Ranged DPS

PuGs and Premades

2010-06-08T21:16:00.003-04:00

In games like World of Warcraft and Aion, where forming groups is mandatory for certain instances/zones, PuGs are generally looked down upon as being 'inferior' to pre-made groups. What people tend not to realize is that it's not necessarily about whether the people in your group are strangers you've never played with, or your best friends. It's about the skill of each individual member, and their ability to adapt and synergize with the rest of the group for better overall performance.

True, the longer a group of players work together and the more positive the feelings towards (working with) each other the better performance will be, but it's also very probable that a group of highly experienced players, who have never played with each other, would perform vastly better than group of casual or inexperienced friends playing together. Playing in a set group with the same people will lead the members of said group to become familiar with each others' playstyles, and allow them to anticipate moves and how best to complement those moves. On the other hand, an experienced player is likely to be more familiar with game mechanics in general, and be much quicker and know more ways to modify his/her own actions to suit the group's needs.

The point of this post is to say that if you think that a premade group will automatically triumph over PuGs, you may be in for a nasty surprise. It's about the players involved, not just whether you're in a "PuG" or "premade."

update!

2010-05-25T14:06:00.002-04:00

It's been a long time since I updated this blog.

Much has happened, much has changed!

I stopped playing WoW a couple weeks after Ulduar release - all the drama and fail got to me. I now play Aion, and yes you guessed it - my character is a Ranger.

I am also now in college, which means no more of those parentspike issues I used to have.

I plan on continuing this blog, but only after a major revamp.
Stay tuned!

dA post

2009-09-30T00:48:00.002-04:00

Neopets/Stalking Grounds. I left (got banned) once because of another member who was more experienced at drama and pinned the blame on me. Drama carried over onto dA, and resulted in a ban (!janishta) 2 years later I went back again, but only for a couple weeks before I lost interest in favor of WoW.

Runescape I left because of a membership billing issue that put my account under lockdown for owing Jagex money. By that time I had become pretty bored with the game, so I didn't feel much loss when I decided to not bother trying to restore my account.

Maplestory... I will say this with all honesty, best goddamn time of my e-life. For those that have only recently experienced/learned about MS, it was an entirely different game back when I played. Back then, there wasn't fourth job. Hell, there wasn't even third job. Cash Shop hadn't come out. ...much was different. Back on topic though, the social aspect of MS. Contrary to most MMOs out nowadays, MS has a buddy system where your messages typed in the 'Buddy Chat' channel can be seen by ALL your buddies. As not all your buddies will be friends with each other, you'd often end up overhearing one-sided conversations and broadcasting announcements to all of your friends at once. It was a strange system, but back then I hadn't played any other MMOs aside from RS... so, I wasn't battling with any preconceptions. I was around to witness the implementation of Guilds, Cash Shop, third job, and fourth job. I quit shortly after the introduction if iTCG items. My good memories of MS are largely linked to the guild I was in, Archer Council. The AC used to be a rather large forum comprised of various players who had archer-type characters. What I loved most about that place, was that it didn't discriminate. Perhaps the cuteness and low-stress environment of MS (back then) made everyone relax, or perhaps (more unlikely) I simply got very very lucky and met a group of people I could get along with well. There really wasn't much skill involved in the game. I could even play on dial-up. The people in AC... accepted me for who I was. I didn't lie about my age (I was barely 13 when I first started playing MS) and the age range of the people I interacted with was huge. There was little to no drama. We had fun, had in-game meetings with mini-contests and rewards, but never with rewards that would make people jealous. I made friends with several artists in the Council, who were a major inspiration and helped spearhead my artistic progress. I was somewhat of a mascot within my guild, with my unending hope and optimism, and young outlook on life. I miss that part of myself. The downfall of AC began with the introduction of guilds to MS, I suppose. Back then guilds were 30 members max, so we had to divide up into squads in order to fit everyone in a guild. People from other servers joined, and of course we couldn't play with people from another server. The final blow was, ironically, the Council leader suddenly ditching all of us to go play WoW. The second-in-command was very driven by whims, and unsuitable for suddenly shouldering the weight of the entire AC... we broke apart, although me and a few others stuck it out for a while and tried to revive things. Eventually that didn't work and I became more or less solo on MS, while talking to people on my buddylist. The advent of fourth job and high level raid bosses (Zakum, Horntail) spelled the end for me. The elitism and discrimination that I now look upon with such disgust crept into MS, except in this game it wasn't about skill, gear, or Achievements - it was about how many (thousands of) hours you spent leveling your character. It was at that point that I essentially hit a wall. I no longer wanted to invest my time in grind that increased exponentially with each level. It was also getting harder and harder to find good grind spots/deal with KSing as the number of players increased. The AC was gone. The time invested v.s. reward ratio was no longer appealing to me. I had been talking quite a lot with :devninjahbu: in real life, and he got me into..

GuildWars. Back then, Nightfall was relatively new. I found the game fun, although by modern standards we were both extremely noob. I had difficulty earning money and we wiped a lot due to using inefficient builds. My interest in GW at that time was mild at best. I played when I felt like it, and not when I didn't.

PerfectWorld MY-EN (the Malaysian version of the game) entered open beta during this period of time. I heard about it from a friend at school and checked it out. The beautiful graphics, flight, and music won me over instantly. I met one friend on PW who I still talk to today. This friend and I went from guild to guild, but we encountered guild drama. The territory ownership and PK features of PW led to negative sentiments and rivalries. I also felt that the FBs (dungeons) were disproportionately difficult for on-level characters. Aggro also went flying all over the place. Back when I played, there were nowhere near as many quests as there are in the game today. As a result, loneliness and leveling block caught up with me at level 53 and I quit once more.

Following this, I experienced a long lull in which I spent more time drawing, and posting on Gaia. My friend from PW got me interested in R.A. Salvatore's books, and I spent a while fascinated with Drow. I still am very interested in Drow and Forgotten Realms lore, but not to the point of obsession as before. During that time I met and befriended :devspoonzmeister: over shared interest in Gaia and .hack. I opened and closed 3 art shops. Each time, I left because of being burnt out/receiving too many requests, as well as seeing the work of other artists and feeling despair. I have a negative reaction to extreme inferiority. Instead of being motivated to improve, I enter a passive-aggressive state where I become very counterproductive and moody. The Gaia community was also extremely active, which meant frequent bumps were needed to keep art threads on the front page. This tired me, as well as the knowledge that all of the contests I saw being hosted I had no chance of winning. (This isn't pessimism, it's truth.) By nature of the avatars, Gaia was also a very anime/chibi-centered place. I drew (draw) in a serious, semi-realistic anime style that had no chance from the beginning. I tried to draw in the popular styles around Gaia, but trying to deny my own halfassed style was disastrous (my art came out terrible and I had no interest in it) and burnt me out even more quickly. Eventually Gaia's overemphasis on cash shop, as well as the unforgiving community (unforgiving because of how vast it is...) led me to quit. I still update my profile once in a while, and my avatar's outfit once in ten whiles, but I'll never be really active on there any more.

I spent a short period of time playing CABAL Online, during which I joined a guild named . I played until level 71, when I also began to get burnt out. The lack of variety in the game (you were playing on the same three maps from levels 1-50, with only two types of instances) was mind-numbing and as it became also Cash Shop-oriented, I quit. From what I heard, the guild broke up not long after.

Mabinogi was my next big game. (I should mention that I have tried a lot of other free MMOs, but quit so quickly that there's nothing worth mentioning.) I played immediately when the game launched (I was a few days too late to sign up for closed beta) but lost interest rather quickly. I returned to the game during a lull in WoW and found some of my old friends. I went through G1 and started on G2, before the game suddenly filled me with disgust -- Mabinogi is toted as being a strategic, rock-paper-scissors based MMO with 'virtual life' (RS) elements built in. However, it had also given rise to an extreme class of elitists and the combat was anything but balanced. The elitists lived by the credo of "a level 1 can accomplish ANYTHING. If you're dying/failing, it's because you suck and you're doing it WRONG." There was an extremely steep learning curve and from my experience, there were NO ' pros' who held sympathy to less experienced players. I regret having quit Mabinogi so early on. If I had kept going, I would've progressed and become a veteran player alongside those that are now considered pros. I more or less ragequit Mabinogi after getting into an argument with a middle schooler about proness.

WoW - I don't think I need to write more about this. I've already detailed it in many, many journals.

---

Guild Wars Redux - After falling out with WoW, I returned to GW. It was the only game where not having played for a while didn't put me so far behind that I had no chance of getting up to speed again. This time around I paid more attention to meta builds, read guides, and started farming. My original intention had been to obtain a Voltaic Spear through farming. Along the way I began checking GW Guru again, which then led to me opening a commission "shop" on the Nolani boards (Guru's art subforum.) I have studiously avoided using the word "shop" on guru, because the term implies a focus on money as opposed to art. There were already a couple of artists offering commissions by the time I made myself known on Nolani, but I brought my past Gaia experience with me and set a new standard for commission threads - that is, highly organized and colorful introduction posts. I suppose, given this, I am to blame for what happened next. My thread was originally intended to operate only until I had enough money to afford a VS in-game. However, I met several friends through my art shop (I don't think they want their names known, so I'm not going to reveal who they are) as well as... several enemies. Around that time I developed a new art style (seen in the back half of my :devduranin: gallery) and instead decided to make my shop permanent. Back then Nolani was, to use an analogy, a sleepy little medieval village. In comparison it is now New York.

Nolani changed drastically in the following months after my arrival. Several other art threads became active again, and an alarming number of new artists suddenly appeared, each opening up an art shop as well. I had the sinking feeling that my own thread's success had attracted 'artists' who were more interested in money than actual art. How do I define art? Certainly not by skill or content. It's the spirit. Although I ran my thread as a shop (in all but name,) the characters I drew were still largely dictated by what I wanted to draw. I drew because I liked to draw. The money was more or less a side feature that remained after my quest for a Voltaic Spear was completed. I was swamped with requests, and over the months the price for a waist-up CG went from 30 Platinum to a horrific 20 ectos (~80k) and 40e (~160k.) Why did I raise my prices? Your guess is as good as mine. My stock answer is that I had too many requests and wanted to thin the crowd/make people spend longer getting the money, so I had more time in between requests. To be honest, though, I think I was getting bold. Past commissioners advised me to raise my prices. So I did. There was then a sudden random influx of chibi artists, several of whom were also ex-Gaia shop owners. Most faded away in under a month, but it caused several of the preexisting artists to add chibis to their commission threads. I did it too, after some deliberation. I had originally intended it to be sarcasm, because chibi + GW = spoiled atmosphere. A few months ago, Nolani positively exploded in activity. In the center of this activity were two artists who painted at a much higher level of professionalism than pretty much anyone else on Nolani. Some ridiculously rich players, including an entire guild [yumy] began to visit the subforum in search of high-end art. With the distinction of 'high-end' came, once again, elitism. As mentioned above I have a terrible reaction to elitism. To add on to that, I politely (I think?) but defensively declined to listen to their almighty suggestions on how to improve my art. I don't think they took that particularly well. Even more recently Nolani became a money-fest. Bribes and auctions were all over the place. Bribes/auctions disguised as contests. Rich people making threads asking for the artists to come to them.

I've been in drama before, but this was the first time online that I was being actively singled out for trolling. From? You guessed it, the top two artists - most notably BlueXIV, (he hasn't revealed a dA account) as well as YunSooJin, the richest person on Nolani. I'm not an adoring fan who religiously listens to every morsel of professional advice that is offered, so I'm out to get you. Right. Right?!

Yes, I'm calling you guys out. Stop being such narrow-minded dicks.
I feel sorry for whatever has happened in your lives that make you people such miserable elitist sadists, but I don't need to be involved.
Am I fed up? Yes. Am I near tears? Sadly no.
I'm pissed, plain and simple.

Forums are not my playing ground. I have no interest in e-peen, popularity, trolling or otherwise. I leave Nolani of my own accord, not because you're trying to speed up my departure.

All things aside, though, this vent has made me feel much better.

I don't care either way whether anyone feels like having some words with the people I mentioned above, but if you do, refer to me as duranin or Lumi/Araiia.

quick update

2009-02-09T23:07:00.006-05:00

So, so much has happened over the last 2 months I can't even begin to describe. This is just a short post with a crude video I recorded of my (new) guild downing Sarth with 3 Drakes - "the hardest encounter in 3.0.8"

Excuse random sounds/coughing you may hear in the video >.> Wegame apparently records sounds coming out of my mic.

A much more in-depth post coming hopefully later this week.

And again, sorry for the inactivity! Glad I'm getting things under control though.

Loot Rules + Aina in Northrend

2008-12-31T13:30:00.007-05:00

Aina (Janishta) bashes heads with someone ("xxx") on AIM over loot rules.

xxx (2:09:09 AM): i think the whole dkp system is overrated and antiquated, but hey, it seems that some people still feel the need to hold fast to some aspects of the old 40 man raids
Janishta (2:09:22 AM): I support EPGP
Janishta (2:09:54 AM): I'd rather have a good group to raid with rather than QQing about how unfair the loot system is
xxx (2:09:57 AM): its a ghost of the 40 man days
Janishta (2:09:59 AM): at least it's not loot council or favoritism
Janishta (2:10:02 AM): I don't care.
Janishta (2:10:08 AM): I can't have everything
Janishta (2:10:13 AM): so I'm gonna pick what I value most.
xxx (2:11:15 AM): maybe someday you will understand, understand just what dkp can do to a guild
xxx (2:11:44 AM): and what it can do to people involved with it
Janishta (2:12:03 AM): I
Janishta (2:12:04 AM): have
Janishta (2:12:05 AM): been
Janishta (2:12:05 AM): in
Janishta (2:12:06 AM): many
Janishta (2:12:07 AM): guilds
Janishta (2:12:07 AM): with
Janishta (2:12:08 AM): many
Janishta (2:12:09 AM): different
Janishta (2:12:10 AM): loot
Janishta (2:12:10 AM): systems.
Janishta (2:12:14 AM): I
Janishta (2:12:15 AM): did
Janishta (2:12:15 AM): not
Janishta (2:12:16 AM): say
Janishta (2:12:17 AM): I support
Janishta (2:12:18 AM): dkp
Janishta (2:12:19 AM): .
xxx (2:14:22 AM): i just hope you do come to understand why I have my stance on DKP and all of its derivative looting and raid attendance systems
Janishta (2:14:55 AM): I don't know where you got the idea that I have any problem with you not liking DKP or JR's rules.
xxx (2:15:24 AM): its not about that
Janishta (2:15:28 AM): ...
xxx (2:16:34 AM): what I am saying is this, DKP and all similar forms of looting priority systems need to be retired, period
Janishta (2:16:51 AM): good luck making that happen.
xxx (2:17:54 AM): what I instead support is a probation period/ necessity system
Janishta (2:18:24 AM): necessity system?
xxx (2:19:03 AM): loot distribution would be based on main spec and comparison of raider's gear
Janishta (2:19:19 AM): Loot council without the theoretical bias.
xxx (2:19:44 AM): basically
Janishta (2:20:01 AM): Name the guild that made you decide this is the loot system of choice.
xxx (2:21:00 AM): the person with the weakest piece of gear vying for the upgrade gets the loot, of course this will hold true only if they have proven themselves productive in the guild
xxx (2:22:02 AM): no guild has actually run this system, ive just dealt with dkp, epgp, and many similar systems like it that have made me decide this is the best approach to things
Janishta (2:22:30 AM): Ideally yes
Janishta (2:23:35 AM): If you want to run a guild and keep tabs on who has actually put in the effort and deserves/needs the loot most, go ahead. You're going to get a shitton of grumbling from the players who attend every raid and did their heroics.
xxx (2:23:36 AM): the way this would work though is those vying for the piece of loot post what they are currently wearing in raid chat and the decision is made according to who would need the piece the most
Janishta (2:24:17 AM): Something called reality has made me stop being an idealist.
xxx (2:24:42 AM): dkp and crap like it desroys guilds, causes drama
Janishta (2:25:16 AM): It depends on the members too
xxx (2:25:24 AM): ive seen atleast 6 guilds ripped apart over arguing about dkp, epgp an similar systems
Janishta (2:25:33 AM): Then those guilds failed
Janishta (2:26:14 AM): You'd think there's a REASON why guilds still use DKP/EPGP systems. If it really sucked so much, wouldn't all the DKP/EPGP guilds be disbanded and people flocking to "new age" guilds that use your ideal system?
xxx (2:27:22 AM): as i said, theyre clinging to old methods that really have no place in the game since the raid groups were downsized
Janishta (2:27:50 AM): On the contrary I think the smaller raid sizes have helped keep them alive
xxx (2:27:55 AM): these systems were perfect for 40 man raids because of the sheer size of each raids
Janishta (2:27:57 AM): There's less people vying for loot
xxx (2:27:59 AM): raid*
Janishta (2:28:13 AM): It's not so "THE RULES" anymore
Janishta (2:30:15 AM): I'm not saying everyone, but in JR there exists something called the officer override in which an officer decides someone should get the loot instead of whoever has the most dkp. This is done openly in raid chat and only with good reason. It's usually backed and agreed upon by the majority of the guild
Janishta (2:30:22 AM): But for the most part
Janishta (2:30:25 AM): people aren't douches.
Janishta (2:30:38 AM): If someone really wants something
Janishta (2:30:46 AM): or a piece of loot is a HUGE upgrade for them
Janishta (2:30:55 AM): then hell we'll pass so he can get it
Janishta (2:31:27 AM): As to the issue of guild hoppers and new members
Janishta (2:31:40 AM): We've had a core group for quite a while.
Janishta (2:31:59 AM): Our ability to cooperate and not raise drama or be selfish over loot has been tested over time
Janishta (2:32:16 AM): people who don't fit in/don't meet our requirements either gquit or are kicked.
Janishta (2:32:38 AM): Those that do are welcomed rather quickly imo and no drama arises.
Janishta (2:32:54 AM): I don't think it's the -BEST- system but we have class leads
Janishta (2:33:04 AM): From what I'm aware of
Janishta (2:33:13 AM): within each class the members are pretty close-knit
Janishta (2:33:31 AM): There's competition between classes, ie hunters and rogues/dps warriors
Janishta (2:33:57 AM): but it's really just not worth raising drama about.
Janishta (2:34:16 AM): Nobody is "alone" in the guild
Janishta (2:34:28 AM): Every other raider is not "against you"
xxx (2:35:28 AM): ive just seen so many meltdowns over number based loot systems, thats all
xxx (2:37:17 AM): the drama has left a ver bad taste in my mouth regarding them
xxx (2:37:24 AM): very*
Janishta (2:38:07 AM): You've got your fixed notions so I'm not going to keep ranting to a deaf wall. It works for JR, it works for our members, it has worked, when it stops working we'll adopt a new system out of necessity. We can all have our own views on loot systems, although I still don't get why your person bad experiences should mean that all guilds that aren't ideallistic in your eyes should be condemned. It's like saying the "A B C D" grading system should go because it doesn't differentiate between someone who got a 100% and a 89.5% but does 89.5% and 89.4%. I've had my GPA fucked over by 0.1% in the past, and so have many people, but I highly doubt it's gonna be changed.

On another note! I am back. The last month and a half has been very interesting, starting with wide-eyed oogling at the pretty Northrend zones (I wasn't selected for the beta, so it was all new for me,) playing around on my Death Knight, then a heavy levelling crunch to get to 80. I didn't level very fast, but I paced myself and levelled at a steady pace. I hit 80 in about 10 days, just in time to snag some gold from my guild's levelling contest. I skipped Sholazaar Basin after getting very lucky with finding Loque, and finally hit 80 on my last few quests in Storm Peaks.

I could write a guide on where to level, but there's tons of guides like that as it is. All I'll say is this -- start in either Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, then go to Dragonblight, and then Grizzly Hills. After that it's up to you whether you want to go to Sholazaar (it's like Un'goro) or Zul'Drak. Icecrown and Storm Peaks are also up to you, depending on whether you like dark blue or light purple landscapes.

There are some pretty awesome storylines that you'll see in LK, one culminating in a very nice cinematic. Along with this comes something else in WotLK - changing non-instance zones. You'll notice this most prominently in Storm Peaks and the Shadow Vault in Icecrown. As you complete quests, the NPCs and in some places also the scenery change to reflect your progression in the "story." It led to some confusion when I tried to meet up with guildies at one of these zones and she hadn't completed the quests up to where I was yet, though.

Storm Peaks also introduces the second "enter this zone and change into something else" type concept in an xpac, the first being the Dragonmaw Orcs in Shadowmoon Valley. This time you turn into a giant blue warrior lady.

Just as I did shortly after hitting 70, a few days after I became 80, I attended my first raid. What can I say? It's Naxx. My gear has changed a lot, and I now have but one piece of non-80 loot remaining: my cloak. I have gone from BC colours (green, brown, gold, and red) to Black and Gold. Things are changing -- I may be getting a new title soon.

p.s. as a response to my previous post - things are improving, depending on how you look at it. My 10-man group isn't motivated enough to knock our heads against Malygos more than a few attempts a week, and lord knows we're not gonna down him this way. But on the other hand, my gear is pretty decent now and is almost up to pre-Ulduar standards. Lag has been raping many guilds that raid during our times in Naxx, slowing our progress. I'm on pretty smooth terms with everyone in the guild now, though, and the folks who put me on standby the first week of 10 mans are now thankful for my DPS.

complications

2008-11-26T22:15:00.003-05:00

why do I even put up with this shit?

So today I basically got hardcore stomped on by the people in charge. We were short a healer for Naxx10, so I asked a friend on my buddylist if she'd like to help heal. She comes, she heals. Guess what? The GM then says that I can't raid, because I logged on 17 minutes late... yesterday. I don't get any credit for helping refer my healer friend to the raid. To quote a friend's example, it's like inviting someone to a BT raid because the player has shadow resist cauldrons, and after everyone's looted SR potions, that person gets kicked because they're not needed any more.

Several people have been trying to tell me that hey, it's no big deal, as soon as there are enough people the guild will just do 25 mans instead -- a situation where DPS spots aren't so damn limited.

True, but that's not the point. I'm appalled and disgusted by how political and unreasoningly the raids and by extension the guild is being run. There was some shit that happened post-patch that caused a stir in the guild, but that has been seemingly forgotten -- or it's not mentioned, in any case. I have seen no improvements.

I consider myself a very loyal guildie and raider, and I always try my best to not screw up. But.. this time, I'm not going to accept this. I take pride in my own reputation and performance in WoW, and I will not stoop down to being a standby raider for trivialities that are really nothing but excuses. I will attempt to help further my guild's goals yes, but only if the guild has earned and continues to keep my respect. If they didn't want me in the raid from the start, why should I come begging for a spot later, when one of the other raiders has to go or they've finally admitted I do better DPS?

I don't want consolation. I won't listen to rebukes. This is a rant, pure and simple, and a raider's outcry against the shit that she sees going on around her.

p.s. I'm sorry for not posting any real blogs -- it has been hectic lately.

Better than You

2008-11-15T13:21:00.005-05:00

This is a rant.

As you all know, there are many different types of guilds on WoW. There are hardcore, high-end raiding guilds. There are mid-core high-end raiding guilds. There are casual raiding guilds. There are levelling guilds. There are PvP guilds. There are also guilds made of a group of close friends.

But what makes a guild a good guild? What makes a guild respected?

It certainly isn't just being the first/best at something. I haven't done an actual poll, but just keeping my ears open I've noticed that in general, people have a negative impression of the highest-progression raiding guilds on my server. I agree wholeheartedly - with high time-spent-playing requirements and gear requirements, it's hard for them not to come off as elitists. But lots of guilds have requirements.

This is where the second factor comes in: the players.

The way you act is an extension of the kinds of people a guild accepts in its ranks.

If every player I've met from a certain guild is elitist, quick to anger and talks trash? Well damn, guess what I think of your guild now.

Please people, if it's not worth it, stop dirtying other people's impressions of your precious high-end 1337 guilds. Thanks.

Unity & Change

2008-11-07T00:45:00.007-05:00

WOTLK comes in less than a week!

I've been very busy and preoccupied lately with college apps, just staying up to date on things takes up most of my time hence new blog posts being few and far between.

Going back to the first sentence of this post -- I was really disappointed when I found out that I'd missed out on the chance to preorder a collector's edition of wotlk. My consolation is that I save 30-some dollars at the cost of a minipet.

I have unfortunately not been selected for wotlk beta. I have to wait til release to experience the new content, but on the flip side all my effort and enthusiasm will be poured into actual, live gameplay instead of on a beta server that will be wiped anyways.

I've already reserved a name for my DK -- hell, I've even started coming up with her biography already. >.>

...

The main reason I look forward to wotlk, however, is the promise of a change (be it good or bad) to the situation with Jolly Rogers. We've held up impressively in the face of expansionitis, maintaining 20+ raid attendance long after other guilds started slacking off. In the last week, however, it seems like we're finally falling prey to it too, among other things. Some of our raiders have left due to RL/financial issues, and another raider left because of drama that he started.

I've never been with a guild from beginning to end, but I've seen the fall of many guilds. Wotlk promises to spur some new action and hopefully prevent JR from stagnating.

Recent events, detailed on my art site, have caused a lot of unrest within the guild. I am as of now uncertain about my future in WoW - I definitely wish to continue raiding with familiar (and proven to be competent) faces however.

...

Today I left my guild on GuildWars. (Yes.. I play that too, just nowhere near as seriously as WoW) It was a very small guild, composed of mostly real life friends. Two members in particular made me sick, and today I just couldn't stomach it any longer.

(inc teenage rant. cover your eyes.)
You see, there's this girl. The only other girl in the guild. Then there's this guy, who coddles her and showers her with items and compliments whenever she does anything correctly. It's very one-sided. She didn't ever return any of the guy's favors--or affections. Several other members of the guild had confessed to finding it annoying, but didn't do anything about it. I find the girl somewhat intimidating. She is decidedly more 'girly' than me on vent, but ingame seems to lack any sort of humor whatsoever. I found it difficult to even type to her ingame. I suppose she didn't like me very much either. Girl hostility or something.
Long story short, today she started putting up an attitude in guild chat and butting into a gameplay-related conversation that I was having with the guy who likes her, and I just decided screw it. I gained no joy from being in this small guild.

I have always, and will continue to, rely on my own skill as a gamer to earn my place in a society of gamers. When people cheat the system, it makes me mad. Simple as that. Since my early MapleStory days, noman has ever given me any sort of freebie or special treatment based on my gender. Even though I would actually become offended if I was patronized and made exceptions for, seeing others receive such help will always be a pet peeve of mine.

I am now looking for a new American server PvE-oriented guild on GW. I'm not picky about the faction, although I favor the Luxons ever so slightly more.

When shit's going on, something has to change.

Loot, Achievement, Effort, Guild, Guildmates, and Self

2008-10-24T04:04:00.010-04:00

Wednesday we downed Council for the first time. Thursday, Illidan followed suit.

I had the foresight to run Wegame and film as much of our attempts as I could. I was unable to catch the entire fight, but I have uploaded a part of it. In it you can see my UI in all its glitchy (especially the minimap) boss mod-less glory, me nearly going OOM, and Illidan rape, Hunter-style. It's worth noting that our Hunter class lead respecced to Marksman, and was not one of the top two shown on Recount.

Many of our guild's officers went on a T6-DKP-spending-spree, screenshots were taken, and us raiders got a shiny new Black Temple achievement for our effort. We are now setting our sights on Sunwell, and while none of us are overconfident about our ability to get to Kil'jaeden before xpac, we expect to get at least a boss or two down in the following weeks.

Amidst all this progress and hubbub, however.. I've told myself to slow down and think through everything that's going on. Playing a game, raiding on WoW, seems so simple in concept. Yet it is inevitably political and cliquey.

Why do people raid?

The simplest answer is of course, to have fun. But what, then, brings a person joy? I have known through my journey from a newly turned 70 to a BT (and soon SW!) raider several players who raided purely for self gain. Then there are the others who raid because they want to "experience all the content" that they paid for when buying and subscribing to WoW. Some people just like to see results. Others yet, and these people I admire, are dedicated members of a guild and seek to help the guild as a whole become greater. I've heard the claim many times but I've usually found ulterior motives. Raiding with and for your guildmates is sort of different, the main purpose then being to make as many people happy as possible.

I have said this in various forums, but I would personally rank my own reasons for raiding to be 30% loot, 20% progression/experience, and 50% social relations.

--5 am, will add more later--

haste, crit, and AP

2008-10-14T00:36:00.004-04:00

Given that 3.0 (and no Auto Shot clipping!?!) is coming out in about half a day, I did some offhanded DPS testing at Dr. Boom in Netherstorm. (Great ranged DPS testing spot, I tell ya.)

I was curious to see how my various items would perform.
I switched between the Blade of Harbringers and Legacy. Haste and crit versus AP.
As for my trinkets, I switched Bloodlust Brooch and Hourglass of the Unraveller. AP versus crit + proc.
For the purpose of my test I didn't use any cooldowns, and used Aspect of the Viper so that I could get more (accurate) data without factoring in imp.AoH. I banged away at the elite with my 3.2 rotation until I went OOM.

Try 1 - Haste and AP (30.18% crit, 1849 AP) - 678 DPS - 33% crit with steady, 24% crit with auto
Try 2 - Haste and crit + proc (31.63% crit, 1777 AP) - 734 DPS - 36%,29% - trinket only procced twice
Try 3 - AP and AP (28.69% crit, 1861 AP) - 695 DPS - 31%,23%
Try 4 - AP and crit + proc (30.14% crit, 1789 AP) - 668 DPS - 23%,27% - trinket only procced once

Conclusion - The faster I shoot, the more chances I have for crit hits, and the higher chance that I'll proc the Hourglass.

Now, I'm sure there's calculation nerds out there who would disprove this. I can already see a flaw - my crit percentages are hellishly inconsistant. Try 2, while yielding highest DPS, also gave highest crit%. Thus I can't tell if the higher DPS is due to that really being the best gear combination or whether it was just luck. The other 3 tries showed no significant difference in DPS.

Musings on Inconsistancy

2008-10-10T01:45:00.010-04:00

Guild first on Mother Shahraz tonight!

-----aynways-----

The wide range of inconsistancies regarding my position on the damage charts from boss to boss in BT perplexes me.

I am always, always first in damage done on Mother Shahraz (if I don't die, of course) regardless of how many Fatal Attractions I get. The other two hunters in my guild are usually a few spots down.

I'm usually in the top 6 DPSers on Supremus and Naj'entus, although not the top because my gear's still on the low side of the guild as a whole.

I usually get assigned to a adds group on Akama, so my damage isn't so hot on there.

On Reliquary of Souls, however -- I'm usually straggling barely a few spots above the tanks. Why is this? I can't think of any logical reasons. I use the same brain, rotation, ammo, and gear on every fight except for Mommie. No matter what I try I can't raise my damage on RoS even though my DPS is up there.

Why, why? With the removal of 5 pieces of gear for the SR set on Shahraz, that evens out any gear inequalities in the cape/bracer/belt/leg/boot areas. Both of the other Hunters outgear me helm/neck/shoulder/trinket-wise, though. I suppose it could be playstyle. Both of the other two Hunters use Aspect of the Hawk at the beginning of the Mom fight, chugging mana potions and switching to Viper when they run out. I used Aspect of the Viper from the beginning, switching to Hawk near the end when it was time to pop cooldowns and burn her. I also used Mana Tap/Arcane Torrent throughout the fight. Small mana gains, but gains nontheless.

Also, a little +crit can go a long way.

Outfitter

2008-10-02T21:06:00.008-04:00

I'm not going to lie, I'm horrible at money management.

I hate (and often skip) doing dailies, yet I spend upwards of 50g every raid day on flasks, repair, and ammo. Especially on progression nights, when there's a ton of wiping.

I strongly recommend getting the Outfitter addon if you can aggro wipe/leave combat on command.

This addon has saved me a respectable amount of gold now. The key lies in its feature to remove/equip every slot of your gear with the click of a macro button. If a wipe is imminent and the raid leaders have given the word to "wipe it up," simply Feign Death to exit combat and hit the macro to strip your character. Provided your inventory has enough room, of course.

It requires a little setup, but it's simple and the benefits well worth it.

the I in team

2008-09-22T00:26:00.005-04:00

"there is no I in team"

Our journey from the Night Elf Village to dancing on Archimonde's shoulderpads was a long one. Weeks, weeks and hours of effort were spent attempting to down the end boss of Hyjal in an organized manner.

Stay with your decurser, kite the fire AWAY from the melee. Don't crater.

We went from wiping at 80% to 60%, and then 50%.

In the end, on our last attempt, something changed: stay near a healer. And don't suck!

After many tries wiping on Archimonde, we downed him by removing previous instructions and making it more or less a free-for-all.

The Archimonde fight is, as most guides put it, a battle for survival.
This means watching out for yourself. As a BM Hunter, that's relatively simple. Bestial Wrath provides a nice immunity to Fear if you time it right, making the healers' job simpler and also giving you an extra safety net.

There is in fact an I in every team. Teams are composed of individuals, after all. I believe our final success was a combination of the healers/decursers watching out for everyone else, and everyone watching out for themselves.

RangeDPS, the blog.

2008-09-21T19:09:00.002-04:00

Soo... Ainaste made a blog.

....

*cricket*

Yay. I have the impression that I'm supposed to use this post as some sort of intro, but I've got nothing fancy to say. Well, this is going to be a blog of my (Ainaste's) adventures in Azeroth as a raider, hunter, girl, and artist. Expect some reflections on the past, analysis, and a ton of QQ. >o>

You may notice that this blog is titled 'rangedps.' While I am only playing a Hunter right now, I do intend on levelling my Priest and Warlock later. So I might expand this to include other ranged DPS classes later on.