All posts by Pike

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Nerf me harder, Blizz. I dare ya.

24 Comments

arch25dps_postnerf

And yeah, I was edged out by an elemental shaman.  But seeing as he was in almost all epics, and I’m in mostly blues and a Shade of Aran cloak, I’m not too upset about my performance. =P

Oh and lemme post the first pull, ’cause it makes me giggle:

firstpull

Now, the point of this post is not to claim astronomical DPS like the screenshots I’ve seen of epic’d out min/maxers doing 6000+ on Patchwerk. I’ve never gotten near that, and I don’t think I ever will. So, I can’t vouch for DPS changes in the Elitist Jerks croud, who are probably going to be more affected by scaling. But, I’d like to think I can vouch for the I-PuG-Raids-When-My-Schedule-Allows Crowd, and I don’t think we have anything to worry about, at least not for the time being. More testing may need to be done, true, but I feel pretty reassured for now.

Beast Mastery is not dead, my friends. Carry on!

photos

The Coolest Thing That Has Ever Happened to Tawyn. Ever.

23 Comments

tawyn13

tawyn11

tawyn14

Thanks to Figureprints, Tawyn and the gear she exited Burning Crusade with1 have been memorialized for all time in the form of an actual figurine that is now standing very heroically atop my computer desk.

And it came to pass that upon opening the box containing aforementioned figurine, Pike did emit a fangirly squee that was heard throughout the surrounding land.

That is all.

—

1Okay, she’s holding Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle instead of the superior Choco-Bow, but seriously, it’s just that much sexier. And also her RP weapon. So. *nods* (back)

patches

So, We Meet Again, Patch

18 Comments

I don’t know if I’ll be able to play around with the new patch today at all, as I’ll likely be running off to work right when the realms come back up. However, I can tell you what I’m planning to do:

Respec: Those three points from Focused Aim are going into Improved Arcane Shot. I’ve been purposefully overcapping myself these past few weeks specifically for this impending respec and while I’ll still be a bit short, I should be close. Plus, now I’ll know my pet is benefiting from all my hit, too.

Re-Glyph: Goodbye, Glyph of Aspect of the Viper, hello Glyph of Arcane Shot.

Practice The New Shot Rotation on the Training Dummies: Beast Masters: Back before WotLK, we didn’t use Arcane Shot because it would interfere with our shot weaving, and cost a lot of mana. Until today, we still didn’t use it because while it no longer interfered with shot weaving, it still cost a lot of mana.

But as of today, it has the same mana cost as Steady Shot. And the reworked Ferocious Inspiration talent increases its damage. So does Improved Arcane Shot if you spec into it.

As of today, my fellow Beast Master Hunters, we have a shot rotation.

/giggles like a schoolgirl

You are going to want to apply Serpent Sting and keep it up while you cast Steady-Steady-Arcane and repeat that– or even better and if your latency is low, three Steadies and then Arcane.*

On top of that your pet is still going to be dishing out a lot of damage; sure, not quite as much as before, but a lot regardless, so while doing your Serpent-Steady-Steady-Steady-Arcane you’ve also got to pay attention to your pet and keep him out of trouble.

Sound tough? You betcha. I can’t wait.

—

* This can probably be macro’d. But you will have to find that macro somewhere that isn’t this blog, because you will have to pry manual shot weaving out of my cold, dead, waiting-to-be-rez’d hands.

Uncategorized

Guess Who's Back, Back Again

12 Comments

Pike is back.

For the win.

=D

So I’m all set up at my new place, internet and computer all set up (clearly the most important part, as XKCD reminds us). Granted, now I have to do the whole unpacking thing, but hopefully that won’t interfere too much with more important things. Like, you know, WoW, and blogging about it. /coughs

Uncategorized

AFK

8 Comments

Going to be spending the bulk of this weekend moving so I am going to be largely away-from-the-computer. Internet is slated to be up at my new place on Monday so I imagine I should be back playing the game and writing about it early next week.

Until then, happy hunting, and much <3 to all.

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Guest Post: Hunter/Warlock Synergy by Mr. Pike

19 Comments

I gotta admit, I don’t normally do guest posts, or even really like the idea of them very much. The reason is because I dunno about you guys, but a big reason that I read blogs is because I enjoy the blogger. And as such I’d like to think you guys come here to read Pike and not a bunch of guest posts. (Though I could be wrong!)

That said, because I am busy this week and still want the site to maintain relatively active, I’ve succeeded in getting a certain someone to guest post for me. He comments here as “LS” although you may know him better as my mysterious significant other. Let’s see what he has to say about hunter/warlock synergy, gathered from all the billions of times we’ve two-manned stuff:

Hey there hunter buddies! I am LS, or as I have been more often referred to here, Mr. Pike. I came to hang out with you guys today at the request of my most esteemed lady friend, who has come down with a rather dreadful case of ‘moving-to-a-new-apartment-itis.’ I told her it might be lupus, but she told me that I needed to stop watching old episodes of House and start lifting boxes, or she was going to force me to entertain her readers while she was busy. So here I am!

With every intent of taking this request seriously, I sequestered myself away to consider what I should write. Also to hide from the task of heavy lifting. While I was thusly pondering I thought to myself; what can I write that my dear Pike’s lovely audience, would enjoy reading? I thought, perhaps, that I might regale you with humorous tales of what living with Pike is like, or perhaps amuse you with anecdotes of her past (mis)adventures. I then considered, however, that perhaps something a bit more meaningful might be appreciated. A different perspective on the game for people to consider and perhaps learn from. But what could I, a warlock, offer to an audience whose relationship with magic ended when they removed Arcane Shot from their rotation?

What I decided, is that the best use of this opportunity would be to write a brief entry of the form ‘what warlocks want their hunter buddies to know.’ While this is perhaps limited in focus, I think it will serve well as a subject on which I am capable of speaking, and on which you might perhaps be interested in listening to. With my subject thusly decided, and my girlfriend already knocking on the door insisting that she had been kidding about writing being an option, I got to work.

In all my considerable time being a warlock who works with a hunter, I think that perhaps the most fundamental misconception is that we’re both pet classes. While this may seem obviously true to some, it is actually a misnomer of sorts. A warlock’s minions have about as much in common with a warrior’s stances as they do with a hunter’s pets. While it is true that they are a separate entity from us, with their own HP and mana, and we have the ability to tell them to attack, or defend, etcetera, that’s really where the similarities end. Even as demonology our pets are not a significant portion of our DPS. I think the highest DPS I’ve ever personally seen a pet contribute is about 300 damage per second; and that was with a really wacky pet-heavy spec I was experimenting with. While it may be possible to eke out a little more than that, our pets will never approach the damage a hunter pet can put up. What’s more, our pets do not tank—not really.

Pike and I have solo’d a LOT of elites together in our time, and though I love my voidwalker Heldok a great deal—even Tux tanks better than he does. Particularly due to the superior healing abilities of mend pet over health funnel. Again, with a pet-heavy spec I was able to solo the first boss in normal mana tombs with level 80 Heldok, but it was a taxing ordeal. All in all, the voidwalker’s ability to take damage seems superior to hunter pets, but the warlock’s relative inability to heal it and its rather slow threat generation, makes my poor Heldok a rather inefficient personal tank. (Which is not to say that he doesn’t have a bevy of uses, they’re just nowhere near as powerful as a hunter pet’s are.)

Furthermore, while a hunter, or at least Pike, has a tendency to think of a pet more as a companion, for a warlock it is simply one more trick in a bag of tricks. We use our imp if we need health or slightly more DPS, we use our voidwalker if we absolutely can’t do something without a tank, we use our felhunter for the buff it gives us, the spell lock, and perhaps to steal its mana, and we use our succubus for CC.

Speaking of succubus CC, allow me to shed a bit of light on how it works for those who do not know. If for no better reason than to demonstrate why I think ‘seduce mobs’ should almost always be killed prior to ‘freezing trap mobs.’

After Pike became so exceedingly well known in our group as a top-notch CC-er with her freezing trap, I decided to see what I might accomplish with my own under-rated form of CC. I actually achieved some level of success at this, and have been complimented on my powers of seduction often. After all, how do you think I managed to get Pike to hang around me so long? But I digress. What I’m driving at, is that Succubus CC is by far one of the most complicated and unwieldy things I’ve ever tried to do in this game. And I once ran an RP / Raiding guild of over 200 people. (By far, the two most drama prone groups of people I’ve ever encountered.)

Seduce is unique among the spells I’ve encountered in WoW because it is a channeled effect which has a casting time. That there is really the trick. Because it’s a channeled effect with a casting time. What that means is that after the first seduce, there is a period of time when the mob is not CC’d, and new CC cannot be applied until the casting time is done. During these few moments, said mob will charge towards the succubus and—in any instance worth CCing in—one shot her. Since the effect is channeled, there’s no way to move the succubus to greater range whilst the effect is active. Thusfar, the only way I’ve found to stop the succubus from being killed, thus rendering the CC useless, is to break the seduce on the mob by attacking it myself, getting it to aggro on to me rather than the succubus. I then hope desperately that the succubus can re-seduce (dark gods help me if the mob resists) before I get killed—which, as a clothie, is probably between 2 and 4 attacks. What’s more, I can’t easily maneuver my succubus to be any distance from me when she seduces, meaning that next time seduction breaks, the mob is going to be within arm’s reach of her. Oh, and did I mention that seduce is on the same diminishing effects as fear? Cuz seduce is on the same diminishing effects as fear.

Aside from those two major issues, I honestly can’t say there’s a great deal of things that I feel I should say as the warlock’s delegate to the hunters. At least, nothing that is terribly pressing or interesting. I guess I should probably mention that damage meters are an atrocious way of displaying a warlock’s damage output. So if you’re ever a raid or group leader, don’t decide that your warlock is a scrub until you’ve looked at the damage output for just the boss fight.You may be surprised, or even shocked by how much the numbers change. I certainly know I have been in the past.

Oh, and Eye of Kilrogg kicks Eagle Eye’s butt. So next time scouting needs to be done, know your place: protecting the warlocks body. (Nya nya =P)

In closing, I’d like to say that despite their apparent lack of synergy, warlocks and hunters are two very interesting classes to play together. Individually, they are among the best classes for soloing content, so when attempting to two-man something, Pike and I often find that each one of us is uniquely equipped to help our combined group deal with some particular challenge. For example, the way she stacks agility and the way I stack stamina makes for some really fun times in the bedro—nevermind. >.>

That’s all I’ve got for now. I hope that some of the information here was helpful to you hunters, and if it wasn’t…well, I doubt Pike will let me guest post again anyway. =P

Thanks hon <3 and if you readers liked what you saw here, Mr. Pike has decided to branch warlock stuff away from his own personal blog, and stick them all over here at Curse of Senility. Be sure to check it out!

fun

Dear John. I mean Steady Shot.

31 Comments

Dear Steady Shot,

We used to be such great friends. Oh how I loved getting to level 62 on my hunters so I could get you. Oh how excited I was. I loved weaving you between my Auto Shots so much. I dedicated instructional videos to you. I told people how fun you were. I gave you a special spot on my action bar. We had matching BFF necklaces. I carved a heart and “Pike + Steady Shot” into my resident resto druid. I’d tell people that I wished I could quit you, but I didn’t mean it of course, for how could we ever part?

It was a match made in heaven; the world was our burrito.

Then you decided to unlink yourself from Auto Shot, and it was good for DPS. But it came at a terrible cost. Suddenly all you cared about was being spammed. Suddenly that was all you wanted, and suddenly I just couldn’t press you fast enough.

And suddenly we weren’t friends anymore.

I pondered all my options, but none of them were really satisfactory. I could respec into something different that would allow me to use other, more welcoming shots, but my pets love being all strong and competitive and I couldn’t bring myself to take that away from them. I could play my lowbie hunters that didn’t have Steady Shot yet. And, actually, I have been doing just that. But then I miss Heroics and Raids so I come back to you, Steady Shot.

But then I realize that you stopped making Heroics and Raids fun a long time ago.

Well Steady Shot, it’s been a long ride, but it’s just not working out. You’re bein’ nerfed, and you will no longer be a key I have to unthinkingly pound. I caught up with an old friend lately. His name is Arcane Shot. He took me out to dinner the other night in Dalaran. He’s romantic and funny and you, Steady Shot, are just going to have to be his backup because it’s over between us.

No hard feelings; we simply had separate goals. I’ll cherish the good times, and remember– we’ll always have Kara.

Sincerely, Pike

fun, Uncategorized

You Know You Might Be Pike If…

34 Comments

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just eat healthier, sticking to a new diet is tough. Because you’re not just breaking one eating habit but you’re building a new one at the same time. 

“My clinical approach with my clients is to gradually change a few number of factors first. Because we have a finite amount of willpower, and the more things we remove…the harder it is” says J.k Ryan Fuller, PhD, a clinical psychologist and executive director of New York Behavioral Health who specializes in weight loss. 

Breaking habits — especially the kind that trigger your brain’s reward centers, like when you gorge on ice cream — takes time and effort. 

Here are the strategies that clinical psychologists who specialize in weight loss recommend if you want to change your diet habits in a safe, sustainable way.

How to break the habit of a poor diet

“I advise people not even to call it a diet. That brings up all kinds of negative emotions and expectations, such as deprivation, rules, food logs, etc,” says Kimberly M. Daniels, PsyD, who specializes in overeating and weight issues. Visit https://observer.com/.

Daniels explains that when it comes to breaking bad habits, it is helpful to think of current habits in terms of self-care. 

“Binge eating ice cream every night would easily be defined as a bad habit, but people do that to soothe or comfort themselves. So it’s actually self-care. Self-care that doesn’t get you anywhere good, but still self-care.” 

Daniels recommends trying to uncover why you are performing this self-care habit by asking yourself some questions.

  • If you’re eating ice cream every night, why?  
  • What are you avoiding?  
  • What are you distracting yourself from?  
  • Why do you feel the need to comfort yourself in that way? 

Once you understand your reasons more clearly, you can start to address the real cause of the behavior and break the bad habit. For example, “if you’re eating ice cream every night because you’re lonely, how can you boost your social connections?” says Daniels.

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just eat healthier, sticking to a new diet is tough. Because you’re not just breaking one eating habit but you’re building a new one at the same time. 

“My clinical approach with my clients is to gradually change a few number of factors first. Because we have a finite amount of willpower, and the more things we remove…the harder it is” says J. Ryan Fuller, PhD, a clinical psychologist and executive director of New York Behavioral Health who specializes in weight loss. 

Breaking habits — especially the kind that trigger your brain’s reward centers, like when you gorge on ice cream — takes time and effort. 

Here are the strategies that clinical psychologists who specialize in weight loss recommend if you want to change your diet habits in a safe, sustainable way. l

How to break the habit of a poor diet

“I advise people not even to call it a diet. That brings up all kinds of negative emotions and expectations, such as deprivation, rules, food logs, etc,” says Kimberly M. Daniels, PsyD, who specializes in overeating and weight issues.

Daniels explains that when it comes to breaking bad habits, it is helpful to think of current habits in terms of self-care. 

“Binge eating ice cream every night would easily be defined as a bad habit, but people do that to soothe or comfort themselves. So it’s actually self-care. Self-care that doesn’t get you anywhere good, but still self-care.” 

Daniels recommends trying to uncover why you are performing this self-care habit by asking yourself some questions.

  • If you’re eating ice cream every night, why?  
  • What are you avoiding?  
  • What are you distracting yourself from?  
  • Why do you feel the need to comfort yourself in that way? 

Once you understand your reasons more clearly, you can start to address the real cause of the behavior and break the bad habit. For example, “if you’re eating ice cream every night because you’re lonely, how can you boost your social connections?” says Daniels.