I can’t get Vix to stop crafting….

I’m getting bored and fat sitting here in the stable. Vix has a new pet, her sewing machine! I can’t even get the thing to give me the time of day let alone go hunting but she’s giving it such a work out I might be cranky too. Gotta say, I’m a little jealous though. Wish she’d play more. Anyway- here are some of thing things she’s been making that’s keeping her away from Azeroth…..

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Escape

Life, while essentially based upon living, sometimes needs to be escaped. Today I would like an escape. I would like to just not exist today. Which is impossible. Similarly impossible is getting everything I apparently need to do, done. Today, if it were perfect, I would:

Get the grocery shopping magically done without going to the store.
Consolidate my student loans, though apparently no one does that these days.
Call all the girls that promised to come to my Candle party and didn’t (either time) and suggest they order something so i can get the pretty centerpiece for my wedding.
Find a big, Gothic, Catholic church on the mountain with a killer reception location that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Figure out where the heck to start marriage counseling.
Sign up all my Mary Kay customers for the holiday catalog, send them a personalized post card, and call them to see how they are and if they need any product.
Skip work entirely.
Go through my computer and prepare it for a re-image.
Upload all my Mary Kay CD’s to my computer so I can actually listen to them and throw the cd’s themselves away.
Figure out why my counselor told me my 3 credit class was worth 5 and my 1 credit class was worth 3 hence making me 2 credits short of graduating despite the fact that I walked.
Get completly smashed.
Work out til i puke in the hopes of losing 40 lbs in one day.
Compile all my poetry ( a project i’ve been working on for years and never seem to finish)
Practice piano and get as skilled as I was.
Play Wow with people that are mature, intelligent, skilled at their class, and enjoy the RP aspect of the game, not just the pew-pew.
Play with my kitteh.
Sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing for at least 10 min.

With so much to do, why the heck would I take 10 min to write this? Sometimes you just need to put it on paper to put everything in proportion. Now that I seem most of those things are impossible and ludicrous i’m no longer stressed about not doing them. And those that are possible, I realize i just need to stop stressing about doing them all right this second. I guess i just need to breathe.

Thunderstomp!!!!

❤ Chuck

❤ GhamooRa

I get my REAL Tank pets back!!! Bye-bye gorilladin! I never loved you anyway. I just used you for my own selfish means. I liked it every time your ugly mug got bashed becuase i was mad that I was out there with you instead of my scaly sidekicks. Curse you and all your hairy-man-like fuzz! Take your pummel and go!

❤ pets with shiney scales, spikes, and pinchers.

Wow addiction

/Vixie here

Mirshalak posted about the possible reasons he’s “addicted” to wow, and it got me thinking. Why do I play? Why can I not stop playing? Why do I have 70 days of my life logged in this game and not….. doing whatever else?

Social- I think my Primary reason for playing is social. And not just wanting to chill with guildies- though this year’s new year was quite awesome- whole bottle of Cham-pag-nee to myself, T and I chilling online, and the whole guild drunk off their mounts telling jokes and having fun. (some having too much fun but I’ll leave that alone.) As much as I love guild socialization I also love the time I spend with my man.

T plays wow a lot. He has a very active brain and unlike most men is very capable of multi-tasking. In fact, he HAS to be multitasking. He’ll have the TV on, be browsing blogs/articles/loot tables and be playing. Sometime double-boxing to level his characters faster. He has 6? lvl 70’s, and at least 2 80’s. I can’t really keep track. He plays this game a LOT. Now the girls out there reading this are all going “Ugh! how can you stand that!? If all my man ever did was….” Shut It. Seriously. Do you know him? no? Alright– moving on.  Relationship-y repurcussions or benefits aside, he plays a lot and one of the best ways for me to socialize with him is to Play.

Think about this- It’s something we both enjoy (though i admit he enjoys it more than I do.) and it’s a co-op. How many activities do couples get to do where they are a TEAM? Where they have to work together to achieve a common goal? Communicate effectivly? Integrate well as individuals and a couple into other social groups? I suppose you could say the same thing about playing team tennis or a bowling league, but how are those better than video games? Because they don’t have the stigma? I don’t actually care about what the general consensus of approval is for my activities as long as they are something that I enjoy and they are not morally degrading. I play becuase I like to team up with my hunny, mash some buttons, laugh with friends, and kill the bad guys.

Mental- I like a challenge. This is actually why i’m NOT an alt-a-holic like so many. I am a hunter. I don’t even play my pally anymore. I am a hunter through and through and for me the challenge is being the best hunter I can be. If I were to have a ton of alts I’d try to be the best hunter-pally-mage-rogue-drood I could be and it would consume too much time and energy. So I picked the one thing and I master it. Recently with the BM nerf I’m entering a new and exciting challenge- I am mastering SV. Don’t get me wrong- I’ll go back to BM. but now that it’s a viable raid spec being the best hunter I can be includes knowing the skills, abilities, and limitations of all the specs that my class and have. So I’m learning to be a trap-dancer and sniper. Can’t say it’s as much fun, but I like the challenge. Spamming my steady shot macro was getting a bit old so the challenge re-awakened me to my addiction.

— More reasons to come.

Lunar Festival

Vix is a World-event Junkie. She loves them! The first one to peak her interest was Brewfest a few years ago and now she is addicted. (**Edit- To world events, not Brew. **) What’s more- there’s a really neat prize from getting all the World-event titiles – The Violet Proto-drake. As soon as this was announced it was our goal. Given some of the requirements it may take more than a year, but it will happen.

We’re a little….purterbed? annoyed?…. about something. This lunar festival, These Achievements must be completed. One of them, the Dungeon Elders, the player must be 80 to accomplish.

That is what annoys us. World events have always been fun for everyone- not just the elite. And the bosses usually only require lvl 60 or so. But this is the second time (possibly more) that a difficult requirement has been a must for an achievement. (The first was the high-cooking lvl necessary for Merrymaker.) What is Blizz trying to accomplish? These light-hearted achievements are meant to be extra fun, not an extra grind. Now, Vix is already 80 so it’s not a huge deal, but we’re thinking of those that are not yet there, who are casual players, that love world events as we do. They will waste time during the event leveling to 80 instead of enjoying the festivities. Sad.

Little Fawn….

I seem to be getting a TON of hits for the Little Fawn’s salt lick, so I thought I’d post more information.

Little Fawn is the reward for completing the Lil’ Game Hunter achievement.   He’s a cute little fawn and the only requirement of this achievement is that you get 75 companion pets. ….. 75. I am a vanity pet addict and I only have 56. That’s a long way to go!

Wow insider tells almost everything you need to know here.  And I have a list of all the mini pets here– Including which i have and which i need and which are impossible, etc. An even better source for small-pet info is here-

Good luck on your quest for this cute little guy! I have seen very few Stinker’s around so I know Little Fawn will be even more rare. Have fun!

For a certain hunter, with kitties, that got yelled at.

He got yelled at, not his kitties. He’d never yell at his kitties…. i hope. 🙂

New 3.0.8 Patch notes

Hunter’s Mark: Now only affects the hunter and buffs any shot by 300% Think sniper rifle Sights. Ya, just like that.

Scorpids: Scorpids are now multi-faceted. Depending on what skin you get they’ll be Tenacity, Ferocity, or Cunning. This is too allow Scorpid lovers to always have a scorpid with them.

Pet Taming: There has been a massive re-work of pet taming. The idea of simply casting a spell on them was poorly done and we’re sorry. You’re hunters, not mages, and taming a pet should require skill. Pet food will now be able to be placed on the ground much like a feast and a new trap called animal cage will need to be  used. Attacking the animal makes no sense at all, so now you will have to find the animal, make a trail of food to the cage, and call the animal using a special whistle for that type of animal that you only get after killing at least 50 of that animal. (preseumably to better know the intracacies of the species.)

Once the animal is trapped you have to continue to feed it and will get a bar with various “Training” pet spells such as “pet,” “soothe,” “discipline,” and “reward.” During this time you can also traing your pet to Sit, Stay, roll over, play dead, beg, and fetch by using the “good boy!” Key when he does these things randomly. These are not battle commands, they are simply for fun. Pet combat will remain the same.

During the first 24 hrs  of playtime with the pet out, there will be a chance your pet can turn on you and begin doing damage. This chance increases the higher the level of the pet in comparison to your level. You must continue to use the taming commands to keep them in check, and taking damage or dying in battle  does not make them like you more. The “happiness” spells from healing or killing only apply once the pet is fully tamed. The overall taming process should take no longer than a week, but expect at least a few days.

We have implemented this new taming technique to keep players from randomly abandoning their pets. The capital city animal shelters and wild-animal control have been having a hard time. Because of this, if you abandon a pet within a capital city and not it it’s original environment, you will be fined 50-500g (depending on your income.)

Shotgun: This new ability is much like multishot except that it can attack 1 target with multiple hits or hit multiple targets with one hit. This result is determined directly by proximity. This shot only available to guns.

William Tell: This new shot, only available to bows, Grants incredibly accuracy and has twice the distance of a normal shot. It grants a 20% buff to “accuracy” which affects RAP and Int.

Steady shot: This shot now requires the hunter to /kneel to fire. An offhand steady shot was just ludicris and we know it. Sorry.

Mail: Hunters can still wear mail but each additional piece of mail lessens their tracking ability, their melee DPS, and any mail makes it impossible to tame a pet.

The Hunter Trees are remaining the same for now, but in an upcoming patch the hunter class will be divided into a “Hunter” class, which will include a bow-rogue, SV, and MM, and a Beast Master Hero Class. We’re not sure of the details yet, but Think back to the Beast Master in WCIII and you’ll get the Idea. Bears? oh ya. Birds? you betcha. More goodies? totally.

Loquenta’hak is no longer available for taming. For those servers that he has never been tamed on he will be tameable once, then become untameable. Thus making him truly a one-of-a-kind. Har’koa will also be tameable once, but not in a party or a raid. the hunter must be alone. The chance that Har’Koa will eat you is very high. If the same hunter tames both they will attain the achievement “Breeder” and once a week will get a Spirit beast Cub. This Mini-pet will grow into a combat pet after 3 months. They are non-soulbound. The skin will be similar to the other spirit beasts but smaller and slightly less cool.

Taurens are no longer able to tame carnivious pets. (seriosuly, who thought of that?)

Undead are able to “conjure” pet food and /trade it to a hunter. The will lose a small amount of stamina for 30 min. The food however can be gnawed upon for 4 hrs.

Cooking Recepie: Rawhid. This pet food generates happiness and sharpens teeth. “Scratching post,” and other pet-specific items are on the way.

Free Kitten

We found him in the engine of a car in our apartment complex- a really nice guy named chris got him out and now i’m trying to find him a home. He’s adorable, so if I take him to the shelter i know he’ll go home with someone but i thought I’d put the word out. We’re in the Portland, OR / Vancouver, WA area. If you are in our area and want a kitty let me know right away. My princess Zuzu is going to murder him if we keep him around.

Oh- of course you can change the name but we’re calling him “Cubby” since we found him in a combustion engine. 🙂

Hunter Loot : Bracers

So here’s the deal. In Patch 3.0.8 hunters are going to get totally re-worked. While we know (mostly) what’s going to happen and there are lots of players in the PTR testing everything out for us- we don’t really know what’s going to happen until it happens. In any case, as far as I can tell none of the changes that are affecting that most sexy of classes is going to affect their gear or how their stats affect DPS. That said- WTF is up with Bracers? There are SO many that rock! And they’re all really close! So here’s the Hunter DPS spreadsheet list–

Slime Stream Bands	21.60	Naxxramas-25
Armguard of the Tower Archer	21.16	WotLK Token
Eaglebane Bracers	17.49	Leatherworking
Bands of Anxiety	10.33	Naxxramas-10
Arachnoid Gold Band	6.31	Naxxramas-25
Thrusting Bands	3.80	Naxxramas-25
Giantmaim Bracers	2.67	Leatherworking
Raging Construct Bands	1.94	WotLK 5-man
Interwoven Scale Bracers	0.00	WotLK 5-man
Wristwraps of the Cutthroat	-1.37	WotLK Token

And of those, I actually have 3 choices- I have the Giantmaim Bracers, the Interwoven Scale Bracers, and the Eaglebane Bracers. Wow. Why aren’t I wearing the Eaglebane? Well- This is where it gets tricky. To make it easier on you- I’ll use Wowhead’s awesome comparison tool.

Level	200	200	187
Required level	80	80	78
Agility	50	35	41
Intellect	29	29	47
Stamina	43	54	39
Armor	549	549	512
Attack power	72	100	64
Armor penetration rating	36
Critical strike rating		32
Hit rating			34
Gains	15 Agi 4 Sta 37 Armor 8 AP 36 Armor Pen	15 Sta 37 Armor 36 AP 32 Crit	6 Agi 18 Int 34 Hit

Comparing [Giantmaim Bracers] with [Interwoven Scale Bracers] with [Eaglebane Bracers]

So which of these stats actually matter? First, keep in mind that with LW I get a 114 AP buff to bracers. So which ever I pick for my pretty Vixie, She’ll get another 114 AP.

Agi- Very important, but not nearly as important as it used to be. This could change. SS or it didn’t happen. If Agi was the most important thing obviously I’d go with the Giantmaim.

Int- With Careful Aim I get a decent amount of AP out of any INT.  1 int = 1 AP. So if AP were the most important thing I’d look for more Int. That’s doubly important because it also gives me more mana and ups the return on my AoV. Considering INT, I would go for the Eaglebane Bracers.

Stam- Stam is great but Vix has a tank. She doesn’t PVP, and even when soloing one of her trusty (and less favored) pets gets to take the hit while I get my claws polished and write posts. (Seriosuly. when are they going to make an ergonomic keyboard for Scorpids!?)  So I don’t care about stam all that much.

Armor- Same deal. It’s nice, but it’s an extra. It’s like when your boyfriend brings you flowers AND chocolates. The flowers are pretty but gimmie the chocolate.

AP- HERE is the big deal. The interwoven have the most AP, which is why I choose them. but they only have 29 INT, and as we said, for Vix, Int=AP so 100+29=129. The Eaglebane only have 64 AP but they have 47 int so 64+47= 111 and the Giantmaim have 72 ap and 29 int so they’re only 101 AP. They have the most Agi, but in AP they’re really lacking. With this in mind, for straight AP I’d have to go Eaglebane.

We don’t care as much about Armor pen, and crit doesn’t have much to compare. I can get crit out of Agi and gems and the like, i am not overly concerned with it in the weighing of these items.

Hit- this is a big deal. Vix just lost 58 Hit when she replaced her dual Cobalt Slicers with the shiney new Wraith Spear. (oh and ahh, yes it’s pretty.) So hit is important again. The eaglebane are the only ones that have hit, so that’s a big point in their favor.

All said an done, the Eaglebane give us more int, which is more mana, more hit, which is more DPS, and a nice weight of both AP and Agi w/out leaning too heavily on either. With our additional 114 AP, these bracers are very nice and will last a long time despite being blue.