Daniel (I really want to call you BRK, but this email is about non-WoW related things.) I’ve emailed you before to ask about some NASA stuff, and remember that you work there. I’m trying to start a blog about Model Rocketry and would love some insight to how you got started. I’ve been reading your blog since before you got the WoWInsider gig, and just have a few general questions about how to get things rolling.

http://modelrocketmission.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Jesse

“I’ve been a World of Warcraft addict since March 2006, and as my one year anniversary of making my wife watch her bad 80s movies alone, I’ve come to realize that I just can’t go on posting in my guild’s forums, hoping some other hunter learns from my mistakes, gains some of my wisdom, or laughs at my jokes. But I love talking about my hunter, so I’m making this page for me to yap knowing full well that nobody is going to read it. Well, I don’t care, this is for me.”

We wrote that on our first post, 3 January 2007, and it still holds true. We like the fun screenshots, the bizarre pictures whose connection to the story can be perplexing, the belittling of the lesser classes, and the non-wow stuff. If it’s not fun, it’s work. Who wants to work as a hobby?

In our first month of blogging, we got 2000 hits. Today alone, BRK the Blog will get almost 5000 hits; we were quite anonymous for a long time.

When we decided we wanted a little exposure, we wrote to the Mark of the Wild blogger and asked if he’d put us in his Enormous List of WoW Bloggers. He did. Then we asked Paladin Sucks if he’d link to us. He did. As for requesting referal-links, that’s all we did.

Finally, we signed up for SiteMeter and Technorati and put some google-search terms in there somewhere. And we put a link to BRK the Blog in our signature on the Forums. That’s it.

Why has BRK the Blog become the #1 most incredible, sweetest-smelling WoW blog in the entire universe, including Canada? (Results of this totally unscientific poll were heavily infulenced by a marmoset, a box of Cuban cigars, and several pairs of socks).

We really have no idea. We know why we write it but have no clue why you choose to lurk or participate or whatever.

You’re reading it now, perhaps you could tell us.

As for model rocketry, it is not a requirement for space-program employment. When we were in school we did enjoy that particular hobby, but no longer. Putting satellites into orbit and sending probes to Pluto is enough for one day.

Good luck on the blog, Jesse!

If you’ve seen the movie, you know TJ has forbade you all from putting BRK-accolades in your emails to the BRK Walmart-of-Hunterness Clearinghouse. Well, Grumble /scoffs in TJ’s direction with his email and lays it on thick:

“Dear BRK, Good day sir! First of all - I apologize for this - butyoursiteisthemost… (gasp gasp) … amazingresouceforBMsthereis. (wheeze) Hadda say it. Not that you haven’t heard it before, but Gaia Bless You.

“Which gun, Obi-Wan BRK, should I use? Grumble the Fisherman, (if you ever need a fish, look me up.)”

While TJ starts her Lil Fury Generator - and if we’re lucky we’ll get a movie - let’s talk about the Famous Don Santos, shall we.The Don Santos is all about proc-rate. If it procs frequently for you, it’ll do more damage. If it doesn’t proc, the WSR is your buddy. Some people see Improved Aspect of the Hawk proc all the time. BRK only sees it go off on killing shots. Your luck my vary with all of this.

Did you know that there is a hullabaloo on the Forums about the Don Santos? There is, really. There are many people who believe that it is The Perfect Weapon because the attack-power procs occur frequently and the attack speed is just perfect for Steady Shot-weaving. “Goodie for Auto/Steady/KC macro-freaks everywhere!” they delight in advertising, “It’s better than everything!”

BRK says, if you have one of these guns, don’t sweat trying to get the other. The difference isn’t worth the hassle. If you get the WSR, why waste 2000 gold on a “similar” gun when that money can be used for so many other upgrades? If you have the DSFHR, why waste DKP on a “similar” gun when your Tier 4 gloves are dropping from the next boss? They are both lovely weapons and you should be happy with either.

But what if you’re in our friend Grumble’s position where you have both. Which do you use?

Frankly, BRK would use the one that looks the coolest, but that’s just how we roll.

But if you’re a numbers-freak and insist on squeezing every single DPS out of your gun and just must know which is The Best, you could make an appointment with Dr. Boom.

Hie thee to Area 52 and find the ranged-attack dummy himself. Clear the area, load 200 bullets into your ammo pouch, clear your DamageMeter and let loose. When you finish those 200 shots, write down your damage total, swap guns, load another 200 bullets, reset your DamageMeters and go at it again.

Compare the totals and there ya go. Why listen to BRK or anybody else when you can go do this testing yourself? Go! Scoot!

Well we finally remembered to grab a shot of Hobbes’s character panel. /cheerAs you can see, he has not broken the 170DPS tooltip barrier yet but he’s getting close.

We ran heroic Shattered Halls last night and remembered to stop off at Honor Hold and stock up on those Super Shells their quartermaster hoards. With those in our ammo bag, our character panel looks thus:This ammo is like buying 93-octane gas; it’s really expensive and can feel like you’re getting ripped off. But if you look at our previous character panel screenshot, you’ll see we had an increase of 7DPS just by getting the Super Shells ammo. Massive quantities of sustained, ranged DPS, right? Right.

BRK’s problem is that he never remembers to go to Honor Hold before a raid. That’s gotta change.

So heroic Shattered Halls, right. Did we wipe on the first 6-pack pull? Yes; miscommunication about how the trapping was going to work. Once that was straightened out, though, we breezed through the place, except when the mage died.

Important Mage- Strategy Rant: Always run toward the tank if you get aggro. If you’re fighting the two-headed boss in heroic Shattered Halls and you get aggro, don’t run down the hallway towards the instance exit. It makes it much more difficult for your tank to Taunt and your hunter to Misdirect. Running away from your tank is Bad and you will Die a Very Squishy Death. /stopranting

If your tank is geared and your healer is paying attention and your DPS focus-fires on the tank’s primary target, this heroic is not so bad. Mistakes with aggro will cost you dearly, of course. Also, the instance pretty much picks certain times that you’re going to wipe and there’s nothing you can do about it, like fighting a 5-mob pack and the instance deciding to spawn not just one but two assassins. No sense in getting too mad about that; what ya gonna do.

But Blizz, there should be a bigger reward than a Badge of Justice for taking down a heroic boss. Dropping the gear that you needed just to GET to the boss is stupid. Your party should be fully decked-out in level-115 blues before even trying a heroic. Dropping more of that stuff in a heroic is really dumb. BRK would not be adverse to these bosses dropping two badges for each party member, some extra gold and just forget the blue drops altogether.

But we digress.

Can a BM hunter with zero bonuses to trapping chain-trap in heroic Shattered Halls? Sure. Coordination between hunter and tank is required. The party should know that the maximum number of trappings that a non-trapping-skill-enhanced hunter can do in a heroic without assistance is probably three, but that should be plenty.

What was the hardest part of heroic Shattered Halls? Line-of-sight healing. If the tank and healer aren’t communicating, it takes just a few seconds for the tank to eat it and cause a wipe. Our party died more on 3-mob pulls than the 5 and 6-mob pulls specifically because of line-of-sight healing incidents.

Finally, our old friend from Arms and Fury, his lovely and talented wife - their little boy is adorable! - and one of the best holy paladins we’ve ever had the pleasure of running with have all rejoined the BRK Family on Drenden.

People stink. Coworkers are, for the most part, tolerable. Friends and Family are what Life is all about. You want to know why World of Warcraft is so incredible? It’s not the graphics or the gear or the quests. WoW is special because of the Friends you make.

Welcome Home, Kelmar, Hipnatizd and Ironbelly.

/sniff

Here we have just a wonderful example of BRK’s very good friend The Diet Coke of Evil, shadow priest extraordinaire, teaching us all how to effectively blog for fun and profit:

Anonymous said…

what is the purpose of your spec? it doesnt look very strong for raiding/arena….

The Diet Coke of Evil said…

To teh Anonymous asshat: what’s the purpose of your comment? Grow some balls and get a clue. Write a comment in A.) the right corresponding catergory and not any random blog post. B.) Whats with the Anon shite? Are you not man enough to use your name? Are you scared to have that “holier than tho” judgmental finger pointed back at ya? Here is a hint, Grow sum balls and come back and talk to me. Otherwise stop wasting my time you gutless worm. /end rant

Folks, she’s a redhead; her picture is prominently displayed on her blog. She is known as the Diet Coke of Evil. Her blog is titled “Vee Vil Haf Compliance”, for cryin’ out loud, (VVHC is yet another BRK Copyrighted Witticism, graciously donated to the DCoE because we love and fear her tremendously.) Ya gotta know that she’s not Safe!

Watch your step over there, OK people? We have enough problems with TJ either murdering or /sidling up to BRK readers, we don’t need the DCoE filling her basement with your corpses, too.

You try running heroic Shadow Lab with a murderous redhead who can’t get the blood out of her keyboard; it’s not fun.

Our leatherworking is at 369 and we’re sick of Thick Clefthoof Leather. Sick, we say!

We are making a new macro for our drums. It will go something like:

/yell The Drums make you Powerful! All Hail da Drums!
/use Drums of War

Our email situation is, once again, completely out of control. Whatever we don’t answer tonight is probably going to get unanswered. We’re really sorry, but we’ve long since passed the point of being able to personally answer each and every question you send us.

OH! Speaking of that:

BRK’s Top Ten Quick Email Answers

10. The addon is Rating Buster.
9. Hobbes came from Winterspring.
8. We like guns, but if you like bows, that’s OK.
7. There is no secret to leveling a level-20 pet to 70 quickly; it just stinks.
6. You don’t need to be spec’d for Super Traps to run heroics. BRK has no bonuses to traps at all but does heroics or Kara successfully every day. But you and your tank and your party better have a plan to deal with resisted traps or you’re going to wipe.
5. We can’t get you a job writing for WoW Insider; our editor thinks we’re cute and all but she’s got a business to run.
4. We won’t send you any more pics of TJ in a BRK shirt, or any other types of pics either.
3. Yes, it’s fine to pop in on Drenden and say Hello, just don’t try to engage us in philosophical hunter debates when we’re running Karazhan or a heroic, if you’d be so kind.
2. WoWHead.com has a great gear-search tool that can answer your gear-questions better than we can.
1. Yes, we really are married and Mrs. BRK is really that pretty.

Is it just us or does the new Warcraft Armory server not update frequently? Fast-switching is good but accurate is first and foremost, Blizz.

Ran heroic Sethhik Halls and got our third Primal Nether. We’re ready to make our Ebon Netherscale armor once we hit 375 Leatherworking.

We were just told that a hunter in our guild is wearing cloth shoulder armor. Caster gear. This will require a delicate touch:

“WHAT THE {BLEEPING} H3LL ARE YOU {BLEEPING} DOING?! RUNNING {BLEEPING} KARA WITH {BLEEPING} CLOTH SHOULDERS?! {BLEEP}!!”

That sounds like a good lead-in, nice and concerned.

Nothing ruins a cup of coffee more quickly than microwaved popcorn. If you eat popcorn at work, go to the designated Popcorn-Eaters Section. It’s next to the dumpsters now because the smokers b!tched about your stench, too.

Cayleigh the Squeekie Priestie has posted her Aetherial Circle Vs. Nightbane video. This kill-video is done from Cayleigh’s perspective, obviously, but since we can see a lot of this hunter’s performance during this fight, let’s analyze it.

0:10 Cayleigh and BRK start out on opposite sides of Nightbane.

0:26 Misdirection was cast on the tank while Nightbane was circling, but now is when you can see our initial Arcane Shot hit Nightbane before he lands and ensures Nightbane is on the tank to begin Ground Phase One.

0:31 First Ferocious Inspiration procs.

1:16 Air Phase One, BRK with his glowing polearm runs to the center /cheer

1:38 BRK grabbs aggro from a skeleton.

1:40 BRK uses his polearm to one-shot kill the skeleton. The only authorized time to melee is when you’re going to end the mob’s life with the hit.

1:45 Ground Phase Two, couldn’t identify the Misdirection or the Arcane Shot, but they were there.

1:50 Ferocious Inspiration procs. It procs many times, of course, and we’re not going to call them all out. But you can see how quickly they proc once Hobbes is sent to fight.

2:38 Air Phase Two

2:49 BRK is too close to fire at a skeleton, so he sends Hobbes while BRK runs to distance. This was done with the Pet Attack Macro and you can see the mob is Hunter’s Marked exactly when Hobbes is sent to fight.

2:52 Back at distance, BRK smacks Bestial Wrath.

2:53 BRK grabs aggro because he forgot to activate Growl. Bad Hunter!

2:54 BRK casts Intimidation and this allows him to get to distance.

2:57 BRK smacks Wing Clip and this allows him to get to distance.

3:03 Mage traps the skeleton with a Frost Nova, allowing BRK and the AoE classes to burn all the skeletons down.

3:08 Ground Phase Two, Misdirection not applied quickly enough, Nightbane aggros a Paladin. Bad hunter!

3:09 Misdirection applied via macro, BRK smacks Distracting Shot and Arcane Shot to get Nightbane off of the Paladin and onto the tank.

3:16 Hobbes takes aggro from the tank. Bad news. The tank gets aggro back but not before Hobbes takes a massive direct hit and BRK pulls him back to get healed with Mend Pet.

3:26 Cayleigh targets Hobbes…

3:27 Cayleigh drops a 2410 heal on Hobbes!

3:29 Hobbes attacks Nightbane! /cheer Cayleigh

3:31 Ferocious Inspiration procs that quickly.

3:32 - 3:48 BRK pops Kill Command five times. Love KC.

3:50 Nightbane Fears us.

3:56 Since BRK was feared into Nightbane, BRK doesn’t waste time turning around but runs to the other side to continue his attack. BRK recalls Hobbes because he’s out of line-of-sight for Mend Pet casting.

4:00 Hobbes is sent back to attack!

4:05 Ferocious Inspiration procs.

4:12 Air Phase Three

4:23 - 4:37 BRK uses his Pet Attack Macro repeatedly and blasts the bejeezus out of everything.

4:38 Misdirection cast on tank.

4:40 Ground Phase Three, BRK fires Arcane Shot on Nightbane while he’s still airborne, ensuring the tank gets initial aggro. A much-improved execution over the previous landing. Good hunter!

4:46 BRK is #5 on the Threat List.

4:48 BRK is #4 on the Threat List.

4:50 Ferocious Inspiration and Bestial Wrath, Hobbes is on the right, just under Nightbane’s tail.

4:51 BRK is #3 on the Threat List.

4:52 BRK is #1 on the Threat List! Holy cow, that was fast!

4:53 BRK casts Feign Death and drops off the Threat List. /cheer

5:08 BRK finally reappears on the Threat List as #9.

5:10 Nightbane Fears but BRK, in the upper-right-hand corner, resists! /cheer

5:29 BRK back to #3 on the Threat List but we don’t care; bring the b@stard down!

5:39 Nightbane down /applaud

“Dear BRK, my warlock has been part of our Kara Group A [but] I decided to bring Ahoni and Almandaragal this week instead. Despite being a little under geared, we performed splendidly. Going into the Attumen fight we were 4th on the damage meters. I wasn’t worried about that since I had been busy trapping. When Attumen was lying on the ground under his horse, I stood alone atop the meters. Not bad for a Hunter with unbuffed ~1550 RAP and 18.5% crit.

“Thanks for everything you do at BRK. You have made me laugh. You have made me a better hunter. But more than that, you have made me a better player. Keep up the good work. Ahoni & Almandaragal”

A hunter’s primary responsibility is providing massive quantities of sustained, ranged DPS. But his ability to crowd-control just about any kind of mob can be equally critical to raid success. The Moroes is a perfect example.

If you don’t have a spare tank to hold that trapped mob and burn it down before engaging Moroes, the hunter could have to keep him trapped for the entire fight. Beastlord gear helps. Survival spec helps. But BRK has done it with no bonuses to traps and so can you. Pull-timing is critical and emergency heals may be necessary, but chain-trapping that add is more important than your DPS so make sure you do it properly.

And don’t think you can pull of chain-trapping a Moroes-add without having practiced chain-trapping for a long time beforehand. The sooner you start practicing, the better.

No Kara on Tuesday so the gang decided to take out Heroic Shadow Labs. Not that hard, actually. No wipes until an assassin made an unscheduled appearance during the 5-pack mob pulls before Blackheart. We wiped on Vorpil once thanks to Brigin da Uber Tank being banished and being unable to get aggro back from Tredezar da Crit-Happy Boomkin. But otherwise, heroic SL isn’t bad at all.

Four badges and phat hunter loot, too! No, not the Sonic Spear, perish the thought. But a Primal Nether and this!Ain’t it purty! We’ve had our eye on this for a loooong time. What does it do for us? Well it busts our +Hit all the way to 8.5% for starters. Jeebus, we could go Marksman now. Heehee! As for the rest:We love the fact that our tooltip DPS is over 330 and our RAP is in the mid-1700s. Hooray for epic purplez and phat hunter loots!

/do a little dance
/get down tonight

We have a Senseo machine at the office and we make one cup of our BRK Raspberry Latte at a time. Wash the cup between drinks, folks. Don’t be a slob.

And find the kitchen sink in your work-place, college, prison, whatever. Washing dishes in the bathroom is beyond disgusting.

Senseo Dark Roast pods, we believe, make coffee that stands up to the raspberry syrup best and allows you to have a raspberry-flavored coffee instead of coffee-flavored raspberry.

We have raided many a Starbucks in search of the original raspberry syrup. The new Juicy Raspberry makes us ill. We haven’t had to purchase it from eBay yet because we’ve found Barney’s raspberry to be a suitable substitute.

You’ll need 1/3 cup of skim milk from cows raised free from growth hormone. Are the hormones bad? We’re not going to get into that argument, but we do taste a difference when we drink straight from the bottle… we mean, when we pour a straight glass. Our favorite milk is, of course TG Lee fat-free.

Microwave your cup of milk for one minute on high.

Fire up the Senseo machine, pop in your dark roast pod and make one Regular cup, letting the coffee flow into the “steamed” milk.

What is a Regular cup? With a Senseo machine you can use one or two pods and make 8 or 16 oz of coffee. The more water, the weaker the coffee. The more pods, the stronger the coffee. The matrix looks thus:

Weak: 1 pod and 16 oz of water
Regular: 1 pod and 8 oz of water (BRK-style)
Lots of Regular: 2 pods and 16 oz of water (If you need two cups of Regular)
Strong: 2 pods and 8 oz of water

Once the brewing cycle ends, add two TBSP of raspberry syrup. Stir, relax, write a blog post.