The Hunting Lodge: Hunt with a Vengeance

By Achloryn on May 18, 2012 in Warcraft News with 4 Comments

Welcome back, for the thrilling conclusion of “Brigwyn dominates the conversation”.. (just kidding Brig). For your convenience, here is part one of the interview, and here is part two.

Brigwyn: I’m sorry about taking over. I tend to do that. lol
Achloryn: hahaha. It’s alright.. let me get my boring list of questions… some of which i’ve thrown in during the earlier convo. lol
B: Sweet!
A: Heh. Thanks. Truth be told, I’m really pretty new to playing a hunter too. I just REALLY took to the class.
B: I’ve always said that Hunter’s are the best class in the game.
A: Well, that brings me to my first question actually.
B: fire away
A: Was the hunter your first toon way back when you first started playing wow?
B: Yeah. I’ve always played the equivalent to a “wow” hunter in RPG every�game I’ve ever played. In D&D and now in DDO�(dungeons and dragons online) I play a Ranger. I think it has something to do with all the different Fantasy books I read. There’s always something about the lone ranger that I’ve identified with
A: So you picked a hunter in WoW out of familiarity with the class?
B: I guess you could say that. In any game that offers the “ranger” type class I’ll play it with that character choice first.�I’ll go back and try the others. And I can honestly say I’ve played EVERY class in WoW even.�The only ones I ever leveled past 10 were a Pally and my hunter. I got my Paladin to level 30 and swore that was enough and I’d never go back and never have. And since then, it’s been hunters 100% in WoW. lol
A: Oh wow, so you’ve never really gotten to experience any of the more fun elements of the other classes. You’re a true hunter. I can’t even say that, lol.
B: Fun elements? What fun elements? lol. I guess put it this way. I never even played a DK until October 2009. And even then I didn’t make it past the quest you have to use the orbs where the LK is (if memory serves, that’s like the 6th quest…. maybe).�So yeah. I’m a “TRUE” hunter.
A: Hah. Well, i’m an altaholic, through and through, but like I said, I just really took to the hunter class like I hadn’t done with any of the others.�It even got me to start raiding again. Something I hadn’t done since before yogg+0 was ever killed.
B: Altaholic? What’s that? lol. I honestly play 1 character at a time. And this Brig is the only one I’ve held at max level and won’t delete. The other 3 before this i’ve leveled to max and deleted and started over.
A: Heh. If you looked through my characters list on the login screen you’d probably be astounded. I have like 6 80s, 3 70+s.. It’s nuts.
B: I know that’s what Blizz would prefer? But honestly. If I rolled a new character right now. It would be just another hunter.�Probably roll a Elf on Alliance and a Troll or Tauren on Horde. Come cataclysm I’ll probably start Worgen but I’m so rolling a Goblin
A: I don’t know that Blizz would prefer you rolling other classes. You’re paying the subscription, I assume that’s enough for them to be happy.
B: I think the strategy now is to keep you wanting to play. True, having active subscriptions pays the bills and that’s all that “matters” but there’s a sense of “pride” that people WANT to play your game. Also, I tend to thing Blizzard would rather you roll “alts” (not necessarily different classes) than have you play something like LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) for example.
A: True.. I definitely do get the sense that Blizzard cares about us a bit more than just our finances, which is a good feeling to have when you dedicate as much time as some people do to this game.
B: Yeah. And look at how they encourage the community. Go back to our conversation about addons, blogs, forums, etc.. all of those are actually encouraged and helped by blizzard. we can strip out the sound files for our sites and podcasts, we can post up graphics, in game data files, etc.. and I’m not even talking about BlizzCon where even at $150/person and with sell out crowds they still do it at a loss. So yeah, Blizz is really good at that at least.
A: So, is that what made you decide that you wanted to get into blogging and podcasting about wow?
B: nah. that’s just what made it interesting. I can use their graphics and stuff makes it easy, but not the reason.�I had created The Hunting Lodge because there wasn’t any “plain” hunter sites. Oh sure, we had The Hunter’s Mark for the Survival and hardcore raider, and I found BRK (Big Red Kitty.. one of the�ORIGINAL hunter bloggers) later, and of course Pike’s Aspect of the Hare.�But there weren’t any generic “support all hunters no matter what” sites. So I got together with Rilgon from Stabilized Effort Scope and two other Hunter bloggers and created the Lodge. It was a blog for Hunters. A truly spec agnostic blog.�The only goal was to make the player be the best THEY could be with the SPEC they chose. Eventually Rilgon and the others just fell back to their own and it was just me.
A: No wonder you like the style of my posts on hordereview.. That’s the same approach I have to playing the game. Min/maxxing isn’t really my thing.
B: YEAH! See I don’t have a problem with min/maxing. But when you take away an individuals choice just for a few dps it’s ridiculous.�I understand if it’s ABSOLUTELY required. But those cases are so genuinely rare that it just doesn’t pay to make people miserable.
A: Exactly. I mean, yes I believe if you want to be in an ICC hardmode intense hardcore guild, then yeah, you’ll probably want to min/max, but we’re getting back into that less than 10% of player base fitting into that category.
B: Okay so here’s the thing I’m going to probably tick off some people.�Look at any “Progressed” guild and you’ll notice that they’re not BiS and Min/Maxed to the extreme.�They can’t be it’s impossible to do so�and maintain the competitive progression path.�So what they’ve learned to do is play with what they have and adapt. Honestly, it’s a game more about covering buffs, interrupts, and debuffs than it is about min/maxing
A: Yeah, they can’t be all BiS because they’re too busy beating the stuff as quickly as possible. However, I think they do know how to min/max out of what they have. That’s the kind of thing that Ghostcrawler talks about when he mentions just how utterly amazing some of the world first’s players are.
B: i’m not saying dps isn’t important. it’s just something they can adjust as they go based on how well they control the fight and how many stay alive.
A: Hah.. That reminds me of something that happened to me in Vault of Archavon a while back.
B: oh?
A: When my DK first hit 80, shortly after Emalon had been patched in with Ulduar, I was in a pug for VoA 25 man. It was a wipe because we didn’t have the dps for the stupid adds that exploded…�Someone called me out specifically for having crappy dps (Which, to be fair, it was at the time). So, I pulled up recount and showed how, yeah he had 4k dps or whatever, but he had like the lowest damage because he was killed on the first chain lightning Emalon threw out.
B: BINGO! See!! people focus on all the wrong things.
A: He continues to argue that “So what if i died, i had more than double your dps”…. “Yeah.. but you effing died 20 seconds into the fight you moron”
B: Haha! *high-5!*
A: Fortunatly, the raid leader sided with me, cause he was someone I sort of knew, and booted him from the raid for being a douchebag. Then he pulled me aside and said that yeah, my dps probably was too low for that fight.. Which I agreed with and bowed out gracefully.
B: Well that’s a fair assessment.
A: But you’re right, people absolutely tend to focus on the wrong things. To bring it back to min/maxxing. Yeah, it might help some people eek out those few hundred DPS to bring Putricide down in heroic before he enrages , but obviously it was done before the min/maxxing was possible really… so it’s all relative.
B: Right… But see I’ve always had this suspecion that DPS is actually the last thing you should be concerned with. it’s more like what you said. it’s about the damage done. yes dps is damage done�quickly but sometimes that means you’re putting a strain on some other part of your raid.�Anyways, I had the opportunity to interview my servers #2 guild. Epic Weapons Vendor. Now they actually have the server first LK kill and claim our Dalaran statue.�Anyways, I wanted to interview a progression guild and find out once and for all what was important to them in their hunters.�Funny.. They said that they’d take a lower DPS hunter that could stay alive and releive the stress on their healers above a high dps hunter that wouldn’t
A: Heh. Amazing how that works sometimes, huh?
B: See they look at the total raid, and this is something that most progressive raids do. they don’t just look at the “role’ and say oh. you’re dps so if you don’t hit some magic dps number you’re outta here. they look first at how to control the fight. what does it take to manage the bosses agro and what debuff, buff combination is the most effective.�Then they throw in DPS. see dps is always that. DPS. but if you combine it with the right combination of debuffs, buffs and boss mgt. along with raid awareness. then all of a sudden lower dps doesn’t matter b/c all the other parts make up for it.�i’m not saying there aren’t minimums… there are. But these are what dps checks are for. to see can you manage a “time trial” fight effectively. and if you have all the right components it’ll be a lot easier w/ a lot less stress.�Unfortunately, too many raiding guilds are looking to speed through and read “guides” created by these guilds and try to interpret all the missing parts based on theorycraft.
A: I completely agree. Like my first time in ICC 25, just this past weekend.�We one-shot the first 6 bosses. I didn’t die on any of them. Knowing the fights for yourself is only half the battle, but actually being aware of EVERYTHING going on. Watching for those blood beasts (on Deathbringer Saurfang), for instance, and if he’s chewing on a melee, then use your effing Distracting shot to peel him off.. Something of that nature.
B: EXACTLY!�When you look at it from that perspective then you you start seeing what’s truly important and what will truly add to your success.
A: Bingo. I may not have been the best geared, or had the highest dps on every fight, but we downed the bosses, and I didn’t die. I consider that both a guild success, and a personal success as far as a raid boss goes.
B: YEAH!! see you get it!!�Unfortuantely, you’ve probably heard what I’ve heard and battled. And as you said earlier. People coming up to you saying your dps is too low you need to step it up. however it’s not YOUR dps, it’s the guy who stands in goo the whole time causing your healers to spend time on them rather than the tanks. Or it’s the one guy that doesn’t dodge a void zone and gets 1 shot. but the meters show that they have 11-12k dps and you’re sitting around 10-10.5 and it’s your fault. That’s bogus imho
A: And, there are times where that may be true, but it’s like you said, it’s only a fraction of the overall equation.
B: EXACTLY!! If EVERYONE does their job, then the “individual” high mark is actually much, much lower.
A: Like Emalon. Those adds DO need to go down quick, or they WILL kill everyone, but it’s also a matter of switching at the right time.. picking the right ADD.. Staying alive out of the lightning nova and chain lightning.
B: Yeah, we won’t talk about Emalon. lol Let’s just say it’s really pretty and blackholes suck and move on.
A: Hahaha.
B: I’m j/k I was very fortunate. And happily admit my Starcaller title (given for defeating Algalon the Observer in 10 player mode) was a truly undeserved gift from Epic Weapons Vendor. They carried me through the entire fight. Well, not caried. they let me just lie down and watch it, then rezed me later. ROFL You can catch them laughing at me over on YouTube lol (You can watch Brigwyn vs Algalon the Observer here)
A: Hah, yes I heard about that on one of your THL casts.
B: LOL yeah. they graciously allowed me to join the guild last weekend when I was looking for a new home. I couldn’t ask for a more awesome bunch of folks.
A: That’s awesome to hear.
B: OH! It’s also home of Xumio the guy that wrote Xumio’s SV Guide on the forums and was at the Lodge.�So when people question if they know their stuff? Trust me they do. So a huge shout out to EWV and a sincere thanks to those guys!
A: Well, unfortunatly, I didn’t find out about The Hunters Lodge until it was too late. I heard you and Daewin on the Twisted Nether Blogcast right before THL went down.
B: oh? LOL! Well to clarify.. it was The Hunting Lodge but that’s a common mistake.
A: Oooh! Sorry! Haha
B: The other misconception was THL was more a WoW Podcast BY hunters and not specifically a Hunter podcast. something that confused a lot of people. lol
A: Yeah, I could see how that would throw people off. I think I understand what you mean though.
B: Daewin (my co-host) and I both play hunters. But we both said up front that if all we could do was talk about “How” to play a hunter then it would get boring very fast. But if we talked about the GAME and not the class then it we had a ton of stuff to talk about.
A: Well sure, that’s the kind of thing i’m trying to do with my hunter column on hordereview
B: We would just cast it from our own unique view of being the absolute best class in the game that even Warlocks want to try and copy.�It’s a whole lot more interesting isn’t it? Instead of just “here’s the BiS gear, here’s the spec, here’s the blah blah blah”
A: Right. Because you can only make those posts every few months when new gear upgrades have been patched in.
B: But if you talk about the game from your perspective then it is, “WTH is up with druids and that all that QQ about not being a tree all the time!�You mean they like the idea of my pet having something to gnaw on or being used as my wolf’s fire hydrant? Just seems wrong to me. And besides. If they would just wisen up and let us tame them while in feral form they wouldn’t have that issue.”
A: Heh. I don’t know. I have a druid healer as well, and I am actually quite excited about having a metamorphosis-style cooldown to help me heal better.
B: Yeah.. My friend Lissanna from Restokin and I have this running joke. “Shroomkin! I choose you!” now.
A: I wish I could show just how much that made me laugh without typing “hahahhaa” ad nauseum.
B: But you get the point. It’s a much different approach. We covered hunter news and talked about “how” to play the game as a hunter. But the focus was VERY different than say Hunting Party where their focus is a lot more on the specifics of how.
A: Heh.�Now, I know we’ve been talking for like 4 hours, so if you need to go or something, let me know.
B: Did we answer all your questions? I don’t want to leave you hanging…
A: OH.. Actually, there is one more specific question, I really wanted to know
B: Sure
A: A couple weeks ago Nethaera put up a call to all hunters for their suggestions on new ideas for tamable pets or pet abilities. OTHER than a feral druid, what kind of animal would you fall over yourself to try to tame in Cataclysm?
B: my answer to this is actually controversial (like anything else i say isn’t. lol)
A: Haha. I’m sure it’ll be fine.
B: I honestly think we should be able to tame dragons. Not the “intelligent” ones. The Whelps for example.�I justify this to myself by applying the Narnian rule for talking animals. If they act like animals (hence these don’t talk or show any sentience) then they’ve become animals and hence should be tameable.
A: Like the ones that rampage around the Badlands.
B: Exactly. Like those. And besides that? I’m not sure what’s left out there that’s not really tameable in some form or another. Now for skills? Hmm.. that’s a bit tougher.
A: I’ll give you one of my ideas… For the large jormungar worms (that are already tameable).. I think they should have a burrow/resurface ability like the ones in Hellfire Peninsula.. Only, if they�resurface under you, they knock you back.
B: What I’d really like to see is our pets become our version of buffs/debuffs� this way they would be important to keep alive for all specs but not overly so for one over the other. Hmm. that’s pretty cool but don’t we have knockback with rhino’s or something like that?
A: No, sadly, that was taken away a while back. They should bring it back.
B: Oh yeah. that’s right b/c everyone complained about them being used in raids for mass chain pulls. (those were funny. lol) Umm. Maybe shoveltusks? You can’t tame those right?�So there’s a safe version.
A: Nope, don’t think so. Mana wyrms are a popular one i’ve seen come up on the official forums.
B: i guess so? We have windserpents so they would just be a wingless version of those?
A: Well, to go along with mana wyrms, their ability would be something like the blood elf racial, arcane torrent. A brief spell lock/interrupt.
B: I’m really boring at this part b/c I’d honestly rather see something BIG like give hunters the ability to tame our own mounts. Yeah. so Blood Elf Hunters could use that twice? Something tells me Blizz wont’ let that happen.
A:�Haha, good point. 3 times if they’re Marksmanship hunters.
B: Now something I’d love to see in game that I can’t explain?
A: Sure.
B: What’s up with no Gnome Hunters?!? Seriously!? We can have rotting zombie hunters? HUMONGUS clumsy cow hunters. Ugly squid face hunters.. but no Gnome Hunters? What’s up with that? Gnome Hunters would be too much awesomesauce!
A: Really, i think that all races should just be able to be hunters. I mean, that’s one of the classes that would honestly make SENSE for them all to have.
B: http://brigwyn.com/Images/contest/gnome-mor.gif (this image is what is SUPPOSED to be the banner on this page) yeah. but come on. name 1 single class that looks more bad a** than these. And they’re in T6 gear!
A: Hehe. Now you’re just trying to rock the boat for my readers aren’t you? Remember, the site is HORDEreview.com..
B: Haha. that’s okay. I’m a dwarf so I get to right?
A: Heh. It’s fine.. Don’t tell anyone, but my hunter is a dwarf too.
B: Haha! Awesome! that’s too cool. Since we don’t have Gnomes, dwarf hunters are too cool. in Cata Goblins will be the horde equivelent of the dwarf hunter.Full of humor but also be able to kick major butt!
A: I dunno.. The playable goblins i’ve seen are a bit creepy looking. I dont’ think they’ll be the walking joke that gnomes are in-game.
B: joke? nope not at all. I seriously equate them to dwarves.�they’re gonna kick major a$$ and the whole bank/gold racial thing? wrong on so many levels
A: Boy you’re not kidding.
B: Okay. I hate to do this but I do have to get to work tomorrow.�All the Hunter Stuff i had up for the lodge is still up at Brigwyn’s Corner and our forums are still live and active. We still have WoW Players that know WoW.�gnight! and really thanks a bunch. this was a blast.
A: Heh. It really was.

Wow, I think Brigwyn fired more arrows from this interview than he does in your average raid (and twice as many as he got off against Algalon. ). Well, I hope you enjoyed the interview. Brig is a great guy and even though he’s cut back his wow playtime, he still has some great thoughts about the game, and his page is worth checking out. He and Daewin are also starting up a new podcast called Redneck Geek and the Cajun Gamer. The specifics aren’t up on the site just yet, but support these guys.�They deserve it.

Well, after editing this interview, i’m finally out of ammunition. To paraphrase a popular movie quote: We’re gonna need a bigger quiver. Until next time, loyal hunters…

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