Loremaster: Why you should waste your time

Loremaster. It seems like a lot of work, and it is. Why would anyone want to do this achievement? For a silly title and tabard? For the achievement points? For "e-peen"? What a waste of time.

This seems to be the attitude of many people I have encountered since I made the decision to spend a large portion of the remaining time before Cataclysm working toward completing this achievement. My boyfriend has been the most vocal and persistent in his opinion of how I have chosen to spend this time. To him questing is silly and time consuming. This is his attitude when he's "benefiting" from the quests by receiving XP and the concept of questing for fun is completely foreign to him. He feels the remaining time would be much better spent gathering gear, leveling alts and generally "preparing" for Cataclysm. For him the LFG tool and Battlegrounds XP has been a godsend because he no longer has to do those "silly quests" to level and obtain gear upgrades.

But then, he also doesn't care for the story. The lore behind the raid. The reason the characters do what they do.

I feel that I am preparing for Cataclysm, in my own way. I feel that I will better appreciate the changes to the zones if I've visited them recently, and if you are like me you haven't seen some of the zones in years. And some of the quests I skipped way back in Classic are truly nothing short of epic. While I completely agree with Blizzards decision to revamp a lot of the old zones and quest chains (and as much as some quests are epic, other lines are truly awful. If I have to locate one more conspicuously absent animal bodypart...) a lot of the old content is still worth doing. An example would be our friend Tirion Fordring.

Anyone who has been to Icecrown Citadel knows Tirion for his speech at the beginning of the raiding instance. "This is our final stand. What happens here will echo through the ages..."This really is his final stand (latest is actually more accurate); he has made others through out Azeroth and the Outlands.

It starts in the corner of Western Plaguelands. I suppose the location may qualify as being in Eastern Plaguelands... Tirion is located in a small corner of the world between Eastern and Western Plaguelands with his Hammer and his Horse. He starts out by asking you to help him clear his homestead and the surrounding area of various plague-beasts as well as provide him with a free lunch.

After you have completed the first three quests Tirion offers, he rewards you by letting you "put your feet up" and listen to his story. And it is a sad one. He tells you of his exile and his decision to live out in the back end of no where (and it really is) to watch over his young son, Taelan, while Tirion himself lives his new life as an exile. Unfortunately he has no way of influencing events and his son turns to the Scarlet Crusade in the absence of his father. Tirion then sends you on a chain of quests to make his son remember his roots and hopefully abandon the Scarlet Crusade and turn back to the Light. I won't ruin it for you, but trust me, this quest chain is a must.

Tirion also makes a brief appearance in the Outland... sort of. He actually is found in Old Hillsbrad, the first Caverns of Time instance. He stands with several others in Southshore in discussing Ashbringer. While this isn't really part of Loremaster, it's still a fun visit for any lore-hounds out there.

In Wrath of the Lich King Tirion returns with a bang... or maybe a flash. Deathknights encounter him "first" (in a lore progression sense) with his support of our new cohorts against Arthas. He even manages to cleans the Corrupted Ashbringer, and item with an epic story arc of its own. He's also the "Supreme Commander of the Argent Crusade" a faction that is new to Wrath; a combination of the Silver Hand and the Argent Dawn.

Finally, and massive spoiler alert here for anyone who would like to see the results of the final battle with the Lich King, Tirion was nearly the Lich King. And when I say nearly I'm talking holding the Lich King's helmet in his hand speaking of him being the only one... though we of course know that Bolivar Foredragon wears the dread crown in the end. Who knew the fellow I helped by clearing out those pesky bats would be so important.

Wait, Bolivar Foredragon? Who is THAT?

And that question, and others like it, is why I am loving Loremaster. (ha, didn't think I'd get back to it did you?) Could I have done Icecrown Citidel without knowing who these characters are , what they've experienced and what they stood for? Sure, and many, many players do. And there's nothing at all wrong with that. But this moment, this interaction between some of the most influential characters in the game is just so much more... meaningful when you know how they got there. And more to the point when you, YOU, helped them get to where they are.

And if you don't know who Bolivar Foredragon is, look him up. Sadly the quest chain that made me love this character was once the attunment for the old Onyxia Raid if you played as Alliance back before they revamped her. You still can help him out in the Wrathgate quest chain however, and if you haven't done this chain yet, do it, you won't regret it.

If you're not interested in the Loremaster achievement but are still interested in participating in some of the more important happenings in the World of Warcraft here are some of my favorite moments:

Tirion - Tirion's quest chain starts with the three quests [56] Blood Tinged Skies, [56] Carrion Grubbage and, [56] Demon Dogs

Saving Sharpbeak - A longish quest chain with a heart wrenching ending! (Less of a lore hotspot and more of mass amounts of cuteadorablness.)

Netherwing Rep - I know this is a rep grind, but I feel this is a must-complete for any lore-hounds out there. When you're finished you not only get access to some cool mounts, but you also get to single handedly ruin some very long term plans...

Wrathgate - Do this. No, don't argue. Just do it.

The State of Hunter AoE in Cataclysm

I, sadly, I do not have a beta invitation for Cataclysm, but there's so much information out there about the beta that I feel almost as if I've been there myself. I am reserving my final opinion of the hunter class until after release (and after so many years as a hunter I doubt they could "ruin" the class for me). I'm the type of person to roll with the punches and Blizzard has yet to make a change to the hunter class that has truly upset me. Removing Volley, however, is an... interesting decision.

I'm not sure why I feel so attached to Volley. I'm not usually the type of hunter that gets all sentimental-like over skills and specs. I've always followed the "best" rotation and spec at the time. Judging from the forumsplosion I'm not the only one that appears to have been sentimentally attached to this skill.

It's really been a bit of a neglected skill. They even tried to spiff it up a little with a new effect... that was not well received by the hunter community. They've made endless changes to the damage and behavior of the skill, but it seems Blizzard is still not satisfied, and as Ghostcrawler notes "We’ve been trying to consolidate abilities and free up some bar space and having multiple AEs that competed with each other seems like a good area to hit up." Meaning we already have Multi-shot and they feel they can fix this up to behave more like an AoE, filling the role.

For me, the competition bit is very true. I do use Multi-shot on occasion, but it's not in my rotation (I use Aimed shot instead) and it's not my go-to shot for AoE. It's more of an "I use it on occasion because it's there and I feel that I should" and this is not a good reason to use a skill.

The idea of having fewer skills on my bars is very appealing. Having only really played a Hunter, Shaman and Druid at 80 I don't exactly have the complete experience, but I do feel that my hunter has far more skills that I want on my bars "just in case" than the other classes I've played, especially since Shaman now have that handy totem bar. Hunters do and should have a lot of utility skills, but I agree with Ghostcrawler, some can be consolidated.

I think the only real thing Volley has going for it over Multi-shot is that it is really the only shot we use on a regular basis that has a different mode of execution. Multi-shot is just another press-it-and-go kind of shot, where as Volley is of the select and area variety. This may be part of why some hunters feel so attached to the shot.

AoE is King

In Wrath, 5-man trash pulls became AoE-fests and hunters found Volley to suddenly be a useful spell on a regular basis. Instances in the Burning Crusade were not usually like this. There were AoE pulls, but for the most part Crowd Control was what a group needed. Volley was something used sparingly and didn't do great damage. This changed in Wrath. Now, Volley is comparable to most other forms of AoE and we can really hold our own. This may be another reason some hunters are attached to this skill, up until now it has been a source of quite a bit of our non-boss damage.

This appears to be changing with Cataclysm. Blizzard appears to prefer the more controlled CC pulls, rather than the current omgkilleverythingdie approach currently in use. Again, I haven't played Cataclysm in any way, but I speculate that this will actually mean fewer, if longer, trash pulls.

The Replacement

Don't worry, Blizzard is not planning on leaving us high and dry. They have already changed Multi-Shot on the beta server to no longer have a target cap, meaning it behaves more like Fan of Knives. I'm intereesting in seeing where this is going, as I understand Fan of Knives to cause damage in an area around the caster, which doesn't make a lot of sense when the source of the AoE is a bow or gun. I'd guess it's going to be more of a cone instead.

Some hunters feel this is not an adequate replacement because it cannot be used on mobs or players in melee range, as Volley could be used. This may actually have been intentional, as it is also rumored Ghostcrawler did not care for Volley because it pulled Rogues and other stealthy individuals back into visibility. This does appear to be a rumor, however. I am not able to find any confirmation that Ghostcrawler did in fact say this.

And remember, there's always Explosive Trap. And now, you can shoot it.

More useful hunter articles

I am of the opinion that the best thing a hunter can do to improve themselves is read. Hunters are complex and there's a ton of math behind our damage. Additionally, a lot of our skills have changed, and as a long time hunter I find myself forgetting how skill's I've had forever work.

Arcane shot and Distracting Shot are two great examples of this. When I started huntering Arcane Shot was more or less what it is now, but as I'm sure any of you Burning Crusade Vets remember, for a time it had a dispel slapped on it. It was never a very popular change, and I myself often forgot it had been added. They've since moved this effect to Tranquilizing Shot, admittedly a more appropriate place for it, but now I find myself thinking it's still attached to Arcane Shot.

Distracting Shot is another shot that has had it's mechanic changed. Once upon a time it "generated a large amount of threat". Now it acts more like a taunt. This has had the side effect of many old school hunters, like me, to use this shot in conjunction with Misdirect, which used to work. Since Distracting Shot is now a taunt and generates no threat the hunter pulls the mob they were indenting to Misdirect. Yes, I have done this. /bonk

So what's my point? Hunters need to read up on the current updates to the hunter class, as well as know the old stuff that's been around forever. To help you out here are some articles that hunters new and old alike may find useful.

Mend Pet's Ten Do's and Don't's of Misdirection.

This article is geared more toward the newbie hunter, but even us old hats can find something new here. I personally will be trying the mouse-over macro, as the macro I currently use requires me to select the focus target to set it.

Ghostcrawler's most recent comments on the hunter class

If you are not aware, Ghostcrawler is kind of like Blizzard's mouth piece on the forums. He discusses mechanics, changes and community concerns. Love him or hate him, he's the guy in the know, and you should read what he has to say.

Duel Specs in Ulduar

Drotara of QQ pwn more has some thoughts on utilizing Duel Specs in Ulduar. It's worth the read even if you don't use duel specs for raiding.

Some Advice on How to spot an Upgrade

Wow.com's Eddie Carrington has posted his second edition of Scattered Shots. This article focuses on Item Level and how to best judge an item. What's Item Level you ask? A surprising number of players don't know, so if you're not sure what this is, this article is a must read!

So keep up on your reading! If you're not sure where to start, check out wow.com, they often have the most up to date information on any class and they always try to provide it in a timely fashion.

WoW.com gets a new writer

I know I've already mentioned it briefly, but Eddie Carrington aka Brigwyn from The Hunting Lodge has posted his first article on WoW.com. It's an article much like my "Getting Linky with it" article, but much, much better. Check it out and visit WoW.com every Tuesday for the newest Scattered Shots!

Gems For All Hunters

If you haven't already noticed, I don't really PvP. I'd like to get into more of the PvP scene, but for now most of these articles are going to be about raiding as a hunter. Please keep this in mind when reading this article. I'll try to dig something up on PvP gems at a later time.

So gems. Sounds pretty straight forward, right? 16 Agility gems are obviously best. Or is it 32 attack power? What about those pesky blue gems sockets, what do I put in there? And do I need hit gems? And what about..

Hunter's have quite a bit to think about when it come to gemming their gear. Luckily our friends over at Elitist Jerks have once again amassed a large amount of information about gemming for the different specs in their handy WotLK Gem Index. Again, there's a lot to read here, much like the rest of what Elitist Jerks puts together, so I'll give you a quick run down here. For more specific information about which gems are best in a given socket, check out the Index.

Meta Gems:

There are a lot of meta gems out there, but there is really only one viable choice for any hunter, regardless of spec and that's [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond]. Get it. Love it.

Red Gems:

There's a lot of debate raging about what hunter's should use for their red gems. One side advises always using 16 agility gems, as agility gives AP as well as Crit, while the other side endorses 32 ap gems. So who's right.

Both. Or neither, depending on who the hunter is. Here's what EJ recommends:

Survival Hunters should go for the [Delicate Scarlet Ruby] (16 agility) gems. This is mainly because of the Survival Talent: Expose Weakness. This talent gives a 33/66/100% chance to increase your attack power by 25%. Pretty nice, right? Survival hunters also have several other talents that increase their agility by various percentages, so over all agility is always going to be the better choice for a survival hunter.

Beastmaster hunters should go for the [Bright Scarlet Ruby] (32 attack power) gems. There is an explanation on comment 11 of the Gem Index thread that elaborates more on the math of why this is, but for the sake of simplicity, here's what you need to know. Because of the way agility scales you get less critical strike from agility at 80 than you did at 70, where as Attack Power didn't scale in this way. 14 AP still equals 1 dps. Additionally, AP is the only stat we have that directly scales up pet damage, which of course is very important for a BM hunter.

Marksmanship hunters can go either way, though you'll see most hunters will advise you to gem up with agility gems anyway, simply because it makes switching back and forth between MM and Surv, which is quite common now with duel specs, more simple. Marksmanship hunters should use the WotLK DPS spreadsheet to help them decide which gems would be best with their current gear.

What if my gem socket isn't red?

Obviously not all of you gems sockets are going to be red, but I still recommend that for most cases you use whichever red gem suits your spec best regardless of the gem socket's color. There are several exceptions to this:

You're not hit capped:

Being hit capped is very important to hunters of any spec. Without talents or outside buffs(turn to your Draenei friend and give him a big hug) you need 8% or 263 hit. Obviously if you have Focused Aim or a Draenei in your group you'll need less than this, but that's a topic for another time.

If you have a yellow gem socket in your gear [Rigid Autumn's Glow] is going to be your best bet, especially if you need a lot of hit. Otherwise, put a red gem in it and ignore the socket bonus. Generally speaking the bonus isn't worth it anyway.

You need it to meet a meta gem meta requirement:

Obviously you're going to want to get a meta gem. As I recommended above, you should probably get [Relentless Earthsiege Diamond] which requires that you sport a Red, Yellow and Blue gem. The good news is you don't actually have to have one of each. A green gem, for example, will fulfill both the blue and yellow requirement. Depending on your spec there's a lot of green gems you could potentially pick to fulfill this requirement. Assuming you are hit capped, don't have mana issues and have a good amount of haste get a [Jagged Forest Emerald] regardless of your spec. If you are short of any of those three things pick a green gem that has whichever combination of the stats you are looking for. Check the Index to see the best options.

But what about Blue Gems?

Don't use use blue gems in PvE situations. If you need to fulfill a requirement that needs a blue gem, use a green. Otherwise, put a red gem in the socket.

Any discussion about gems could easily go on for days, but these basics should get you through most PvE gemming situations. For more details take a look at the Gem Index for yourself, and when in doubt, check the DPS spreadsheet!

Mountain Dew Game Fuel

I know this isn't hunter related, but hey, at least it's WoW related. Check out the Mountain Dew Game Fuel page for lots of WoW related things, win some stuff and at some point in the future get a pet!

Raiding as Survival: Priority

As you may already be aware, Survival is currently the spec of choice for raiding. This will probably change some time down the line(it has before after all), but for now, Survival is king. It is completely possible for a Marksmanship or Beast Mastery Hunter to top the charts when played well, but Survival is definitely best over all. Most likely this is because of the nature of the spec(s) versus the nature of the fights. I'll give you an example, albeit one purposefully picked to prove my point.

We'll look at Heigan the Unclean. Heigan, if you've never done that particular fight, is murder on your pet. You can keep you pet up through the blasts of green fire he'll enviably take, but you'll end up wasting a lot of your own mana and time keeping the pet up. I personally don't bother and just leave my wolf at my side. For a BM hunter this is nearly 50% of their DPS just hanging around!

And if you think this is a stand alone case, think again! Many fights are pet un-friendly and will cause you a lot of problems if you are relying on your pet for much of your damage. From Anub'Rekhan with his debuff to Ignis with his Fire, pets can be tough to keep alive and sometimes are just better off standing in the back with the hunter. This is especially true if you are using the new hunter's-best-friend, the wolf.

Marksmanship is more of a PvP spec, what with Silencing Shot and Chimera Shot. While I haven't played Marks in a while, from my observasions it seems to be burst-type spec, meaning that it can crit, and crit for huge numbers, but you can't garentee that it will happen and that makes it a shaky DPS spec, though that style is perfect for PvP. As I said before, both Bm and Marks specs can work as a DPS spec, but for the most parts these specs seem to be intended for other things.

Starting Survival

The first thing you need to know about playing survival is that it's based off a priority system. This means your shots are given a number, and you'll shoot in that order. Here's the commonly agreed upon priority:

1. Kill Shot
2. Explosive Shot
3. Black Arrow
4. Aimed/Multi-Shot
5. Serpent Sting
6. Steady Shot

Obviously you can't start with Kill Shot. Kill Shot is number 1 because if it's up, fire it. It doesn't matter if your serpent sting has fallen off, or if your Lock and Load just proceed. Kill Shot is by far you biggest hitter and you need to shoot it ASAP.

Explosive shot is next. If explosive shot is ready and the mob is not below the 20% health mark, fire away. This is followed by Black Arrow, which can trigger Lock and Load (more on this later), then aimed or muli-shot, depending on your spec. Serpent Sting will follow aimed or multi. Your goal is to always keep Serpent Sting on the target, but don't sacrifice your priority to do so.

Steadyshot is last. This should be used as a filler shot and should never be used if it will "clip" another shot. This means that if cast time on Steady Shot is longer than the cooldown left on your higher priority shots, don't use it. You are better off simply auto-shotting until your cooldown comes up.

I hear you, there in the back. "But Gossamer, you're missing Arcane Shot". No, I'm not. Arcane spells are for Mages. Oh, and its also on the same cooldown as your Explosive Shot, which is much more bang for your buck.*

So, that's your priority. Until Lock and Load procs, which it should because you just put Black Arrow up. So what do you do now?! Now, you change your priority.

Kill Shot is still top. If it's up, shoot it. Next is, of course, Explosive Shot. But don't spam it! What you want is a nice spacing so you don't override the secondary damage on the shot, which takes .5 seconds to go off. There are several add-ons you can use to help track this, I've found that I can see it easily enough by the debuff. Here's the priority I use whe L & L has procced

1. Kill Shot (if it's up)
2. Lock and Load
3. Aimed or Muli shot (the Global Cooldown will help you keep from overriding L & L here)
4. Lock and Load
5. Serpent Sting if needed, Auto Shot if not
6. Resume priority (This should mean another L & L, though you could possibly have Kill Shot up, if you didn't fire it at 1.)

That's really all you need to know about what to fire when. Obviously there are going to be times when you need to use something I haven't listed here, but those occations should be rare. Just use your best judgment and you'll be fine.

*Okay, bad pun.