I added 2 macros to my hunter and already saw a big difference in my damage.  For the macros that I made, I did not expect this much of a gain.  I was doing ok damage but sitting near the bottom of the group in damage.  I put in a few macros and now i’m sitting at the top of the charts.  I even see myself pull way out ahead from time to time.

I think a big part of my problem was not attacking a new target very quickly.  I changed my hunter’s mark and explosive shot buttons to also start auto shoot.  What this does is get my character shooting when I mark a target or when I press my main attack even when its on cooldown.  It also feels like I can mash my explosive shot button and when my target dies, it will pick a new target.

Here is what one of my new macros looks like.

#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/petattack
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Hunter's Mark

You will notice the cast !auto shot.  From what I can figure out, the exclamation point gets it started with out interfering with the next action.  The result is it get a first shot off from auto shot as it casts the ability.  This is more important for things that have a cast time but it also works here where this ability is not an attack on its own.

I had a question about what environment I use to write LUA with.  I do most of it in Notepad or Notepad++.  I have written a good deal of code in those editors for other things so I am just comfortable with them.  Most of the time with LUA it is for quick edits and changes and Notepad works fine.  When I started to write solid code for KTQ, I moved over to Notepad++ for that project.

I started to look into the Addon Studio for WoW.  I like the idea behind it and it is a development environment.  If I was going to do another large project again, I would give it a try.  I did not stick with it when I tried last time because I was using it at the wrong point in my project.  When I was jumping in for quick changes to files it took too long to load.   I’m not saying that its that slow, but it is slower than notepad.  My dev machine is getting a little old.  I think it would be fine if I left it open while I wrote code.

I guess what I am saying is that I have not given it a fair shot yet and would like to try it again sometime if the project was right.

Here are the screenshots that I should have posted yesterday.  Each conversation is in its own image.  Some are longer than others.  I did clip in the damage charts when they were available but I have it set to show current fight. I know the dps was pathetic but I expected that.

After looking at the screen shots I discovered that I earned over 1/2 a level by tormenting these random people.

You have all had that stereotypical bad hunter in pugs before.  I decided it was my turn to give it a try.  I dusted off another banker of mine.  A level 60 hunter with no gear, talents, spells, or pet.  This is a guy I leveled to 10 so I know how to shoot a bow.  But I granted him levels all the way from 10 to 60.  I honestly have no clue how to truly play this class.  I thought it would be fun to subject a few random people to my bad hunter.

First group called me out after I zoned in.  We did 2 pulls in ramparts and I left the group before they kicked me.  I was still using rank 1 arcane shot at this point.  I did get ammo and was on my way to the trainer when the queue pulled me in.  I expected to be bad, but I could not make them suffer that bad.

I was able to get to the trainer before I got into the 2nd group.  Ramparts just like before.  I was able to get a few more pulls into it before I got called out.  My big down fall was overlooking water.  So I was back to autoshot most of the pulls and I knew that would not cut it.  I was able to ding 61 but I left t he group just before the first boss.

My 3rd group let me get the first boss in Blood Furnace down before I was discovered.  They called me out and quickly kicked me after that. I found Volly so I was able to use that to pad the damage charts.  The rogue in the group was not pulling much more than I was and I did notice he kept his mouth shut.

I was able to get a pet by the 4th run of the night.  I had to track down my trainer and do 4 quests before I could get the tame beast spell or I would have had it sooner.  That and I had yet to get a mount.  The tank was in a rush to go in this group.  The 2nd ramparts pull ended up to be 4 groups.  We survived and I was able to break out a frost trap and offtank a mob with my pet to save the healer.  So when someone started to call out my gear I was able to deflect it slightly with my pro skills.  It was not working but the tank didn’t care so he pushed us on into another large pull.  Tank got smoked and the mobs ran us over.  Everyone else left the group on the spot.

The reactions were fun and interesting.  A few people did just want to keep going even as the others called me out.  I expected a 1/2 nude, no pet, and no talent hunter to catch hell for it.  I will sit down and figure out what talents I want and load him up with BoA gear for my next round of instance runs.  If I ever feel like taking this abuse again, I do have a 61 warlock in the same shape.

I am working on my mage and rogue now.  Both were RAF accounts so they were already around level 61.  I did raid a mage at 60 on a previous account so it does feel more natural to me.  If you look at the fact I also have a 80 priest and 80 lock you can see I lean towards casters.

I really like my mage.  It feels so simple and lax compared to my other classes.  It lets me really relax and just enjoy playing.  Running him with 2 specs does keep the variety just enough.  If I feel that its going to be a heavy aoe run, I will go frost and blizzard every pull.  If I think I will get some good single target damage, I hit it strong with arcane.  I love having the ability to just dump manawhen the extra damage is needed.  That is something my shadow priest lacked was a good mana dump. 

I have a love hate relationship with my rogue.  I think I want one so I keep at him but I just don’t have that much fun with him.  I am sure its that I find myself rage starved and waste tons of combo points.  My target either dies before I can spend the points or I find myself tanking a mob because nobody else is attacking it.  I think I would make a great rogue once I got the hand of it. 

I keep a good eye out when to distract pats that get close.  I can lock down dangerous casters.  And I know I can vanish when feared into another group of mobs.  I still lack real aoe at this lower level so I feel worthless in groups that do aoe everything.  At Least I remember to use poisons now.  I think I went 2 levels before I remembered that I needed them.  One of the side effects of RAF alts is missing key learning experiences for each class.  I hope that I get a feel for this class before too long.

I have 2 RAF alts that I got to 61 and just kind of left them there a long time ago.  I am now using the Dungeon Finder to burn off rest XP and level them a bit.  Most of my group have been good and things go smooth.  Not all of them go so well.

Mid 60s I ran into the issue where all the tanks queue up for is Mana Tombs and a few of them just bail after the first boss does not drop the item they want.  That frustrates me when people abuse the system like that.

I just got out of a group where there was this interesting hunter.  We did a hand full of pulls and the healer bailed.  Things were fairly smooth so I think he just had to go.  We tried to re queue, but this hunter kept canceling.  After the 4 time, he said “no Mana”.  Once he was at full mana, he selected a role when we queued.  He realized his mistake in thinking it was the ready check when I pointed it out to him.  He also asked if there was anyone that healed mana.  I made him a stack of water.  I was unable to make the fruit he needed for his pet though and that did disappoint him.  This guy was a raf slave that got handed a mid level char.  His gear was a good 10-20 levels behind his level for most slots.

I decided the runs go the smoothest when I run my frost mage with improved blizzard.  Every pull is an aoe fest and Blizzard dominates the stuff I am running.  Even when I do pull off the tank the slow effect allows the tank to get them back easily.  When the tank can’t get it back, I start another Blizzard in front of the mob and they die before they get to me.

I tried to aoe as fire but I didn’t like to be that close to the mobs.  The mobs can kill me before I know I even have agro.  With blizzard, I stand at max range and have room to land 2 more blizzards before a mob can attack me.

PTR notes are up and a few quick details jumped out at me.

Tailoring cloth cooldowns are removed but the glacial bag has a 7 day cooldown.

Inscription glyphs will only take one ink.

Runed Orbs Recipes will take less mats.

Titansteel Bar cooldown also removed.

And a few glyphs had adjustments.

The drop rate of Frost Lotus, from herbs in Northrend, has been increased by 50 to lower prices.  Starts next reboot.

MMO-Champoin

Expect a shift in Frost Lotus, flasks, and other herb prices.

I finally hit 80 on my warlock.  It is both exciting and disappointing at the same time.  I love that I am done with leveling on him.  I got all my spells so my character progression is done.  Not onto gear progressions.  This is where the reality sinks in.  I need to start raiding again.  Well, I should gear up a bit in heroics first but thats the next real step.  And I don’t feel like raiding yet.

When I play casually, I am on a low end laptop in the family room.   I hang out on the couch with the laptop in my lap.   Yesterday I had the TV on in the background and the kids on either side of me helping me play.    They would help me find the yellow “Mysteries” above people’s heads as I head into a area to turn in completed quests.  Or they would point out the snakes or spiders I was hunting.  My wife was able to get some reading done and the dog laid at our feet.  Well, not exactly at our feet.  More in the kennel across the room but having her at the feet paints a nice calm picture.

Raiding throws all that out the window.  It’s a race of the clock.  Every piece of time has its place.  Getting ready for the raid, checking auctions, time with kids, supper, bed time for the youngest, and in the right place for invites.  Mid raid I slip away to put the oldest to bed quickly so I am not missed.  My game machine is in the back corner of the basement.  To use the restroom or get drinks mid raid, its up the stairs and across the house.  Then the wife is already sleeping when the raid is over.  A raid slot can get competitive and I am a loyal raider.  I feel it is my responsibility to make every raid I can, then life starts to get scheduled around raiding.

Now you have these chunks of time that have real value to you.  Time you gave something else up for to be here.  Then it becomes frustrating when others don’t respect that time.  I don’t care if you are talking about pugs or guild raids.  Guild raids can be a more demanding schedule but they get stuff done and you can count on the raid.  Pugs are all up in the air, but if its not working for you that night its easy to bail.

I could easily drop 40,000-60,000G on the new BOE stuff and a Battered Hilt.  But if he isn’t raiding yet, that gear will not help him out that much.  I may just pug a raid here and there and call it good.  I think I have a Rogue with some rest XP that needs burned off.

While I was running around leveling my warlock I decided to try a random group instance.  After a long wait and almost getting a group, I was bumped to the front of the queue.  That put me into a group that was 1/2 done and struggling.  As I got there the group cycled a few more members.  We got a new tank and another DPS.  Other than the tank and healer bickering about how bad the other was, the group moved at a steady pace.

They did comment on how crappy my stats were at 74 for the high gear score I had.  I guess the BoA items must add a lot to gear score at my level.  My stats are pathetic.  I have under 9k health and mana.  I did hold my own on the charts.  Not sure how though.

I started out as destruction because thats what I was leveling as for the last hour.  I felt clumsy in the group.  My rotation went out the window and I was pulling a god deal of agro.  I must have been front loading the damage too much.  I also struggled to manage my mana/health.  So I made the switch to affliction 1/2 way into it.  Affliction is much more natural for me to play.  I spent most of the time leveling as affliction and raided another lock as affliction at 60 and 70.

I knew my dps would suffer a little on trash but I would survive much easier and felt better with agro.  I found that my damage didn’t go down all that much.  Mobs were living long enough I could spread the damage around a bit.  On the last boss (single target) I pulled top damage at 1086 dps.  My damage for the run was about 920 dps.  I know that not all that much, but I remember kicking level 80’s from groups because they could not pull that much damage.  You really have to wonder what they are doing at 80 to suck that bad.

The shaman healer claimed he needed the cloth robes.  So he asked everyone to greed and trade with him.  I rolled need as the only cloth in the group and I was replacing a green.  Good luck getting me to pass it for someone I don’t even know.  He tried to make a stink about it but the group would not let him.

My 2nd group later on when I was 75 was just pro.  Great tank, great heals, and went fast.  I watched my damage closer that time.  I stayed destruction the whole time this instance.  I was 1381 dps for the run.  On a few larger single target mobs at the end I saw 1700 and 1900 dps.  I did have better party buffs this time though.

I remember trying to get groups on my leveling characters and it just never happened.  What I like about this option is that it keeps working to fill the group.  I hate being that guy that has to find people to finish a run.  When a tank drops it finds a tank.  I know I only ran this once so it may not be as smooth every time.  So far so good.