Warpath
It’s a total fake. We’re not going to play on the Wrath of the Lich King beta. There is no beta. Blizzard denies everything. The links are a hoax.
We are furious. We are outraged. We feel used.
We’re more like Bridget Moynahan than Paris Hilton, aren’t we. D@mn.
TJ got a Wraithfire Hand-Cannon in Shadow Lab last night. Perhaps we should sic her on the b@stards who tried to steal the BRK Mojo.
(Um, don’t ask why TJ got a WHC from SL. It’ll just make your head hurt. Needless to say she was “shooting up guild chat” afterwards.)
(And no, Sonic Spear didn’t drop. Did we mention that we’re exalted with Lower City now?)
So we’re totally 100% beta-less and finishing the BRK on WoW Insider column, (4:30pm EST if our editor comes through with the graphic-assistance we need, 3PM tomorrow if she doesn’t.) (And we’re doing a lot of parenthesises, aren’t we?)
Let’s answer a letter before we smash our keyboard in rage.
“Dear BRK, I’m just starting to get into Karazhan with my guild and I’ve got a question. Since I’m a dwarf, do you think it would be better for me to pass on Attumen’s Crossbow and “save” myself for the Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle? Ultimately, I think the rifle is a better weapon for me because of the racial bonus. We just use a /roll system for distributing loot, but I don’t want to be a jackass and deprive another hunter in my guild of such an awesome upgrade if I’m just going to ditch it when the rifle comes along. On the other hand, the crossbow is a big upgrade for me (using Telescopic Sharprifle now) and the crossbow is way easier to get than the gun it seems. Grolnen”
+5 BRK Cool Points for not wanting to be a jack@ss. Usually we see people working extra-hard to achieve the opposite end of the spectrum on this subject.
Loot Drama. Little will hurt a raid more than one person getting all the goodies while others get cr@p. In our little AC guild, we have 182,000 druids, many thousands of whom are feral. They compete with our rogues for leather-DPS gear. There have been some real DKP-fights for that stuff, believe us.
Imagine a raid with a /roll loot system and two feral druids and a rogue. They do a bunch of bosses and the druids win all the DPS-leather. The next week the GM lets two other feral druids run but brings the same rogue. More DPS-leather drops, the new druids win it, the rogue goes another week with nothing.
Is this best for the guild? We don’t think so. It’s why we advocate using some kind of DKP system. You may not agree, that’s fine.
Grolnen has another hunter with whom he should share loot. He might want to make a contract with that guy such that the winner of the first xbow does not automatically have to pass on the Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle when it drops. But he also might want to say that he’ll pass on Attumen’s bracers and necklace, and maybe even Maiden’s gloves, so the other hunter gets “equivalent” gear.
Now for a hunter there is no real “equivalent” to a ranged weapon. The xbow feels nicer than those bracers, necklace, and gloves combined. But you have two hunters and they both need gear. It would be really uncool to grab the xbow, roll on the gloves, then demand to roll on the gun, too. That’s just greedy. How about something like:
Hunter A gets the xbow. Hunter B gets first dibs on the bracers, necklace, and gloves. When Opera comes a-knocking, everything is even. If Hunter A gets the WSR, Hunter B gets first dibs on either the Beastmaw Pauldrons or the T4 gloves, his choice, and also automatically gets dibs on the Sunfury bow.
Whatever you come up with, write it down and let your guild’s officers know what’s going on. Keeping everything above-board and clear of the perception of impropriety is crucial to keeping peace in a raiding guild.
Or get the other hunter /gkicked and keep the phat loot for yourself.
(4:30pm today; she came through!)
(And no more parenthesises.)
October 3, 2007 at 7:51 pm
We find the /roll system works well for us, but then our guild is fairly well-balanced: we tend not to have too many of any one particular class/role, so other than Tier pieces and certain fairly generic DPS gear, there’s rarely more than two rolls on any given thing, and everyone’s pretty cool about one person getting all the loot luck that night (especially since that person usually tends to pass after the first two or three itmes).
I’d be excited about being the only raiding DPS Warrior in the guild if there was more than one piece of DPS plate in all of Kara (plus Gorehowl, AKA the Arms Warrior’s wet dream)
October 3, 2007 at 7:52 pm
KAPOW!
October 3, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Right back at ya TJ. Love the WHC. Everyone should get one.
October 3, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Our guild had been running sign ups for Kara runs. Lots of people signing up, and very fluid groupings and things were a little chaotic, and progress slowed (couldn’t get past shade). We assigned people to a Group and stabilized things, and (blammo!) progress (Shade and Prince down).
Since we now have a pretty static group of people in my Group A, we use the discussion method. Who is this the best upgrade for? Sucks a little sometimes not being considered for loot, but I’m pretty well geared already. Only two blues left (not including trinkets). Its hard to feel bad about not getting the phat warlock purplez when you see what a big upgrade it is for the shadow priestess (warlocks think shadow priests are a good thing!)
Common sense looting FTW!
(need more parenthesis)
October 3, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Wow I guess I have a good guild. We do use a /roll system but if items drop that more then one class can roll on. A person who has won something preivously will be generous and pass to help distribute the loot better. If everyone has gotten something and another item drops. Its fair game again.
And I am dissappointed in TJ. BLAMO! would have been a better choice. At least I think so.
October 3, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Loot master + loot council works well IMO. Keep DKP prices (no bidding) for each item so that it can be used to break ties.
I wonder which ranged weapon of the 3 in Kara is least likely to drop? My gut feeling is the rifle, since it’s probably 1 in 4 chances you get the opera event and then the loot drop probabilities apply. I would take that into account when planning for an upgrade.
I had the same anxiety in my first Kara run. I was actually worried that I would get very lucky and xbow would drop (I knew I’d get it as the only hunter in the group) and then prince would cough up sunfury lol
Fortunately I was unlucky and only sunfury dropped
October 3, 2007 at 8:08 pm
mmmm Bridget.
October 3, 2007 at 9:13 pm
Yeah, Kara loot is a bit of a sore spot for me. Since I’m a hunter officer, I drop out of Kara a lot to get my other hunters geared up. I then usually ask to swap out for Curator or Aran… want my gloves and some +hit goodies.
Problem is, Kara is a mess in my guild. Everyone wants to go, but we have limited tanks and healers which really determines how many groups can go and the people who get in feel less willing to swap out as a result.
If I could get the t4 gloves and garona’s signet ring, I could never enter that place ever again and feel good about it. I’ve got all my heroic stuff, a couple of arena pieces and spent a wad of karma on my t4 pants.
I’ve gone above and beyond to gear myself up outside of that infernal Karazhan and I really just wish others would do the same. Right now, I’m watch all the hunters in my guild grab up stuff left and right out of Kara while I run heroics and arena and BG’s so they can have their slot.
Then! When I do get in for the boss I want, I need to fight with the druids, fury warriors, rogues and shammies for my derned rings! Needless to say… I lose.
It’s a situation that I’m not very happy with. By choosing to get my hunters geared up for the big boy raids, I’m getting less and less gear I need for the big boy raids.
Infuriating I tell you.
October 3, 2007 at 9:19 pm
Hey BRK, I would like to add something that happened last night in Kara with one of the teams from my guild.
( NOTE: My guild does not use any DKP or priority for loot distribution in kara, so therefore its basicly FFA in a sense. }
We have 3-4 hunters that raid every night, including me. Last night, me and one other hunter, who was worse off than me for gear, were in group 1, and made it to opera flawlessly. I was hoping for BBW for the rifle, but alas… it was the Crone.
All was fine tho, there was the possiblity of LEGACY dropping… After 2 wipes from bad heals and lack of a warlock who could fear worth a dam, Crone was dead.
LEGACY dropped.
A DPS warrior rolled against 2 hunters on it, and won it. Loot master gave it to said warrior.
Needless to say, Im EXTREMELY PISSED OFF.
Ok /rantoff
I love your blog BRK. Keep up the good work.
Haarchak – Area-52
October 3, 2007 at 9:36 pm
BRK -
Thanks for answering my question, I’m honored!
I appreciate your suggestions about coming up with a contract, of sorts, with other hunters in my guild. I may try that out. What I really wanted to get your opinion on, though, was whether the Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle is “worth” this effort or if it just makes more sense to just grab whichever weapon upgrade comes first.
And ultimately, I guess I’m asking how much extra effort a dwarf hunter should put into making sure he gets guns over non-guns. Is the +5 weapon skill worth it?
October 3, 2007 at 10:32 pm
@grolnen
I’d say if you’re running with other hunters, it’s worth it (karmically) to decline the xbow and state that you are holding out for Wolfslayer. That’s what I did until the xbow fell one night and I was the only hunter. I almost didn’t take it on principle, but it was an upgrade for me, so rather than shard it, I took it. 2 weeks later the rifle dropped! Would be another month until I got Sunfury… by the hair of my chinny chin chin mind you!
If you make it known that you want a particular item really really badly and are willing to forgo certain drops in order to get it, if anyone in your guild rolls on it when it finally drops… you really might want to consider a new guild.
Anything less than you getting that weapon you have sacrificed for is simply horsesh!t.
October 4, 2007 at 1:33 am
@haarchak
I would have right then and there /gquit
plain and simple. I can see a pally rolling on Legacy, but not a DAMN Warrior. I am not biased against warriors they have to stare down the big nasty raid bosses and smell their bad breath while I turn them into a pin cushion, but Legacy has the wrong stat distro that a warrior would find appealing, unless by some freak of nature he has a mana bar instead of a rage bar.
October 4, 2007 at 5:22 am
I think rolling on stuff in 10-mans is real dumb and I was really glad when my guild dropped dkp in kara (dkp is reserved for 25 mans).
I didn’t start getting loot just because we switched to /roll. In fact It was over 2 months befeore I got anything but then I was showered in purples. Three in one night IIRC. Did I feel guilty because I won three rolls? No. I had lost plenty before then (I had been in a half dozen kara clears with nothing to show for it (lootwise)) and I was just reaping the reward for being patient.
Personally I would roll on the Attumen bow when it drops. It does so regularly anyway and the other hunter will pick it up soon enough anyway. The Wolfslayer not so often. First you actaully have to get BBW and I have never seen it. All but one Opera event has been R+J for me. The “one” was Oz.
(PS I too can use parenthesises!)
October 4, 2007 at 11:16 am
I luck out and tend to be the only hunter. So I tend to collect maile items rather than let them become [Epic Item of the Void Crystal]. The rogue and I tend to do a /shrug, then see who would be getting the biggest upgrade from some items, and roll ‘em up if the margin of upgrade is about equal.
October 4, 2007 at 12:57 pm
I was holding out for the wolfslayer myself, but last night we one-shotted the prince and the bow dropped, and since I was the only hunter on the raid it was mine.
I really wanted the gun, being a dwarf, but come on… 83.3 DPS!
There are only 7 range weapons in the game that can beat that (excluding the Kael’Thas event bow) and one of them is a tanking gun with STA and dodge, and the other is an arena xbow with resilience on it, and none of them drop outside the upper tier 25 mans (behind Gruul/Mags) that I probably will never see, being in a play-for-fun casual raiding group.
This will most likely carry me into Zulaman and skewer many forest trolls before I get my hands on whatever new shooters are there.
I’m glad I picked up Romulo’s poison vial on a “last chance before we shard it” roll. The 2.22% hit chance just for swapping out a trinket takes me from 6.70-something (hit capped for lvl 72 mobs and lower) to 8.90something (almost hit capped for 73/?? bosses) even without the racial bonus.
October 4, 2007 at 1:00 pm
PS: Everybody said I earned the bow anyway, because last night was the first night I was assigned to be the infernal spotter, and command the tank/melee group and the range group which way to run to avoid them. “Timion, guess what you get to do every week from now on!”
October 4, 2007 at 5:32 pm
The Dwarf should just get Don Santos’ hunting rifle.
It is superior to any gun bar Wolfslayer in the entire game because of the speed and the proc.
And yes, it is definitely worth sticking with guns. If nothing else, that 33% hit is 50 Hit rating you can use for other stats by swapping gear.
In fact Telescopic Sharprifle is probably better than Steelhawk for a Dwarf.
October 4, 2007 at 5:43 pm
A Warrior rolling on Legacy? WTF?
To add to my post above, the way we do things is, only people for whom the item was designed get to Need roll. If they already have it/something better/aren’t interested, then other people who might be able to use it get to roll for “Greed”. So I might roll on Legacy if there were (a) no other Hunters in the run (which has happened, like, twice in six months), or (b) they already had it (as was the case when I picked up the Steelhawk and Sunfury bows, some Bear Druid boots from trash and the Rogue shoulders from Chess), but only if those two conditions were satisfied and it was still a justifiable upgrade (i.e. I didn’t have my Tier II BSing Axe or Gorehowl).
I must just be lucky to be in a guild with no real loot drama. /shrug
October 5, 2007 at 7:05 am
I’m lucky to be the only hunter in our Kara group with no shammys either – so I only compete against the rogues for rings, trinkets and neckpieces (we use open rolls no DKP). I have the steelhawk, wolfslayer and sunfury, but has Legacy ever dropped? NO. No it hasn’t.
/cry
/wail
/gnash teeth