect Wulf's damage output, the additional 250 or so health will keep him in the game a bit longer when things get nasty.
Focussed Fire: An extra 2% damage when the Hunter's pet is active is a great bonus, not to mention the +20% crit chance on the new Kill Command ability. This is a must really for a minimal investment in BM.
Improved Aspect of the Monkey: No real change there, and not a talent Wulf has ever invested in.
Thick Hide: Like Endurance Training, this now shares a buff with the Hunter. Pets get +20% armour, Hunters get +10%. Nice!
Improved Revive Pet: This is a nice grinding talent, since it saves you time and mana when your pet dies. It's something I'd invest spare talent points in, but I wouldn't make it a feature of the build.
Pathfinding: Bonuses to skills I rarely use in any situation where it's vital for me to have another 8% speed. I'll pass.
Bestial Swiftness: Every time I watch Wulf's pet walk to the next mob whilst grinding, I wish I had this talent. That said, it's use is situational, and like Improved Revive Pet, I wouldn't make it a main feature of the build.
Unleashed Fury: Unchanged since 1.9/1.10, but then again, +20% pet damage is not to be sniffed at.
Improved Mend Pet: Useful for solo play, and it saves healer mana in instances. Wulf'll probably take it if I take him this far down Beastmastery.
Ferocity: Like Unleashed Fury, an unchanged staple of the BM tree. It gives a flat +10% crit chance and opens the door to Frenzy.
Spirit Bond: I've sneered at this talent in the past, but considering Wulf can reach around 6K health when buffed, this offers 120 health to him and his pet every 10 secs. It's a nice top-up and something that once again reduces downtime whilst grinding in the wilderness.
Intimidation: A good move to use when your pet loses aggro on a mob, or when another player tries to attack you. Also opens the doorway to the higher-end BM talents, and as a result is essential.
Bestial Discipline: I used to swear by this talent back when Wulf was BM-specced before. Since I was using a Cat with both Claw and Bite, the talent let me keep up a stupid stream of damage by ensuring it always had enough Focus to use all it's abilities. However, Go For The Throat in the Marksmanship Tree renders this kinda useless for me.
Frenzy: Your pet's critical Strikes will cause it to increase it's attack speed by 30%. This is beyond nasty. When Wulf was a Beastmaster before, he could keep this buff on his cat almost constantly.
Animal Handler: Interesting talent, if only for the +hit it offers the pet, which will help it keep up a steady stream of damage on Raid-level targets.
Ferocious Inspiration: This excited me when I heard about it. It causes your pet's critical strikes to boost party damage by 6% for 10 secs. At last, the BM Hunter gets the ability to support the raid and a reason to send the pet into combat.
Bestial Wrath: The reason all other PVPing classes think BM hunters are cheap. For 18 seconds, your pet cannot be feared, trapped, stunned or otherwise stopped, and deals 50% extra damage.
Catlike Reflexes: Another "two-in-one" talent: +9% Dodge for the Pet, +3% Dodge for the Hunter. If I had spare points, I'd definatley invest in this to help my pet's survivability.
Serpent's Swiftness: This is beyond awesome. Both Pet and Hunter gain +20% attack speed; actually giving the BM Hunter some decent Damage-dealing ability, and boosting his pet to levels of sickness previously unimagined. (+50% speed in Frenzy, thank you very much).
The Beast Within: The final talent and it's a doozy. When the pet enters Bestial Wrath, the Hunter does as well. He is similarly immune to any form of Crowd Control, but "only" does an additional 30% damage.
Well the new Hunter talents and spells for the forthcoming expansion are finally with us, along with some additional information on changes. Suffice to say I'm pleased with them and I shall be continuing to play Wulf post-expansion. :)
I'll do a more detailed brainfart and speak of other news later on.
Well it's been a trying week for CD. Our two leaders have had work and health issues which have seen them cut back on their ability to lead as effectively, and two of our best Main Tanks have left CD for other raid groups over in a cloud of burn-out, deception and ego-driven self-flagellation. This has basically halted any and all progress in AQ40 and made Blackwing Lair much harder work than we're used to.
On the plus side, another old MT returned from a break, and has quickly been brought up to speed on tactics. We were able to get Chromaggus down this week, even if we didn't get anything else done.
In other news, my beloved guild, Surprised Survivors, has undergone a rejuvenation in the last fortnight or so. Some old members returned from other guilds/semi-retirement and the guild chat is once again a place of joy, laughter and crude innuendo.
Finally, it seems that the wait will soon be over, and by this time next week, the Hunter talents from the Burning Crusade expansion will be released. Expect my commentary, thoughts and decision wether or not to abandon Wulf to follow in due course. :)
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