Pet Reflections, 12 December 08

As you can tell from my posts and tags, I've been through a lot of pets with Tivara. Along the way I've learned some things about my own preferences, and confirmed some things I already knew.

Size and Position. I get easily annoyed when I have to turn my viewpoint or otherwise maneuver to get around a pet, to loot or reach a mailbox or what have you. I've long known that wide-wingspan flying pets just didn't work happily for me. I find that very large creatures like devilsaurs just really don't cut it either. I want my pets lower than me, and not very huge in any dimension.

Damage Dealing. Tivara is Archon's best-geared and most experienced-at-80 hunter. So weird to say that. But anyway, since I'm there, I'm trying to make the most of it, paying much more attention than usual to nuances of Tivara's spec and gear, and also thinking more about just what her pets bring to an outing. As nearly as I can make out, the top dps honors go to devilsaurs and cats right now, and since devilsaurs end up annoying me, Invictus is there to help Tivara bring down as much pain as possible. When he's up to 80, Ørlög will probably get some vacation time with Invictus as my primary all-around utility pet.

(The upcoming changes to hunter abilities and spells, including the large reduction in Volley damage, will undoubtedly affect how I go about endgame farming for leather, meat, and such. Will Sagarmatha at 80 feel like a big farming gain over single-target pets like Invictus? I don't know, and there's no point in guessing. I'll find out when the patch actually arrives.)

Tempering the Exotic. I find, somewhat to my surprise, that overly exotic creatures seem not to work as well for me in the long run. The pets I'm happiest watching in action are the ones that are exotic versions of real creatures, pretty much. No cat actually looks like Invictus, no gorilla like Sagarmatha, but they could, kinda sorta. There's something about the bond to reality that makes the fantasy work better for me.

Oh, and one other note:

Make Mine Bows. Guns often look neat and have good bonuses in WoW, but the firing noise just plain bugs me in short order. So does the silence that comes if I turn off local noises. So I'm happy to once again have a really good bow for Tivara.

This may sound grumpy, but the end result isn't. I'm tooling around with weaponry and pets that perform well and that I find fun to watch, reliably. So it adds up to cool-for-me play.

What I'm Playing, 12 December 08

Just because I can, a little gallery of what my characters look like at the login screen at the moment.

First of all, here's Tivara with her currently active pets. Sagarmatha the gorilla is getting some vacation time while I level up Invictus for use as another option in instances and raids. With Ørlög (and showing off the Crimson Steel fist weapon again):

And with Invictus:

And I've got two death knights going. Mortwight belongs to Archon just like Tivara; Bruic plays with the Southern Wardens:

Sheer Unadulterated Loot Boasting

Tonight my guildmate Morrid and Tivara went with a group of folks in another guild I've gotten to know recently, taking on the black dragon Saltharion and his minions in the Obsidian Sanctum. We beat him. I have the Crimson Steel fist weapon to show for it, too:

Death Knight, Part 4

And here I am again, tidying up some loose ends of posting.

• Death Knight, Part 3
• Death Knight, Part 2
• Death Knight, Part 1

All right, to recapitulate: the novice death knight is now free of the Lich King's control and part of the new-found undead resistance effort calling itself the Ebon Blade. One last thing remains: to take a letter from Tirion Fordring, the paladin who forced Arthas to flee, introducing the bearer and the Ebon Blade to the leader of one's faction - Thrall for the Horde, Varian Wrynn for the Alliance. I'll get a picture of the Alliance-side version sometime. For now, here's what happens when a newly freed death knight enters Orgrimmar and makes his way to Thrall's throne room:

And now the death knight is at liberty. What comes next? Oh, I'll cover that in due season. :)

Huntard Corner: Misdirection While Soloing

If you've got a hunter of level 60 or above, presumably you know about Misdirection. It's that great spell that routes the threat your hunter's next three attacks generate onto the target of the spell. Tanks like it because it helps them build the aggro that much faster; you like it because it lets you open with some nice damage-dealing instead of worrying about ramping up your damage (and therefore threat) gradually.

But don't forget its value when soloing! There are times when it's very easy to pull aggro from your pet—say, when you're leveling up a new pet. Misdirection is a very valuable addition to your arsenal of aggro-shiting techniques, along with Intimidation, Aspect of the Beast, and so on.

Sorry for Quiet, More Posting Soon

I had a wonderful, wonderful Thanksgiving visit with Mom this year. I've also been making some changes in my workflow that are giving me extra productive time and, er, well, I've been busy with stuff. And also playing WoW, of course. But I've scheduled some time to catch up on the blog on the weekend and next week—I know folks like reading it, and I like writing it and find the work involved in doing it very satisfying.

In the meantime, here's the orreries used by the iron giant Lokem in the Halls of Lightning:

Ding!

Level 80 spoken here. :)