Lethal Shots

Seriously people, enough is enough. Yes, Blizz announced the new expansion. Yes, there is loads of info available. Yes, the expansion is bringing huge amounts of change. Some of those changes so drastic that I have questioned the thought of keeping my main as a Hunter if they go through.

But give it a rest already.

Cataclysm won’t be released until next year. That means 12 months (give or take, my money is on a November 2010 release) and, at very least, one more content patch left in Wrath. Play the game as it is now. Yes Blizz announced a ton of changes, but Cataclysm isn’t even in beta yet, so who knows how many of those changes will make it through.

Remember, BlizzCon is more than just a “Look at Our Cool Shit” weekend for Blizzard. It is a test-bed for new ideas. They have everyone’s attention, making it a perfect time to throw out ideas and see what kind of reaction they get. We know how they work, if enough people whine something gets changed. So they announce huge game altering changes and see how much whining happens. Think of it as a mass informal consumer questionnaire.

Anyway, my point is enjoy the game as it is now. There are still raids to be cleared, gear to be got, and fun to be had. So have fun today and worry about tomorrow when it gets here.

The Hunter formerly knows as BigRedKitty, aka Daniel Howell, has been paid tribute by Blizzard. The lovable little dwarf has had a gun named after him, the BRK-1000. Thanks to Daniel for letting us know about it on his new blog (if you aren’t already following him there, I highly suggest you do). The weapon shows up in the WoW Armory, but notice that it shares the exact same stats as Fezzik’s Autocannon, and also is listed to drop from the same source. I would love to see some confirmation on whether or not the weapon is actually in the game or not. Either way it is great to see Blizzard recognize some one who did so much for the player community.

And the best part of it? It “Smells Faintly of raspberries.”

I’m not sure if it is a bug, an undocumented change, or just a fluke in general, but Lock and Load was proccing for me like crazy last night. And I don’t mean once or twice a fight, it was triggering on every other Black Arrow. Hell, some fights it was even more often than that. The Heigan encounter was when i really noticed it. At one point it was proccing on every Black Arrow I fired.

The 22 second internal cooldown put in in 3.2 is definitely there, but I am wondering if the 6% chance listed on the tooltip is wrong. I would have to do further testing to verify, so right now I’m just saying that it feels like more than 6%.

Well, for me at least. Over the weekend I went into Ulduar with Soulbound and downed four bosses, three of which I had never downed before.

We started off by clearing out Ignis and Razorscale, neither of which I had downed before. I had seen the encounters, just never been successful. Clearing these two out completed my Siege of Ulduar achievement, which thrills me to no end. After that we went up and tore through Kologarn. I had already downed him before, so nothing new there. After that we decided to work try for the Assembly of Iron. It took a few tries, but we downed them also, completing The Antechamber of Ulduar achievement, which thrills me even more.

Overall the run was a blast. I hate the Ignis fight. I spent both tries laying dead on the floor right from the start, one because I didn’t stop firing quick enough after my MD pull and drew aggro, and the other I was pulled into the pot right off the back and died. Razorscale was fun, though a tad bit hectic. Kologarn is easy. And the Assembly of Iron was a blast. I’d have to say that it is easily my favorite encounter in the game so far. Some of the abilities used by the bosses are awesome. There is just enough movement to make it interesting without being a pain in the ass. Really, it is a well put together encounter.

Anyway, after last weekend I am now 7/14 in Ulduar. I am hoping to clear it out eventually (ok, honestly I doubt I will ever be 14/14, but 13/14 is good enough for me), but with 3.2 and a new raid instance dropping today guild focus may move forward. We’ll still be running Ulduar for gearing, but I’m not sure how far we will get progression wise. But there’s always hope.

Yes, apparently 3.2 is going live today. And about damn time at that. Here’s what I’m thinking:

• Mount changes FTW! I have several low level alts that will benefit from this greatly, and I can’t wait to get my level 72 Death Knight a flying mount to speed up his grind through Northrend.
• I can finally prospect all that Titanium Ore I have been collecting over the last month or so. Now I just hope that I can get a decent return on investment.
• I broke down and started doing some of the Argent Tournament dailies. I don’t fly all over Northrend, I have just been doing the one’s in Icecrown. I don’t do them every day, but I figure spending some time there will help me out in the new raid.
• Business has been booming lately. I have slowly been expanding into new markets and profits have went up accordingly.
• To be honest, my alts are screwed. Between farming up the Jeeves schematic and farming 5-mans for Conquest badges (so I can get geared up for the new raid ASAP) I will be spending a lot of time on my Hunter. Well, I’ll probably spend a fair amount of time farming badges on my Shaman also since I really want to get him geared up also. But the rest are going to be parked for a while.

Well, that’s all from me for now. Time to get through the daily grind at work.