Prince Down, We Watched SpikeTV
Our lag was terrible. Something in Florida was killing our latency and by the time we saw Prince it was around 4000ms. We tried to fight but it was ridiculous. After our first wipe - because we couldn’t move out of the way - we dropped and let someone else take our place.
Aetherial Circle took down Prince, got phat loot and celebrated while we watched Goodfellas and were pissed. Actually, even today we’re still angry. Shuttle landing notwithstanding, all we want to do is think about fighting our way back to Nightbane and taking him down next.
/sigh
In other news…
“Dear BRK, my wife and I are currently about to hit 70 as BM hunter and Enhancement shaman grinding duo. We both keep an eye on the damage and threat meters while we’re running around questing. She is usually beating me on per-combat-DPS by a solid 50-100DPS, which I attribute to:
A) She “uncorks” on just about every fight and needs to drink every 4-5 mobs while I maintain a steady hunter-cruise-control grind and never have to stop.
B) She has yelled at me enough times about just sending my pet after mobs and forcing her to run 40 yards to get to it and start meleeing.
“So now I don’t send the pet and open up ranged DPS until she is close to the mob. Thus, I no longer get that “always on” DPS that I think helps hunters top the meters so much; With a hunter there is no “DPS-off” time that it takes for a mage to start casting or a rogue to physically run to the targets.
“Anyway, none of that is the actual epiphany. The epiphany was that I’m always watching the meters and I never create anywhere near as much threat as she does. Even if I blow her away in DPS, my threat is always 40-50% [less] as she has … and that’s when I realized:
“As a hunter using a pet, a huge portion of your total threat from total DPS gets divvied over to … the pet, greatly lowering the chance that either of you will pull agro. Going further, as a BM hunter a substantially larger percentage of your threat from DPS is being dumped onto your pet as opposed to a Marksman.
“I know rogues and some other classes have threat reduction talents, but I don’t think any of them can claim as much as 40% of threat not being attached to the DPSer himself.
“Anyway I know this isn’t splitting the atom or anything. But that’s what epiphany is; when something simple and obvious finally slaps you in the face one day and makes you wonder why you never noticed it months ago. Am I right? Timion”
Not only does a BM hunter’s total threat get ‘divvied’ 60/40 between the hunter and his pet, the hunter has Feign Death to totally wipe himself from the mob’s threat list. We can give our pet Cower and have him reduce his own threat. We can Disengage - which we bet many of you aren’t using at all - as another threat mitigation technique. We can Misdirect at anytime the cooldown is up to lower our own threat and raise the threat of someone else. A hunter’s ability to manage his threat is what makes him so capable in PvE encounters.
As for running damage and threat meters while grinding with your elemental shaman spouse, we’re going to tell you not to bother. But once you hit 70, turn off Growl and Misdirect on her as often as possible. Open with Aimed Shot, too. If she wants aggro, let her have it. In spades. Make her choose who gets to tank, her or your pet.
You may end up sleeping on the couch, but that’s a small price to pay to enforce your WoW-will.
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22 Responses to “Prince Down, We Watched SpikeTV”
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Probably a good thing MrsBRK doesn’t play WOW. Methinks you would be wearing holes in the couch, BRK.
My GF is a prot warrior and when we did an instance together i had to turn off growl off as my pet easily overaggro’d her. (which i can imagen is very annoying if ur the tank) But i overaggro’d her aswell while i wouldnt my pet, making the mobs and her run… would cause some frustration again.
So i had to hold back alot, luckily her aggro is now alot better then before (still not as good as some other tanks i know but she only played cardgames before WoW so she’s doing pretty good i suppose :P) and when i leave growl on it hardly ever overaggro’s her.
Long story short: hope for better times and untill then you might aswell adapt where possible
Tooltip for Disengage (Rank 4): Mana Burn yourself for 205 mana.
Disengage gets a lot of crap, but I can’t tell you how many times I used this ability when leveling. I used it way more than feign death. The only time I use it in a raid is if feign is resisted… but I’m careful enough about my aggro that that doesn’t happen very often. I just want to say that I find this ability useful. It does, in fact, work.
Am I the only hunter that uses disengage? I use it all the time. Sure, its situational, and it only lowers your threat by 545 at max rank, but it is still useful. Maybe its because I save Feign Death for those “Oh Crap I’m Gonna Die” situations. Disengage will usually lower my threat enough that the next growl will grab agro again.
It does no good whatsoever in 5 mans or raids, but for soloing its plenty good enough.
Prince can be tough on a player, specially with 4k lag >.< . I know that.
The pull is awful for me, since I can’t really shoot him and have to body pull. Do you know how much I would give for a Misdirection in that fight?
As a long-time hunter, and a freshly minted 70 Enhancement shaman, I understand both sides of which the gentleman writes speaks.
Regarding his wife “uncorking” and the differences in aggro, it’s not surprising. Shaman are aggro monsters, with no way to reduce said hate without 1. standing around, doing nothing, or 2. being face first on the floor. For me, and others as I’ve read, the hardest part of Enhance shaman is the high burst damage / threat. It’s been an issue that has been discussed for quite some time.
Having played each of the two classes, I notice a major difference in playstle. Hunter, I do DPS and try not to let anyone else get killed (via traps, Scatter, kiting, pet offtank). Shaman, I DPS, glue my eyes to the threat meter, and try not to get myself killed (while tossing the occasional Chain Heal).
sounds like his wife needs to roll a hunter, or a lock.
Disengage is a tried and true friend for me when it comes to stuff like soloing/leveling against stuff equal to or lower than my level. It still surprises me how well it works sometimes… obviously I use Feign Death more but I certainly don’t discount Disengage!
My wife and I roll and a hunter-mage combo, and we are quite deadly. I enjoy the fact that my pet can tank and we unload for quick kills and such. Plus if she does get aggro, all she does is stop will I use “RAWR! Your opponent is my pet!” skill. I think if that guy’s wife was an elemental shammy, then things would be great. I would like to know how they grind. When I play my shammy, I pull to point, so I’m not constantly laying totems.
Disengage is the first button I hit when a mob comes at me, if it works I follow it with raptor strike and wing clip and get back to range, if it fails I do nothing and let my kitty get aggro back…I only feign if needed. Dis engage almost always works for me because my pet’s threat level is always high. I often run with a warrior (inexperianced) and he loves my pet as much as I do…Sekhmet is my tank, the warrior is backup.
First let me state that disengage while useful, isn’t all that great. It’s got it’s uses, but FD is MUCH better.
The reasoning..
1.) FD drops ALL agro.
2.) FD does it at any range.
3.) FD COST LESS MANA!!
Disengage is cool and all.. It’s got it’s place.
There are times you don’t want to lose agro and have the mob reset, FDing will cause that to happen. Disengage isn’t really for dropping agro as much as it is for exiting combat. When might you want to do that?
How about when you’re catching Netherrays for skyguard rep and don’t want to kill them? Once they’re at 20% or worse, disengage to keep yourself from killing them then use your lasso to bring them in!
Disengage is an agro reducer that is great as a back up when FD is resisted. But it can only be used up close and is less effective.
How great is our class that we have SOO many threat management tools?
Knowing the mechanics of each of our abilities is what makes us better hunters.
Next up, story time!
Alright.. so I’ve been playing this game awhile. Long enough to have played it with TWO GFs.. both were serious relationships. The first ended not so good… The second, the best I’ve ever had. But I digress.
I played this game with my GF at the time “Lill” and my buddy I’ve known since Kindergarten named “Bill” Together they were my “ILLs” and so I named my pet “ILL”
So now you guys think you know the level of my stupidity, I mean REALLY, who names their pet even PARTIALLY after a GF, and then keeps it around for years and levels it up to 70 after that relationship has ended?!?!?!?!?
But that was just the beginning of my stupidity..,
Fast forward nearly two years and 2 girlfriends later… Both Lill and Bill no longer play. But I still have my pet ILL. It’s the white Lion from Winterspring, and I can’t ever part with it.
My current GF just dinged 70 with her mage. Her first toon to ever hit a level cap. On her way to 70 I would occasionally take my hunter out to Nagrand and help her kill stuff to complete quests. So we get out there and I realize I still have my pet named partially after the GF from my last serious relationship. Renara (my current GF) knows about Lill and how long we dated and that we played the game together at one point too.
Not wanting to cause any tension I decide to keep my pet dismissed just so she wouldn’t see the name. Now SV is hard enough with a pet when trying to kill, but I can attest to the fact that farming without a tank sucks no matter what your spec is. So what do I decide to do instead of bringing out my pet?
You guessed it, I start MDing Renara.
Renara: What was that?
Me: huh?
Renara: That thing that just went up over my head, what is that?
Renara: Why are these things attacking me? Guy! Get them off!
Me: Love, don’t run at me you’re going to bring them into my deadzone.
Renara: WTF.
Something I learned: No matter how much you love your other, don’t ever MD her because you don’t want to use your pet.
Eventually she saw the pet, she recognized the name, and she realized I have been playing this game for YEARS. She understood and hasn’t asked me to make any pet changes. And I was a nub for thinking it was going to be a problem.
I love her, and I’m a dolt.
@Guy - that is a hilarious story, misdirecting on a squishy, you might be the first!
man, if my wife would play wow it would solve a lot of arguments
whatever keeps her happy, do it… and just know in your silence that you COULD blow her her away with misdirect and the DPS meter…
I have seen elemental and enhancement shammies really lay out some DPS… impressive amounts… right up to the moment they die from pulling all the aggro off the tank.
Ehh, I know I’m not the first to MD a squishy for fun, but this was more to keep the mob from entering my deadzone, she was in no real danger as I could kill faster than the mob could. I just needed something else to take the threat.
Hey BRK, as a fellow Dwarf Hunter (and I’m an Engineer so this hurt an extra bit more), now that you guys are downing Prince, prepare to have to learn Bows. The other night we downed Prince, Sunfury Bow dropped and even with the +hit (and +6 DPS Adamantite Shells over CE Arrows) I simply had to give up my Gun until we start doing Doomwalker (and I’m gonna start looking for PUGs on that guy).
Took me 2600 Rough Arrows on Dr. Doom to go from 0 to 350 Bow Skill.
An enhance sham can pull aggro off almost anything if they set their mind to it if they don’t have salv, sometimes even when they do. Getting over hunter pet aggro is so easy it’s not really worth trying to avoid.
And since we’re a proper mail wearing class ( a)
@BRK, b) she does have a shield, right?) tanking mobs instead of having a hunter pet do it is kind of a non-issue, as we have no spell pushback or silly rogue backstab issues.
I’d be more worried about having to drink every 4-5 mobs, using SR when it’s up I can almost cruise indefinitely without drinking.
Just to add so I don’t look like an idiot, enhancements should have shields for ‘oh crap’ situations and when you need to tank bigger than average stuff for a squishie (like a hunter
), not for general grinding.
@Snukums
Wait, what tank do you guys use that doesn’t have some ranged pull ability? When we have a Druidtank they do a faire fire and tell us when it’s safe to start DPS (if you aren’t watching KTM) and then I whip out MD and Aimed/Distracting/Arcane then start going. Similar for a Prot Warrior except we wait for 5 sunders.
Not that you couldn’t do this as an MD pull, but why?
@snukums Unless they’ve changed it, I’ve seen hunters MD prince onto a tank, it’s a little scary for a moment as he seems to body pull on the hunter for a second or so before you get in range and the first shot hits, but he does swerve off toward the tank when it does.
ANY dps class CAN pull aggro from a pet when grinding. If you can’t, then you’re not geared/playing well. This is one of the reasons I recommend leveling as MM build. It’s harder to pull aggro as BM, and some people don’t learn aggro management very well. As for MM leveling, it produces one of two results.
One, a huntard that pulls aggro everytime and melees. (These come from any build, not just MM)
Two, someone who knows how to use his shots and when to ease up so he doesn’t pull aggro from pet/tank. If you can manage very high AP/Crit and not pull aggro from your pet, odds are you won’t pull aggro from a raid tank either.
As for SV… I don’t know how you guys solo anything. My pet gets tired of running after the mobs i steal aggro on and just sits there and cleans himself.