So I Hit 71.

Did it probably 2 weeks ago. I'm really getting burnt out on this game, can't be arsed to do anything anymore. Oh well, I love this game but it's been a good run.

Path of a Hero

Watch your characters "grow up" with Path of a Hero. PoaH allows you to create a blog for your character and submit pictures documenting their quests and events. With each post the site queries the WoW Armory and delivers a snapshop of equipped gear, so you and your friends can see how far you've come. The site also picks up the gear score from Be Imba, displaying it above your gear loadout. You can also add your friends as "rivals", allowing you to keep tabs on their own trials and tribulations.

Plus the creator of the site is a real swell guy, check it out!

Mingonashoba's Entry

Radio Free Gnomeregan's 3rd Annual "Winter Veil" Broadcast!

Live Broadcast: TBA
Rebroadcast: Christmas Eve, time TBA.

Once a year, Mingonashoba dodges dwarven guards and fights his way into the depths of Gnomeregan. He sets up shop alongside holdout gnomes in the Clean Zone, and broadcasts a special show to everyone and anyone who tunes their hearthstones in. Even in days of brutal conflict across worlds he tries to bring Alliance and Horde together in one day of relative peace with relaxing music.

What you'll hear:

• Holiday standards from Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby
• Selections from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite
• Peppy and relaxing jazz numbers
• The Vince Guaraldi Trio ("A Charlie Brown Christmas")
• A few hidden gems that might make you think "what the heck did I just hear?"

Join DJ Mingo and Radio Free Gnomeregan this December!

Electronic Arts Lays Off Six Hundred

http://kotaku.com/5071439/electronic-arts-lays-off-six-hundred
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081030/20081030006325.html

I'm thankfully not affected by this as I'm not officially an EA employee, I'm an outside contractor. However after listening to the FY'09 Q2 finance conference call I would not be surprised to see my contract ended early. I'm hoping for the best that it does not happen.

More Thoughts About Blizzcon & VGL

After L80ETC left the stage, so did a huge number of people. I cannot comprehend why, for some of these reasons:

• Listening to "Lament of the Highborne" performed live and sung by Vangie Gunn. It's her voice you hear ingame when the song plays, and hearing it live is much more powerful.
• Watching "The Video Game Pianist" Martin Leung come out and play a suite of Warcraft II music FROM MEMORY. I can't remember the last time I've ever seen someone so absolutely thrilled to be doing what they love.
• Listening to multiple Grammy award winning artists join the orchestra while playing music from Diablo.
• Hearing the main theme from WotLK performed live for the first time. It sounds great on my PC, but again there's no substitute for live.
• It's a full symphony orchestra and choir performing video game music!

What's not to like about that? Do people not want to get a little bit of culture? I understand that what you hear at Blizzcon is not the normal 2-1/2hr concert that VGL normally puts on, but it's worth staying to listen. I can accept that a number of convention attendees had little ones that needed to get to bed and so I tip my hat, but for the rest I wag my finger at you!

I implore whatever tiny reader base I have, go to the Video Games Live website, find out when they're playing in or close to your city and go see them. Or not even close! They're playing in Lisbon, Portugal pretty soon, hop a plane and go watch them there.

Blizzcon '08, The Real Recap. Really.

Nothing really new from Warcraft in regards to classes, expansions, etc.
The movie is still in the works, no news.
Patch 3.0.2 to go live tomorrow.
L80ETC put on a great show and I still say they need to release an album.
Video Games Live was awesome as usual. I need to get to one of their full shows next year.
There will most likely be a patch to download right after you finish installing WotLK.
I got a blow up Frostmourne sword.
I got a second Vasco Go6 Blizzard Authenticator as part of the goodie bag.
I also got a Vasco rep to verify my compromise theory was valid, if a bit sophisticated. I felt special.

I do wish Blizzard would curtail the "Blizzcon Exclusive" ingame goodies, as I believe that is what is causing the rush on the servers and the inability for everyone to have an equal chance at buying a ticket. The only reason I was able to get mine was because I was unemployed on the day they went on sale. This allowed me to hammer the server along with the rest of the world.

Hunter talents have been changed again since I posted my musings on BM and MM builds a few weeks ago. I'll have to attempt throwing some new ones up when I get a chance.

Blizzcon '08 Recap. Kind Of.

I'll discuss my convention experience in more detail later. Typing on the Wii only using the Wiimote is a pain.

Lack of Updates

New job has me working 60hr weeks, with the possibility of 70hr+ weeks in the near future. The only bright spot is I managed to secure Friday off for Blizzcon, and I may be able to swing Saturday as well. Can do a bit of blogging about the event, but after that it's right back to work.

Sorry folks, but suprisingly, RL > WoW.

Can't Talk, Busy Drinking. Brewfest.

Sorry for a lack of posts. Between the stress of the new job and Brewfest I've not been experiencing much new content these days. I'm currently busting tail working for the Steamweedle Cartel to get enough tokens so I can pick up the Brew of The Month membership form and the Brewfest boots. The boots are needed for this awesome WotLK Achievement: Disturbing the Peace, and the membership form for Brew of the Year.

First Day, New Job.

Look where I work now! :D

It's-a Mingo!

No no, it's not me. Besides, I actually have mottled black and white fur, not reddish-brown. I actually visited the LA County Fair this last weekend. Pity the Jersey cows never turned around to give me a look..
*sob* Just like when I was training back in Bloodhoof!

More Thoughts on BM Builds

Ok to throw a different build idea out, here is a 51/20 BM/MM build. It is nominally the same as the 53/18 I described yesterday, except I have removed 2 points from Cobra Strike and added them to Improved Hunter's Mark.

Decent BM and MM Builds

BM-Spec Ideas:
A 53/18 BM/MM build. It's your standard 41 point TBC build but with some of the key WotLK talents added, such as:

• Aspect Mastery -Hey, 30% AP bonus is nothing to sneeze at.
• Invigoration - At 2/2 you have a 100% chance to regen 1% of mana when your pet crits. Which considering the crit chance of pets at raiding levels, could be very useful in boss battles.
• Cobra Strikes - At 3/3, there is a 60% chance to make your pet's next two attacks crit, and when those two crit attacks hit, you'll get 2% of your mana regenerated due to having 2/2 Invigoration. Hey hey!
• Separation Anxiety - At 5/5 if you maintain at least 20 yards from your pet during combat, it gets a 20% damage buff. When you're within 20 yards, there's a 10% buff for running. This is a very important talent. It's Blizzard telling hunters to stop frickin' meleeing. It seems from my highly unscientific and mod-free testing that SA is a stackable buff. SA is great for PvP situations as it gives hunters an extra 10% kick in the pants to get range back.
• Careful Aim - MM talent in the second tree. At 3/3 it increases your RAP by 100% to your total intellect. Boom.

A 51/20 BM/MM build. Here are the main changes from the 53/18:

• Removed Invigoration.
• Removed 1 point from MM talent Rapid Killing.
• Improved Hunters Mark - At 3/3 you get a 30% bonus ontop of your normal Hunter's Mark, and reduces the cost of the mark by 100%. They've removed the melee buff that your fellow party members and raiders loved. Pity.

I am not a MM-Spec hunter. Never have been. However since we're going to be able to have two talent trees that we can switch back and forth between, here's my idea for an MM-Spec:

A 17/54/ MM/BM build. It's a bit all over the place, but I think it makes sense. There are very few new WotLK talents in this build interestingly:

• Rapid Recuperation - At 3/3 reduces mana cost of all shots and abilities by yourself and your pet by 60% while using Rapid Fire. Plus, you get 3% of your mana every 2 seconds for 6 seconds each time Rapid Killing is triggered. This talent will prove itself to be quite useful for leveling and instance trash pulls. Less downtime drinking or chugging mana potions.
• Marked For Death - At 5/5 increases damage on marked targets by 5% for yourself and your pet. Also gives a 10% critical damage bonus to Aimed Shot, Steady Shot, Kill Shot and Chimera Shot. Very nice.
• Chimera Shot - A very interesting shot. Triggering it will deal deal 125% weapon damage to the target while refreshing any stings on it and triggers an effect:
• Serpent Sting - Instantly deals 40% of the damage done by your Serpent Sting.
• Viper Sting - Instantly restores mana to you equal to 60% of the total amount drained by your Viper Sting.
• Scorpid Sting - Attempts to Disarm the target for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once per 1 minute.

Chimera Shot matched with Improved Stings will make hunters very happy.

Well, that's all for right now. Sorry I don't have any builds for you folk, I'm trying to figure out how Survival hunter talents work.

WotLK: The Beta

I have to admit, I feel bad about not playing the beta much at all. I was so excited to get the key and go bouncing through it. Then I realized something, I was alone.

I had no friends in the beta, and the few people from Cenarion Circle I knew were all Alliance side. It was boring. I enjoyed beta testing and bug reporting the starting Death Knight zone and quests, but once that was done, I was spit back out into the world at 58 to go level through the Outlands. The grinds for quests and leveling was horrible because there was no one to socialize with. That's what made getting to 60 and then 70 tolerable.

Maybe if I was getting a stipend, say for every X number of hours I get X amount of money off my next months subscription? I'd seriously have spent more time on the beta.

So there. The game is two months from launch, and I pretty much wasted my beta key. Oh well.

11:13:08 -- We Are Not Prepared.

Well, no actually we are. Collectors Edition was also released for pre-order, bought my copy via Gamestop's online site. My friends are getting theirs at places like Target, Walmart, Best Buy, and so on day of. Me? Last time I tried to do that for TBC I was lucky to snag one of the last copies in town. What a pain. I consider the extra fees to get it shipped to me a "peace of mind" tax.

What The Hell?!

I saw this scene this morning. I am at a loss for words on how such a thing occured. Someone must know. I feel like I'm in that Lewis Black bit 'If it weren't for my horse, I wouldn't have spent that year in college.'

WotLK Pet Talent Trees 1/3: Tenacious

Wrath of the Lich King Pet Talent Tree: Tenacious (spelled out to help search bots).

Possible spoilers ahead. There is no NDA for the beta so I am ok to discuss this. This is still a beta so things may change.

Hunters still only have 2 stable slots. All skills and talents for each pet is learned "naturally" as you progress and level. No more scouring the land to find and train the newest Bite or Scorpid Poison. This is great in saving time, but personally it kind of takes away a little bit of fun from the class. I'm not too concerned.

There are now three pet classes:
Ferocious (DPS) - IE cats and high damage pets
Tenacious (Tank) - IE turtles and high armor/stamina pets
Cunning (Utility) - IE spiders and mixed ability pets

I have a Warp Stalker named Gaz that falls into Tenacious, and a cat named GIR that's Ferocious. I do not have a Cunning class pet but I will be getting one soon. Each pet class has a separate five level talent tree so you cannot train a Ferocious class pet in Tenacious talents and so on.

Tenacious Tree Breakdown:
A level 70 pet will have 13 points to use in the tree, with seven more as you hit 80. If you go all the way down to the BM 51 talent point "Beast Mastery" you will be granted an additional 5 pet skill points, bringing your total up to 25 . The first tree is roughly what every other pet can get ingame right now:

Natural Armor
Great Stamina
Dash (depends on pet)
Cobra Reflexes

Once you hit the second tree, things change. There are talent spells that increase damage output and an armor/dodge buff, but the jewel of the tree for me is Blood of the Rhino, giving a 1/2% stamina buff and a 20/40% increase in healing effects.
Third tree contains Avoidance, a +growl buff, and Lionhearted (2/2); a 15/30% reduction in all fear/stun effects. shocked me when I came across this talent:

Intervene (1/1) - 40 focus; 30s cooldown; instant - Your pet runs at high speed toward a group member, intercepting the next melee or ranged attack made against them.

Tank pets have intercept. INTERCEPT. The fourth tree only has two talents:

Grace of the Mantis (2/2) Increases your pet's dodge/hit chance by 2/4%.
Great Resistance (3/3) Pet takes 3/6/9% less damage from Arcane, Fire, Frost, Nature and Shadow magic.

Nice, all very nice. Now we come to the fifth and final tree. Reading these talents make me very giddy:

Last Stand (1/1) - 6m cooldown; Instant -Your pet temporarily gains 30% of its maximum health for 20 sec. After the effect expires, the health is lost.
Taunt (1/1) - 3m cooldown; Instant - Your pet taunts the target to attack it for 3 sec.
Roar of Fortitude (1/1) - 100 Focus; 5m cooldown; Instant - Your pet roars, increasing the total health and Dodge chance of all party members within 20 yards by 10%. Lasts 40 sec.

The Tenacious pet tree has thrilled me to no end and has also made me start looking around my button bars to find what things I can get rid of so I can make Intervene macros.

To learn more instead of reading my ramblings, you can always check out Petopia.

My Prayers Answered.

See you in Northrend!

Still Hoping For a Key..

Have three horses in the race:

1. WoW Account
2. Blizzard Store Account
3. Blizzcon'07 Beta Key

Keeping fingers crossed.

It's not hard to be a competent hunter.

Your competency is not represented by your guild's progression.
Your competency is not represented by your epic collection.
Your competency is not represented by your arena rating.
Your competency is not represented by your pet.
Your competency is not represented by your DPS meter.

DPS meters and raid logging programs are only of use by two kinds of people, raid leaders and ePeen strokers. A DPS meter can help a hunter find problems in their playstyle and gearing but so can websites like be.imba.hu and mods like Ratings Buster. At that point is a meter really needed? As long as the trash is dying, the bosses are dying, and there are few (if any) wipes then the group is doing FINE.

Your competency is directly, DIRECTLY represented by two things. Your skill in playing the class, and your ability to consistently not be a stupid hunter. Why so many people are unable to be a competent hunter is beyond me. I'll even cut a break for the people that can't master the jumpshot:

• Unless your pet is tanking, offtanking, or the main tank requests you do so; DO NOT enable growl in an instance or with a party.
• Unless you have absolutely no choice, DO NOT melee. An instance is no place to be leveling your staff skill, do that on your own time.
  
• Unless you are trapping behind the party, DO NOT run away from a mob that's aggroing on you. Use "feign death", freezing trap, your pet's intimidate (if talented for it), or just drag the mob back to the main tank.
• Learn to jumpshot. If for whatever reason you can't, learn to use maximum range, traps, distracting and concussive shot to kite as much as you can.
• DO NOT forget to bring at least one stack of food for your pet at all times.
• DO NOT forget to bring at least one stack of health potions, mana potions, and your own drinks.
• For the love of pete, DO NOT FORGET TO BRING ENOUGH AMMO FOR THE ENTIRE RUN.
  
• +SPI and +STR is not a hunter's friend. I understand that while leveling you will end up being dressed like a clown but please stay away from Spirit and Strength. If you need mana regen that bad look into buying wizard oils to apply to your weapons.
  

It's not hard to be a good hunter. Not hard at all.

WotLK Beta Up, Invites Going Out Soon.

I've got three horses in this race:

1. Blizzcon Beta Key
2. WoW Account Opt In
3. Blizzard Store Account Opt In

Really hope one of the three pans out. I haven't been in a beta since EA's failed Multiplayer Battletech:3025.

Activating the Authenticator

On the 14th I finally got my token and as I sat down to do a nice big writeup with pictures, I nosed over to WoW Insider and found one of my friends there had already done such a post. Well heck there's really no sense in me doing what's already been done, so here are a few paragraphs from Amanda Dean's post "Activating The Authenticator" and a link you can follow to the full post:

The Blizzard Authenticator is currently sold out on the Blizzard Store. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come, when they're ready. I bought one as soon as I heard they were available. Although my experience with the Blizzard Store was not great, it was certainly better than some others. After my order was placed, every time I checked on in, I what appeared to be a rag doll murloc who informed me that an error occurred on the page.

My authenticator has arrived. Thanks to the free shipping from the Blizzard online store, I saved $0.59 in United States Postal Service postage. To be honest, I'm just glad to have my security token. The token come with a single piece of documentation, which directs the user to the security token FAQ page.

I expected the authenticator to be slightly larger. It's approximately the same size as the clicker for my Mustang. I have not yet devised a tether for it, but the device will soon be leashed to my computer.

Continue reading Activating the Authenticator

Blizzard Authenticator Unboxing

For giggles I broke down and ordered an authenticator when they were first released, and it should be arriving in the next day or two. I'll have pictures and usage writeups as soon as I can.

Final View On Token Compromise Attack

Now that we have our theories on how the attack will work and where it will occur, now we have to figure out what the attackers will do once they've got the compromised account. For the most part, attackers would do a few different things. They would shard and sell everything a 'toon has then transfer the gold to another character. They may also just flat out transfer the character off the server. Either way, the password would often be changed from the original so the player could not log in.

With an authenticator, the attacker will only get one shot at an account at a time, so they will have to make a decision as to what method to take. Based on my last entry, a website-based keylogger will still allow an attacker one-time entry into the legitimate "Account Management" page for a compromised account, allowing the attacker to change the password and transfer characters off the server. The problem with that method of attack is even if the character is moved entirely off server the attacker will not be able to gain access to it, a loss of $25 to the attacker. Ergo this method of attack still seems only to be really viable for players that do not use the authenticators.

A program front-end keylogger will allow the attacker to log into the game as that player's toons, but they won't be able to wheel around and get into the "Account Management" website. So this leaves the attacker one option, to shard & sell as many items as they can and then mail the gold to a gold mule. The mule itself will then be transferred off the server, where the gold can be picked up and used for sale on the market.

Now as I had said on my last entry, the open window for a successful attack will be a short period indeed, maybe a maximum of 60 seconds. As of this writing we still don't know anything regarding Blizzard's configuration of the authentication window. Either way with such a small amount of time this means someone will need to be at the machine all the time to take advantage of a compromised account and harvest gold. It's possible such a requirement could force smaller operations out of business due to the increased complications to keep their coffers full of plundered gold. This will probably not affect larger operations quite so much as they will be able to afford a workforce to keep running 24/7.

Of course a bot program to automatically log into compromised accounts and then sell items at the nearest vendor *might* be feasible, but that's beyond the scope of this document.

Compromising The Blizzard Authenticator: Man-In-The-Middle

I need to get this out of the way: BLIZZARD I AM NOT CONDONING THIS IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM I LOVE YOU GUYS. I am not a security expert, nor do I claim to be one. My theories of what you are about to read below may have some, most or all of it incorrect; and have been culled from what I've come to understand about how these systems work and what sort of attacks have occurred on them.

As with keyloggers, Blizzard will not be able to prevent these attacks as they are occuring against the player's PC directly. Getting this out in the open will help raise player awareness that the authenticator is not the end of account compromising security risks, and that players still need to diligently maintain their computers, scan for unwanted programs, and change their passwords regularly.

Now then. Compromising the Blizzard authenticator. It will be hard, but it can be done.

First off, some background on the authenticator. Blizzard appears to have contracted the company Vasco and it's line of security tokens called "Digipass Go6". The Go6 has a non-replaceable battery with an expected lifetime of seven years. Go6 is tamper-resistant and supports the DES, 3DES and AES cryptography algorithms. It can also withstand a 1 meter (~3 foot) drop intact. Blizzard's version will look like this:


It uses a secure key between the authenticator (AKA a"keyfob" or "token"), and the Blizzard login servers. On the image above it is six digits, the Vasco brochure states it can display up to eight. It remains to be seen how many digits will be used but I'm sure we'll find out shortly. Every certain number of seconds, both the token and the server will generate a new one-time code. If the code is not entered within the correct timeframe a new one-time code will be generated and the displayed code will be rendered useless. The details of how all this works is far too complicated for this document, and there are plenty of great websites and books out there that cover it in detail if you really would like to learn more.

So to get into World of Warcraft and in theory Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 if they code for it, the login will go as thus (click to enlarge):



Ok, easy enough, you can see where the pathing goes. Now, how does someone compromise a token-based login?

Man-In-The-Middle (wiki link)

Technically speaking what I am about to describe is more of a phishing attack than a true MITM, but I feel the terminology still works. These attacks can occur one of two ways. The first way is a simple tried and true spoofed webpage. Old, reliable, works without fail. Create a false website that pretends to be Blizzard's account management site. Have the proper fields to fill out for account name, password and code. Upon clicking submit the user is redirected somewhere else, while their information is forwarded to the attacker.

How does this work if the attacker wants to go to the source, IE the game itself? This method will prove more time consuming and costly as they will have to code up an entire program that mimics the launcher and/or portal login screen. I figure the flowchart for such a program will look like one of these three ideas (click to enlarge):

Complicated Token:	Simplistic Token:
Token/Non-Token Version:

My new ideas came to me after I had originally posted this on 6/30 and I felt I should show how each one will break down. I believe all of these can be considered "Man-In-The-Middle" style attacks.

The complicated version is a bit of a mess, and will require the attacker's program to pass authentication data to the Blizzard login servers. I have been informed the complicated idea would not work as after the token code is passed to Blizzard it is rendered useless to be used a second time. I should have realized this. --7/01/08

The simple version is very straightforward. The attacker's program never passes any data to Blizzard, just collecting it until the code is entered. I feel this is the most likely angle of attack, but it assumes the target uses the authenticator. If they are not using one then the program is rendered useless.

The token/non-token version may be the best compromise between the two previous versions. The attacker's program will make one single call to the Blizzard login servers and depending on the reply will either ask for the one-time code or go directly to the notification and termination portion of the program. This version allows the attacker access to player accounts that have not purchased the authenticator, effectively operating as a sophisticated keylogger.

Once everything has been entered the attacker can be notified one of many ways. There are 4-5 ways listed here but I'm sure there could be more options. Once the notification has been sent, the program will generate an error, crash, or both. Either way the user will believe that either there is a problem with Blizzard's servers, their installation of WoW, or possibly even their computer.

It's not known how short the key generation window is, or how long the window will stay open once a user has verified their login and password. RSA SecurID keys have a 60 second key generation and use window, meaning every minute a new key is generated and must be used within that minute or else it is no longer valid. If Blizzard keeps to a 60 second key window and if on average it takes about five seconds for a user to input their key, in this scenario the attacker would have about 50 seconds to log in using your pilfered data.

As it stands no one knows the details of the new login system except for Blizzard and Vasco. We may come to learn a few little things about it in the future, but by and large it the inner workings of the token security system will be unknown.


In summation, token authentication is very secure, however a properly executed attack will still be able to circumvent the latest layer of security. Like I said in the beginning of this post these attacks are not things that Blizzard can control. Please be responsible and as I said in the beginning of this post, diligently maintain your computers. Regularly scan for viruses, trojans, malware, and please change your passwords regularly.

Blizzard Authenticator: Not For Me, Yet.

As it stands right now I'm not buying the keyfob in the near future. Yes it's only $6.50, ($7 after tax), but there is currently a very limited scope of use for the device. I'm sure D3 and SC2 will have support for it, but I'd like to be able to use it elsewhere. VPN/SSH authentication for remote connections to a company or personal network, online banking/financial work, etc.

Of course, I will most likely get one in the long term. I am a bit of a security nut and I understand that this is a very nice level of physical security. Though initially I want to see how this will all play out. After doing a bit of reading on how this form of authentication works, and chatting with a friend versed in the subject, will Blizz be able to keep the authentication servers stable enough for the amount of users logging in? My friend was very doom & gloom about the subject and felt they won't be able to.

We'll see huh?

Awesome.

Because It's Everywhere Else - Hunter Annoucements

Announced changes at WWI:

* Steady Shot will no longer clip autoshot -- the speaker acknowledged that Hunters hurt their own DPS by using their abilities - The SS/AS change is great, though I still wonder what endgame rotations will be for BM hunters.
* Pets will get "talent trees" - one utility tree, one TANKING tree, one DPS tree - This sounds very intriguing, I think it might pave the way for a BM talent revamp, and instead moving such talents as Ferocity and Frenzy to the pet tree.
* A specific ability revealed was "cornered" - your pet does an additional 20% damage when they're at 20% health - Great idea, however any hunter worth their salt makes sure they never come that close to death if they can help it. ;)

I'm sure there's more to be revealed. Still to be answered is whether or not tanking tree pets will be viable tanks through to end-game. Currently in WoW and TBC end-game instances a pet cannot be a viable tank. Even if you were to take a valid tank pet (such as a turtle, scorpid, bear, boar etc), and have them properly trained they still would pale in comparison to a tanking warrior or paladin. In a pinch groups can use a hunter pet as a tank but the rest of the party needs to be on the ball to make it work. Though there are instances when a hunter pet may not be enough to clear. One of those is Grandmaster Vorpil inside Shadow Labyrinth.

There are two tactics I've seen used against the Grandmaster. One is to drag him North and South while DPS'ing him down, the second is to simply burn Vorpil down where he stands. The North/South tactic will require the pet to run away from Vorpil -- meaning the hunter has to hit pet defensive twice -- and still attack to apply Growl when the cooldown is up -- meaning the hunter has to hit pet attack. In theory this could work but the hunter has to really be on the ball to balance their own DPS and keep the pet on the job. Burning Vorpil where he stands will not work at all. A set of properly geared players going for high DPS will blow the pet's aggro generation out of the water. Even with proper application of Misdirect and Prayer of Mending there will not be enough stacked aggro to keep up. Vorpil will break free, and all hell will break loose.

Another problem occurs in battles where the tank has to run out of flames/shadow/etc to prevent taking massive damage and/or a debuff. A pet will not do this on their own without a hunter pulling the strings, or using "Eyes of the Beast" to manually control the pet, which removes the hunter's ability to pump out DPS for the entirety of the spell.

What it all boils down to is a pet is simply AI run by whatever code has been programmed by Blizzard Devs, and you as a hunter have no real control over it. Sure you can toggle use of some pet talents like Growl and Bite or use a spell like Kill Command, but in the end pets currently do not have the ability to churn out enough threat to stay ahead of players unless they intentionally hold back their damage output. That will not work because the longer a battle goes, the higher the risk becomes of the entire raid running out of mana and wiping.

This could change with WotLK, but how much of a chance remains to be seen. As it stands now, I don't believe BigRedKitty could take his boar into a raid against Arthas and have his little piggie hold enough aggro to allow the entire raid go full bore (hoho, boar/bore). It's possible that endgame for WotLK will be the same as it's always been for hunter pets, to just maximize their DPS and don't bother with tanking.

I really hope that's not the case though, as I'd love to see the class and their pets become more of a utility knife.

We're No Strangers To Love..

I've got a number via http://www.grandcentral.com that I've succeeded in setting up a voicemail rickroll.

Day Old Goods.

This shelf, at a market in an upper-middle class area, used to be constantly full. Now with the economy this is regularly picked clean daily. Interesting what occurs as prices rise.

Sigh.

I'm so l33t I loaded an ssh program on my phone and configured it and the server to authenticate the connection using SSH-DSS encrypted keysets...so I can chat on bitchX.

I'm so freaking bored.

So It's Been A Month..

I've gotten a whopping two callbacks for jobs. Both gave me the same response "oh, well thank you anyway."

Should I have just stayed in Vegas?

Scenic Mulgore.

Holy crap.

47 percent of my recommended allowance of salt from a Starbucks sandwich.

Goodbye Vegas 8

Goodbye Vegas 7

Goodbye Vegas 6

Goodbye Vegas 5

Goodbye Vegas 4

Goodbye Vegas 3

Goodbye Vegas 2

Goodbye Vegas 1

Side talkin'

Aww yeah.

Just call me Steve McQueen..

I was escorted out of the building today, I had my cellphone begin playing the theme song to "The Great Escape". My former supervisor was doubled over in laughter the whole time.

Last Day Of Work..

Five years, done.
After this...moving to LA with no job and only savings to keep me afloat. I really need to find a job quickly.

I'm just a tad scared.

Top Shell: Mario Kart Wii

This, is a Mario Kart program. There will be no rubber banding, there will be no banana peels, no-one will lag, and at the end of the blog, no-one... will really care. Blogspot is our base, and this is our purpose-built Luigi Circuit test track. There are no traffic jams here, and no blue-shells either. We intend to drive each vehicle, and flog them mercilessly to see just what laptimes can be wrung from these two and four-wheeled rockets. This... is Top Shell!

In today's Top Shell: Meet the track, meet the driver, and find out what shampoo Peach uses to keep her hair managable.

Welcome to Luigi Circuit:

The opening track of the Flower Cup, this race course is relatively simple and free of any outside interference that could affect laptimes, making it our first choice for the Top Shell test track. After some negotiations with Luigi, he was more than willing to close off the track for our needs, and allow us to use his pipe-green Kooparii Testarossa as a grocery getter. What a guy!

And now, to meet our main driver. Some say his nightmares consist of a blue shell with four wheels, and Rainbow Road was his idea of a "relaxing Sunday drive"... All we know is, he's called The Stig.


Today's reviewed karts are the Standard M and the Wild Wing. The Standard, well what can you say really? It's average. Nominal. Adequate. Sure it has power steering, but there's no power windows. Or doors. Or even a roof. Hailing from Miisan Motors, the Standard M sets the standard -- pun possibly intended -- for the beginners kart. Easy to toss about, easy to recover, with enough power to the wheels for an enjoyable cruise.

The Wild Wing kart is a product of Mushroyota, with styling cues taken from their professional GT automobiles. It's a pity the engineers decided to adjust the gearing for high top end speeds at the severe expense of solid acceleration, and replaced the sublime suspension system from their roadracing vehicles with something I can only describe as "two tin cans and some chicken wire." Making this thing turn a corner is about as easy as making Mario stop appending an extra letter "a" in his speech pattern. However the Wild Wing does have a saving grace. Provided you can toss it into a corner, the kart will stick and give you a stable tail-out oversteering platform for all those showy drifts we know all the kids love these days.

With that said, here are The Stig's current kart laptimes for Luigi Circuit:
1st: 1'21.279" - Wild Wing
2nd: 1'23.562" - Standard M

Fastest Kart Lap: 0'26.941" -- Wild Wing

So there you have it. The Wild Wing kart sets a laptime just tenths of a second over a minute 21, and we have a feeling The Stig might be able to squeeze a faster lap on a future return to the Wild Wing. Coming up on future episodes of Top Shell:

• The Standard S & L -- Because if we did the Standard S&M our broadcast license would probably be revoked.
• The Classic Dragster -- A dragster, really? You know Top Shell does make turns right?
• The Super Blooper -- The name writes it's own review.

And more!

(to see more, in the future visit http://topshell.blogspot.com)

I Need A Point.

I need a point to this blog. Sure I could do World of Warcraft hunter rants, but BigRedKitty and other blogs already have that covered. Does the world need another hunter blog that beats to death the same points of traps, shot rotations, builds and gear?

I own a Wii. I could I do a Wii-based blog. Though.. how many other blogs are out there that actually have news and contacts with Nintendo and other development companies?


Current Events? No.
Politics? No.
Sports? Nah.

Sure I could just post entries into this blog for no reason but to post, but I'd like to have a reason for this place aside from "post random stuff." Ideas anyone?

What I Miss About Davis 3

Redrum Burger (aka Murder Burger). I've never been here yet, I keep meaning to do so.

The "Check Mii Out" Contests Suck.

Last week's contest was for "A Galaxy-Hopping Spaceship Captain." The winner was Darth Vader. In fact, practically all the top 50 were:

• Darth Vader
• Cylon
• Spock

Give me a break, no freaking creativity in the lot of them. The ones I chose? Looked like freaky aliens. Darth Vader never hopped between galaxies, much less was a spaceship captain! He was just some whiny kid from Tatooine.

Back Home

Safe and sound. Smoggy as hell though.

Hot Damn. They Still Sell It!

Rat Bastard root beer! I haven't seen this for sale in Las Vegas in years!

Picnic Day: Frat Parties

On this day more than any other there are wall to wall parties and people drinking like fish.

Weenie Dog Races!

One of the highlights of Picnic Day is the Doxie Derby. The gym gets packed and people place bets on the winner. Good times had by all.

Hahaha wow.

They actually have Wiis on sale here.

What I Miss About Davis 2

Fuzio Firecracker Pork Fusili

What I Miss About Davis 1

Fuzio restaurant.

Touchdown Sacramento!

Haven't been to this airport in 2.. 3 years? Miss the excitement of arriving here. Good to be back for a bit.

Off To Davis.

Time for Picnic Day'08. Hooray for weiner dog races!

One Thing I'll Miss...

Going out to Ichiza with friends. It's a great little Japanese pub with a variety of tasty vittles at very reasonable prices. I've not found anything close to a replacement locally, and so far I've not found a replacement in the whole of SoCal. I probably never will, as even friends who've lived there for years say there is nothing like Ichiza.

Damnit.

Two Week Notice Given

I turned in my resignation notice to the company I've worked at for the last 5 years.
Feels real odd. This is the first time I've willingly quit a job in ages. Will also probably put a kink in my raiding life for a while.

So I found this on the official WoW boards..

I don't know if this works or not, or how powerful of a video card you need so your frame rate doesn't drop to a crawl. Give it a shot.

1. Load WoW
2. Open up macros
3. Make this macro...

/console groundEffectDensity 256
/console groundEffectDist 140
/console detailDoodadAlpha 100
/console horizonfarclip 2112
/console farclip 777
/console characterAmbient
/console smallcull 0
/console skycloudlod 3

4. Run macro
5. Close WoW
6. Open WoW, go to somewhere like Terrokar forest (or another nice zone) and get ready to go "oooooooooooooooooooh!"

What does this do?!

- The vegetation can be seen from miles away (grass flowers etc) plus there seems to be FAR more of it.
- The "bloom" effect seems to be more vivid.
- The view distance is greatly increased.
- Everything seems to be more sharp and crisp.
- The weather effects appear to be more intense.

Example:
Before - http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/7130/12714657ae2.jpg
After - http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/2902/92707134gs2.jpg

*you need a really good video card for this*


To bring it back to the old way, macro this.

/console groundEffectDensity 16
/console groundEffectDist 1
/console horizonfarclip 1305
/console farclip 177
/console characterAmbient 1
/console smallcull 1
/console skycloudlod 1
/console detailDoodadAlpha 1

Super Kawaii Cthulhu-Chan!

A coworker did this to my Cthulhu one day while training with me. ^_____^v

First Real Post; A Spamhammering of Macros

Yes these are all probably macros that can be seen off wowwiki.com but I'm pasting my favorites here:

These two condense six of my most used Hunter Aspects into two easy to use macro buttons. First macro is Pack on right click, Beast on middle click, and Cheetah on left click.
Second macro is Viper on right click, Monkey on middle click, and Hawk on left click.

MACRO 16777236 "AotC/AotB/AotP" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/cast [button:2] Aspect of the Pack; [button:3] Aspect of the Beast; Aspect of the Cheetah
END
MACRO 16777234 "AotH/AotM/AotV" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/cast [button:2] Aspect of the Viper; [button:3] Aspect of the Monkey; Aspect of the Hawk
END

I call this macro "Max DPS" as it triggers my DPS trinket, and Bestial Wrath. It used to also trigger Rapid Fire but with my current weapon it was causing auto-shot clipping, so I dropped it from the macro. It's not to hard to add it back by putting /cast Rapid Fire into the macro:

MACRO 16777231 "AP Trink" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/use Bloodlust Brooch
/stopcasting
/cast Bestial Wrath
/stopcasting
/cast Auto Shot
END

Easy-Peasy Curator Macro. Click the button, target the flare, burn down. Lather rinse repeat:

MACRO 16777232 "AstralFlare" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/target astral flare
/petattack
/cast Auto Shot
END

Easy-Peasy Illhoof Macro. Click the button, burn down what it targets. Lather rinse repeat:

MACRO 16777238 "Illhoof" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/cleartarget
/target Demon Chains
/stopmacro [nodead, harm]
/target Kil'rek
/stopmacro [nodead, harm]
/target Terestian Illhoof
END

This one I use in Gruul's Lair if I'm backup tank on Kiggler. It keeps Scorpid Sting on Maulgar, which should help the tank avoid some damage from blows. I'm not sure if it works or not because I've never had a tank tell me "hey that was a great idea Mingo!" Use at your own risk:

MACRO 16777237 "Scorpid" INV_Misc_QuestionMark
/target High King Maulgar
/cast Scorpid Sting
/stopcasting
/target Kiggler the Crazed
/cast Auto Shot
END

The infamous "1 Butan Win" macro for Beast Master hunters. Keeps a constant rotation between Auto Shot and Steady Shot, weaving Kill Command when it triggers:

MACRO 16777228 "Steady Shot" Ability_Hunter_MasterMarksman
/script UIErrorsFrame:Hide()
/castsequence reset=3 Steady Shot, !Auto Shot
/cast [exists,target=pettarget] Kill Command
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear(); UIErrorsFrame:Show()
END

And this one? Well hey I'm on a roleplay server (Cenarion Circle) and people continually asked me how the Wrathfire Hand Cannon worked. So, I made a macro to tell them!

MACRO 16777227 "Wrathfire" Ability_Creature_Cursed_04
/s The exhaust gas from the main barrel is actually rerouted to the other four tubes to act as a both a muzzle break to increase long range accuracy, and to keep the barrel cool during extended periods of rapid fire.
/e beams
END

So there ya have it. Some of my favorite hunter macros.

160,000 miles.

I passed this at least 3 months ago. Woo.