Steven Brust's latest book came out in paperback yesterday. I picked it up after lunch and, two hours later, have almost finished it.
He's a wonderful author. He writes mostly fantasy, but he employs a lot of very nice tricks. And he works hard on continuity, which is always a problem with series.
I read too fast. I can down 400 pages in about two and a half hours, more if it's dense material, less if it's pulp fiction. I noticed some time ago that I tend to slow down when reading decent books... to make it last longer. Notice the use of "decent." I'm not sure if I can call books "good" anymore. I classify them as "decent" or "trash." A sub section of the second category is "my kinda trash." Laurell K. Hamilton used to be in that category before she dropped to soft, and then hard core porn masquerading as vampire horror.
Anyway, the Vlad Taltos series by Brust has an interesting take on the whole Michael Moorcock inspired soul eating weapon thing. I won't go into the details, but there is a reason I'm mentioning it.
I found the price I'll put on my WoW soul.
I'm gonna respec 0/41/20 MM sometime soon. I can't handle BM's lack of control anymore. I must have scattershot, silent shot, and hawk eye.
What brought me to this point? Playing Majeure, my mage.
My 67 mage was running around AV all weekend. This, gentle reader, you already know. I ended up with over 20k honor for the weekend. And Maj was kicking ass.
I spent most of the time on defense. And once, one magical moment, I caused an alliance wipe on Drek that saved the game.
If you are still reading at this point, if you didn't turn away in shock and disgust upon reading of my impending respec... well, you will need a stronger stomach now, my friends...
Melvin taught me all I know about AV. And I wiped em the Melvin way... Deep fire has a wonderful aoe stun spell. Blood elf mages have a very useful aoe silence... I snuck into the frostwolf keep when the allies had drek at 55%. A coupla hordies were ahead of me, and managed to take out the allies guarding the doorway... so when i came around the corner, and found all the healers and half the ranged dps in one batch... well..
Dragons breath (no heals for 3 sec)
count to 3...
Blast wave (some stuns)
Aoe Silence (2 secs)
... maj dies...
But I got to watch, as drek killed off his tanks during the silence, then began working his way down the threat chart...
And then I realized... I'd been doing the equivalent of leveling a holy spec priest... MM hunter is the pvp build. It has spells that reward skill far more than those in BM do. BM is far more effective in raiding... but simple damage doesn't cut it anymore.
Why do I feel so empty?
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7 comments:
Aiugh! I read the first sentence but missed the word 'paperback' and went tearing off in a gawdawful hurry trying to find out what the new Brust book was! Eventually I noticed that Dzur came out in paperback yesterday and realized my mistake ... but man, now I want more Vlad! *sigh*
For hunters, raiding is about "survival". Don't grab aggro, allow the tank and healer to do their job unhindered.
For hunters, PvP is about "killing". No matter what it takes, no matter the cost, you must kill before you are killed.
Silencing Shot prevents heals, which helps foster kills. Scatter Shot prevents heals, which helps foster kills.
A BM hunter can do more "damage" than a MM, but no hunter talents have the capability to hasten "kills" more than Scatter Shot and Silencing Shot. This is why MM is, frankly, better in more PvP situations.
BM hunters can destroy PvP NPCs, due to our inherent higher DPS, faster than a MM.
MM hunters can destroy PvP PCs due to their ability to interrupt healing and drop massive single-shot crits.
Don't feel dirty for going MM in PvP. Recognize the spec's potential and use it to its fullest potential, (which means you might want to consider 20/41/0...)
Just don't expect to top us on the damage-meter against Gruul.
/wave
BRK
Run with a partner and spec 0/31/30.
Don't feel bad. I've done the same on my mage. He's right at home in instances and completely out of his element in PvP. Your damage has to be rightquickfastnow and capable of interupting any healing that might take place. MM does that, especially with 2.3 coming out soon.
*drools at the thought of no deadzone*
Ultimately its comes down to 2 things:
1.Whats more important to you, PvE or PvP?
2.What spec do you have most fun with and are comfortable using?
You can spec MM, and still do good raid damage. You may not top damage meters but you can still carry more than your weight with skill. I'm a 2h MS warrior, specced for PvP and I still get top 3 in raid damage. I've never been beaten by another warrior, including fury ones. I'd never leave the spec b/c PvP is too important for me and I am good at the MS spec.
Do what is most fun!
Buckwild
Magtheridon
I think it also varies on opponents. I find BM to more helpful against shadow priests and warlocks. Since their main plan is DoT you up and fear you into death which is why TBW is helpful. I find it also to be good against mages as most times they'll sheep me or the pet and just mow them down whereas at least with TBW they can't freeze or sheep us.
Personally, its hard for me to respec just to do one thing like PvP or instances. I like to be good all around and I feel BM gives me that. If you want to do just PvP then I'd agree MM is going to do you well. If you just want to do Raids I'd say go Survival. But to do decent at PvP and well in raids/instances I'd stay BM.
You'll be missed as a BM hunter and hope you come back.
And what you did to those Allies trying to down Drek is just nasty and I'm glad you aren't in my battlegroup.
I had the same reaction as mania about the Brust book. Brust is one of the few authors whose work I am famished for and will purchase in hardback. Martin and Rowling are probably the only other two.
I'm a huge BRK fan, and my wife is specced BM because of him (been meaning to write him a thank-you), but I've suspected for some time that if I had a 60+ Hunter, I'd have to go MM for the reasons you've mentioned. Silent Shot is awesome, and Scatter Shot is nice as well.
<--- pally tank
@Mabd - I too know the feeling of betrayal. Dropping BM feels strange and makes pvp hard again. But you're 100% right marks rewards the good player the best in pvp.
Reduced Caster Dmg Incoming -> Silence and Scatter
Ability to shut down caster DPS 100% in the long run -> Vipersting with improved stings
Superior control -> Scattershot & Entrapment
Superior Burst -> 40%crit Multishot with higher ap and 12% bonus DMG
The cost? You mess up you gonna die. You cant BRK your way out of trouble.
@BRK 20/41/0 = nono for pvp. The pet dps increase is nice but your pet often gets roasted in arena. The other thing is you're going to lose som important things from survival mainly hawkeye, entrapment, deterence and surefooted.
Surefooted is like a mini BW allowing you to resist a fair number of snares and roots wasting enemy cds. Hawk eye is a must since you dont have BW to get out of trouble you need all the head start you can get!
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