Brawler’s Guild: Rank 8

Posted: by Arth


Since Brawler’s Guild came out, I was always slightly behind the curve set by the hardcore raiders. My guild’s team is decidedly casual, and I couldn’t tackle the same bosses with much lower ilvl. But it was still enough for many who were working through the ranks of Brawler’s.

But now, at Rank 8, I have to wave the white flag. My team hasn’t raided regularly for, well, a while. And without a raid team to gear up for, I can’t stay motivated to run LFRs on my own each week. WoW’s a social experience for me…ONLY getting gear quickly becomes work, not play.

As such, I’m stuck a bit behind where I’ll likely need to be to complete Rank 8 in a timely fashion. But I don’t want to leave the WHU guides unfinished, nor do I want to wait months to release guides.

So there’s some tips below. These are cobbled together from my own attempts (where I can make a good showing of a few of the bosses, if not beat them outright), and various guides that I used to help me research them.

Rank 8 bosses are random, not linear like Ranks 1-7, so you could face any of these bosses.

Zen’Shar (Giant Eyeball)

By most accounts, this is the easiest of the bunch. And I’ve found that to be true as well. If there’s a boss I might be able to eek out at my current ilvl (492), it’s this one (Update: scratch “might,” I’ve had him beneath 2%, largely unbuffed, though I still haven’t killed him).

  • SV is (usually) the spec of choice here, because the opening phase features a quick but intense AoE burn.
  • The dps requirement is somewhere around 120K, depending on how close you want to cut it with the enrage. You’ll spike to much higher than this early in the fight, but then will see your dps drop as you stay single target for the latter portion of the fight.
  • There’s a LOT to avoid, and everything in the arena will 2-shot you, but it’s not impossible. Find yourself a rhythm.
  • For Alliance, I’m told there’s a “dead zone” for the green lasers along the east wall by the large metal pipe. I tried this and hate it, though. It wrecks your line of vision and there’s still the void zones to contend with.

Epicus Maximus

  • Another in the “AVOID ALL THE THINGS” category, this guy looks extremely cool.
  • There’s not much to say on strategy. You interrupt Blue Crush, which is basically an insta-wipe if it casts. And you’ll have to dodge about 100 little sonic void zones and a laser beam that will follow you around. Entirely single target, plan accordingly. This sounds simple, but the precision needed on movement doesn’t allow for any mistakes, the speed of everything will take getting used to, and the dps requirement is of course also quite steep. Basically, it’s WAY more intense than even intricate PvE fights require of us, so your focus and ability to anticipate will be tested.

Millhouse Manastorm

Millhouse is the biggest enrage timer fight, but gear alone won’t get you there. He’ll cast totem-looking things that create a beam to Millhouse. You have to stand between them to absorb the damage buff it gives you. This gives you a stacking buff that can stack to 100, and will fall off quickly if you don’t stay in the beam.

Here’s where it gets tricky. Depending on the location of the totems, you may not be able to absorb both. Millhouse can also get the buff, as can your pet.

This is a bad fight for hunters, because our pets don’t automatically get our dmg. increase. There’s two ways to potentially deal with this: Go MM/SV and ignore your pet, hoping to do enough dps yourself, or micromanage your pet to get the buff, but lose some dps time and likely get to 100 stacks yourself more slowly. There’s no right answer; I’ve seen it done both ways. Some notes:

  • Wait to blow cooldowns until you’re at 100 stacks.
  • Have “Move To” hot-keyed to quickly move your pet into beams. I’m guessing most hunters will need to have their pets get some stacks, even if it’s only after they themselves get to 100.
  • If you can’t absorb both beams because of their placement, you can one-shot them with an auto-shot or Arcane Shot. This prevents Millhouse from getting enough stacks to kill you.
  • Don’t stand super-close to Millhouse. He’ll throw you off…both annoying and debilitating. Experiment to find the closest safe zone.

Disruptron Mk. 3R-Alpha

This guy can go to hell.

Disruptron is the ultimate awareness fight. I can’t quite describe how precise you have to be without resorting to phrases that will sound like hyperbole. If you’ve faced him, let me know what you think.

Some of the early kills were from those who had a priest cast Levitate on them, which eliminated them from having to deal with the primary mechanic – 3 laser beams that file back and forth across the entirety of the arena. These will, at best, take most of your life away (when faded), and at worst one-shot you. Levitate no longer works on this post-5.2 according to most accounts (I haven’t tested it myself since 5.2), so that’s out.

In addition to the beams, there are cannons that shoot circular pulses that are somewhat hard to see. As with anything at this level, they’ll 2-shot most, 3-shot at best.

My only advice here is to ignore actually killing him until you can survive in the arena. Turn on auto-shot and focus on movement. It will require practice, skill, and patience. Then once you can successfully and consistently exist in the arena for over a minute or so, add in dps.

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Zen’Shar can be downed in the 490′s in ilvl. On the others, and especially Disruptron, I haven’t seen a (confirmed or reputable) kill at less than 500, and most are 510+. Keep that in mind when deciding when to tackle these guys.

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I get asked about WoW hardware strangely often, and I figured it was about time I at least shared my own opinions.

I’m certainly no expert and I have not gone out and tested every option out there (or even most). I have, however, had enough bad experiences that I have a decent idea of what to look for and what to avoid. At the very least I can tell you more than that in Soviet Russia, keyboard binds you!

Just remember, the best gaming peripherals are the ones that work best for you, not necessarily the ones that work best for me.

Mouse

razer-nagaRule number one for a WoW mouse is that you do not want wireless. A wireless mouse will eventually kill you — it’s not a question of if, just of when and how often. While the technology is perfectly sufficient for most office uses, when a hiccup of a second or two happens, that is enough to get you dead. And it will happen. Always at the worst times.

Personally I use the Razer Naga and this is without question the best gaming mouse I’ve ever used. It has a full number pad on the side, in addition to a couple of extra side buttons.

Now, with my giant ham hands, I can’t actually navigate all 12 numbers flawlessly during raiding, so I just use the middle button and the ones in the corners to ensure I’m not hitting multiple at once, but that still adds up to a heck of a lot more keybinds than a standard mouse. (It’s worth noting that it looks like some of the newer versions have a pronounced curve on the side of the mouse, which should make it easier to hit those side buttons without double-hitting).

I bind my strafing, aspect changing, and stopcasting to the mouse, letting the mouse handle movement while my other hand pew pews.

Keyboard

logitech keyboardSimilar to the mouse, you do not want to go wireless with your gaming keyboard. Nothing’s more frustrating than having the occasional keystroke fail to register. Now perhaps this is less of an issue who play with their keyboard closer to the sensor, but I tend to play with the keyboard in my lap (and my feet up on the desk).

In addition to WoW, I also do a lot of writing, so I prefer a keyboard that is at least somewhat ergonomic — hurts less and lets me type faster (once you get used to it). Alas I’ve never been able to find an ergonomic gaming keyboard, and in the battle of WoW vs carpal tunnel, WoW wins.

The two features you generally want for a WoW keyboard are a mechanical keyboard and backlit keys.

A mechanical keyboard just has a crisper feel to it (more like a mouse click) rather than the someway mushy feel that many standard keyboard have. Mechanical keyboards have a mechanical switch under each key, rather than a plastic membrane that spreads beneath the keyboard.

Backlit keys are essential if you play in dim lighting, and are just plain cool.

I have yet to really discover the perfect WoW keyboard, but I currently use a Logitech Illuminated keyboard that works well enough. I lost one of the keys however (number 2) due to a long story, but it makes firing a pain in the butt, so I’m definitely in the market if someone can suggest an awesome gaming keyboard — bonus points if it isn’t a perfectly flat one. It’s worth noting that Razer also makes a bunch of awesome non-ergonomic gaming keyboards.

Headset

logitech g35You only really need a headset if you’re on vent (or host a hunter podcast). When I was first getting a headset everyone told me the same thing: don’t skimp on the headset. I saw the price of the high quality headsets and promptly skimped and went for a vastly cheaper one.

It turns out everyone was right, and that headset was a nightmare. It’s not just quality of sound and mic you’re looking at — it’s comfort. That bloody headset hurt, and by the end of a raid my ears were in pain. Learn from my pain — don’t get a headset that is going to squash your ears; get one that fits over your ears, encases them in cushiony goodness.

The big decision to be made with headsets is digital vs analog. I’m told that analog gives you better sound, while digital gives you better mic. Not being an audiophile, I can report that I can’t hear the sound quality difference, but I do notice the mic quality difference — digital is significantly better. Being a podcaster, that settles the issue for me. But if you don’t care how you sound, analog is just fine.

Personally I use the Logitech G35 headset, which is pretty awesome. It was Hrist’s first recommendation to me (that I ignored, regretted, and then followed). The headset finally died after years of abuse (including being repeatedly knocked on the floor by the cat) and I after looking around some more, I got another one.

I particularly like that the volume & mute is right on the side of the headset (with a light at the mic end so you can tell if it’s muted or not) rather than those obnoxious dangly things that are attached to the cord. This headset is the peripheral that I’m most happy with — while I’d consider another mouse and am looking for another keyboard, I wouldn’t consider another headset at this point in the game.

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Another hunter change in the patch 5.3 patch notes: Blizzard is changing up the level 30 talent tier (this is the CC tier with Silencing Shot, Wyvern Sting, and Binding Shot.

  • Binding Shot is no longer a talent. Marksmanship hunters will learn Binding Shot at level 30 and are the only spec that will have access to the ability.
  • Intimidation is taking Binding Shot’s place as a level 30 talent — it is no longer a BM-only ability.

This is an interesting change, and one that I have to assume is motivated by PvP — only because I don’t see a major PvE impact. Certainly Binding Shot was useful in several raid fights and as helpful as Intimidation is in PvP and when soloing, it doesn’t really have any raiding benefits.

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Hunter Buffs in Patch 5.3

Posted: by Frostheim


After watching the patch 5.3 updates roll by without a whisper of hunter info (okay, well other than a giant expansion of our stables, which absolutely counts as awesomeness) we finally saw a spate of tooltip updates along with the Powershot change. Now we’re seeing more info, including a flat out buff to hunter dps combined with AoE buffs for BM and MM hunters:

  • Aspect of the Hawk increases ranged attack power by 25%, up from 15%. Aspect of the Ironhawk was buffed identically, of course.
  • Blink Strike was reworked to be a passive talent. Now Blink Strike causes your pet’s basic attacks to deal 50% increased damage, and can be used from 30 yards away, and will instant teleport your pet behind the target.
  • Beast Cleave now deals 75% damage to the cleaving targets, up from 30%
  • Bombardment now causes 60% additional damage for 5 seconds, up from 30%.

The AoE changes are very welcome and delivers on Blizzard’s promise to help close the gap between SV and the other specs. I think this is most beneficial to MM, only because Beast Cleave won’t necessarily affect every mob that Multi-Shot can hit. However this is still a substantial gain for both BM and MM AoE capabilities. SV will probably remain the king of sustained AoE, however. But a very good change and one that I can’t wait to test out.

The Blink Strike change is the most interesting, because it shows that Blizzard is listening to some of the too many button complaints — not the mechanical complaint about homogenization of ability dps, but you can’t do anything about that without major new expansion level changes.  This allows hunters who don’t want to hit another cooldown in the level 75 tier to take Blink Strike and just let their pet do it’s thing. It’s extra good for BM, particularly with the auto near-distance teleporting pet — great for target switching! By my math, at a flat 50% boost to pet basic attack damage Blink Strike should be a bit worse than A Murder of Crows in raw numbers, not counting the focus you save.  It’s worth noting that I was chatting with Zeherah last night and she was seeing Blink Strike actually being better for BM than AMoC (but not SV or MM) — we’re still going back and forth on it, but be aware I may be wrong.

And let us not forget the Aspect of the Hawk buff — a simple way for Blizzard to flat out increase the single-target dps of all hunters. So far this is looking like a very good patch for hunters!

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Best of the WHU: Round 8

Posted: by Arth


The outline of what we’re doing is here.  By now, most of you know the deal.  We’re digging up gems from the WHU’s past, for fun and nostalgia.  Read, peruse, laugh, cry, kill raid bosses with stray shots, feign death to avoid laundry duty.  Then get back to us with your favorite-est of the articles below.

Best of the WHU May/June 2009:

  • Smooth Sailing = Hate - More from the Hate-tank, this time on a successful night.
  • We Call Him the Haterade – Frostheim enrages Hrist in real life, leaving him stranded before the WHU BBQ. The WHU only continues to this day because Hrist allowed him to live.
  • BBQ Recap - The recap from the first ever live WHU BBQ. These became a regular occurrence for a few years after this, and were always a great time.
  • Why I Hate Grizzly Hills - To be clear, this is why Frostheim hate GH. I love it. Sublime music, woods, animals. It’s an elven paradise. But, apparently, a dwarven hell.
  • Oops - The un-posted article that this references still exists in the admin section of the website. What magnificent ideas does it hold? What untold glories await eventual publication? What naked shenanigans is Frostheim keeping from us? One can only wonder.

Which is your favorite?! Let us know!

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