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Posts with tag cat

Scattered Shots: Why certain pet families are so popular

Posted May 8th 2008 9:00PM by Daniel Whitcomb
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Guides, Arena, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots is for Hunters. David Bowers is caught in a Freezing Trap this week, so Daniel Whitcomb -- who did not set the trap, he swears to the Light -- is substituting for him.

You hear it pretty much all the time if you've ever slightly dipped into the world of Hunters. If you want to play in the big leagues, conventional wisdom says you're pretty much stuck with a select handful of pet types (also known as pet families): Ravagers, Cats, and Raptors for PvE, Scorpids for PvP.

But do you know why those pet families are so desired? What it really comes down to is Hunter roles and abilities.

Continue reading Scattered Shots: Why certain pet families are so popular

What WoW should learn from certain quests in and around The Barrens

Posted Apr 29th 2008 7:00PM by Daniel Whitcomb
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Quests, Expansions, Lore, Leveling, RP

Lakotamani welcomes you to the beautiful Barrens!So I've been thinking a bit about questing lately as I traverse Outlands on my latest project, a level 61 Blood Elf Paladin, working on the Outlands quests. I think my favorite part of playing a lowbie hordeling is how many quests there are to "stumble upon" in the oft-maligned Barrens. Technically, they're all very basic "find and kill these dudes" quests, but the presentation is such that I always get a big rush from doing them. They really do make me feel like a mighty hunter.

Continue reading What WoW should learn from certain quests in and around The Barrens

2.4.2 Hunter Changes: Aspect of the Viper, Growl, and the boar's last stand

Posted Apr 25th 2008 6:00PM by Daniel Whitcomb
Filed under: Hunter, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Buffs

So Growl has been having some problems since 2.4 went live. Pets refuse to cast it in the right order, which is wreaking havoc with Hunter aggro, especially on boar pets, who depend on a Charge/Growl combination to gain their fabled massive aggro. I myself have noticed that I have a lot harder time keeping aggro from my beloved boar Bonnie when I solo on my Hunter. So now on the PTR, we have some new lines in the latest update of the patch notes:

• Boar Charge: This ability will no longer make Growl cast immediately after it generates excessive threat.
• The pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power.

It should also be noted that Nethaera has said that Growl will now scale with Hunter AP instead of Pet AP, so there's no fear that it's become a non-scaling flat skill.

Now, this all sounds somewhat ominous, but what does it actually mean?

Continue reading 2.4.2 Hunter Changes: Aspect of the Viper, Growl, and the boar's last stand

Breakfast Topic: Should Blizzard support Hunter pet diversity?

Posted Apr 18th 2008 8:00AM by Daniel Whitcomb
Filed under: Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast topics


While looking over the new "fake" pet skills page at Petopia earlier today, one of the biggest things that struck me is that the whole Thorns skill that the temporary Crab pets get for the lowbie Hunter taming quests would be a great thing for normal Crab pets to get. Right now, They're stuck learning nothing but Claw, placing them right near the bottom of the pet pantheon - very close to Sporebats, who can't learn any special abilities at all.

My two high level Hunters tamed a Carrion Bird and a Boar, respectively, so I'm lucky enough to have a good selection of skills to use, but I think there should be more options for people who love their offbeat pets like Sporebats or Hyenas or Crocs. They can even use some of the old rumored alpha skills for pets that popped up around the time of Burning Crusade's alpha. I'm hoping that Blizzard shows more types of Hunter pets some love in WoTLK with a wide selection of new skills, be it thorny shells for Crabs, a Cannibalism-type skills for Raptors, or anything else that lets us see Hunters fighting alongside fewer Cats and Ravagers (or in the case of arenas, Scorpids).

What do you think? Should Blizzard focus a bit more on a wider variety of options for Hunter pets? Or should Hunters just take what they can get and be grateful for it? If the former, what types of new pet skills would you like to see?

Shifting Perspectives: So, is Nurturing Instinct worth taking now?

Posted Feb 26th 2008 9:00PM by Allison Robert
Filed under: Night Elves, Tauren, Druid, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Raiding, Talents, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives


Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives is typically written by someone who is not Allie Robert. This week, she has Prowled onto John Patricelli's turf, Pounced him, and run off shouting, "Ha ha! I have your column and there's nothing you can do about it for the next un-talented 3 seconds!"

John's previously covered a number of the changes you can expect to see in the upcoming patch 2.4, but more recently we're heard of changes to the feral talent Nurturing Instinct. Currently the talent increases healing spells by up to 50% of your Strength. It's not such a bad bonus, but you'd be a rare feral indeed if you found a lot of leather gear with +Strength on it outside of the tier or arena sets. The vast majority of ferals continue to use specialized pieces like the Heavy Clefthoof set for bear tanking and mostly rogue gear for cat dps. Either way, the talent was of considerably less use than it might have been if more pieces like the Shadowprowler's Chestguard existed ingame (although the addition of badge gear has made it possible, albeit time-consuming, to get leather with "Druid stats"). Moreover, with the change to the Heart of the Wild talent in patch 2.3 (altering the full talent from a 20% increase to your Strength in cat form to a 10% increase to your AP in cat form), Strength became less important than ever. Take a tour through Emmerald's feral gear guide (updated to include 2.3 badge gear and - I hope - soon to be updated to include 2.4 badge gear) and you'll find that most of the best cat pieces are rogue leather with a ton of Agility.

Blizzard must have recognized that it didn't make much sense to keep Nurturing Instinct the way it was, so the talent has now been changed to increase your healing spells by 50%/100% of your Agility, and healing done to you by 10/20% of your AP in cat form. There still seems to be some confusion over how this change will play out, but the official PTR patch notes still say it's 10/20% of your AP in cat. While this will obviously depend a lot on how much attack power you're packing, this could be a considerable buff to your healing taken in cat form (approaching and, with AP increases, probably exceeding the average additional healing by a warlock's Fel Armor). Fully talented, this could mean an extra +400 healing done to you assuming you're at the druid boards' minimum standards of 2,000 AP and 30% crit in cat form for entry to Karazhan.

Still, Nurturing Instinct is problematic. Not because it's bad, exactly, but because it's one of those troublesome talents rife among hybrid talent trees that force you to ask what you really want to be playing that character for.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: So, is Nurturing Instinct worth taking now?

Around Azeroth: Stalking the mighty Zhevra

Posted Dec 17th 2007 10:00AM by Elizabeth Harper
Filed under: Screenshots, Around Azeroth


The Tauren Druid stalks his prey in his natural habitat: the tall grassof the Barrens, into which he naturally blends. The Zhevra in the distance stands little chance against this predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Though this is an excellent stalking shot, it's apparently not a memorable one -- as reader Matt sent this one in with the note that he couldn't remember which character or realm this image might have come from.

Do you collect screenshots of your character on the hunt? We want to hear your stories (and see them!) on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Gallery: Around Azeroth

Shifting Perspectives: The forgotten feral form

Posted Dec 4th 2007 5:30PM by Ryan Carter
Filed under: Night Elves, Tauren, Druid, Talents, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives

Shifting Perspectives is the Druid column normally written by someone else other than Ryan Carter, but he is currently cutting his level 68 teeth on everything that moves, so he is filling in for your regularly scheduled Druids, who are on vacation in Nagrand and points beyond.

Moonkins, mongeese, and bears oh my! Is there a reason that everyone hates cats, or is it that no one likes them? As a Druid, I hear about Dire Bear tanks, I hear about those party-animals, the Moonkins dps-ing their way into the lime light, and of course those restro Druids, who hang out with healers. What about the feral kitty? Why does no one play them but me? Is it harder to be a cat, or is it just a misunderstood sub-class? Personally, I love playing the cat, since there are many advantages to this spec. Sure, bears, owlbeasts and trees are great, but since I am biased, let me explain what I consider to be the distinct advantages of playing a kitty.

First off, Prowl (stealth) is an extremely powerful tool in groups, solo, or in an instance. Rogues have this ability too, but putting 3 early talent points into Feral Instinct makes it even harder to detect you when roaming around (like a talent rogues have). Stealth is useful for recon, figuring out the best way to pull a difficult group in an instance or for doing things other classes can't even dream of doing, like soloing LBRS to get your own Smolderweb Hatchling or Worg Pup. I was a level too low to be running LBRS in daylight, yet was inside stealthing through LBRS to get my pets, all alone. Wanna be the talk of the town or do the impossible before it should be possible, roll a druid.

Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: The forgotten feral form

Tauren cat form updated a little in patch 2.3

Posted Oct 17th 2007 3:03PM by David Bowers
Filed under: Druid, Patches


We just talked about this issue in Shifting Perspectives a week ago, but it appears Blizzard is already doing something about the tauren cat form -- albeit not very much. Many tauren have long complained that their cat form is much uglier than the night elf version (compare for yourself here), and while these changes aren't comprehensive, at least they're a tiny step in a new direction.

Beaux on the US forums showed everyone how, in patch 2.3, Blizzard has modified the tauren cat form's face to look more like a lion and less like a monkey, and changed the neck of the lion so that it doesn't look so hunchbacked as it moves. It's not as pretty as the tauren cat form suggestion submitted in Blizzard's art contest, but it'll do for now I would think.

[Update]: Our reader tmklein supplied us with some interesting links for what the EU player Andrige thought the various forms should look like -- all with a distinct visual style. Would you like this sort of change?

2.2 coming to the live realms tomorrow morning

Posted Sep 24th 2007 2:00PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, PvP

By now, it's almost a certainty-- not only did the PTR shut down last week, but Neth has almost confirmed on the forums that patch 2.2 is coming tomorrow morning. That means, I guess, that Amanda was right on our podcast a few weeks ago-- she was the only one who predicted it would show up this week, so kudos to her. Of course, it also messes up my plans for the week, unfortunately. I was planning to snipe Brutes and capture flags at least through Thursday, but now I may have to punctuate that with some voice chatting.

And besides voice chatting, what else are we seeing in this new patch we've waited so long for? The full patch notes are here for now (though they may be replaced with the 2.2.2 notes in the next day or so). Anti-AFK measures are showing up, as well as the Haste rebalancing. And most of the class stuff seems like bugfixes more or less. If you're a Druid, it'll be good to know that you can attack from further away while in Cat form, Shaman ankhs will now stack to ten (nice!) and Hunters with Raptor pets can now go out and learn Dash, but otherwise, it's all bugfixes-- some more harsh than others (the Six Demon Bag no longer benefits from spell damage, so bummer for that one).

But the thing that will really pull me away from Halo 3 this week is probably the simplest. Finally, my Orc male shoulders are returned to full size. Finally, after more than two months, I can walk around Orgrimmar with my head held up proudly, trapped between two huge masses of metal. See you tomorrow, 2.2!

WoW Moviewatch: Kittens and WoW

Posted Jul 2nd 2007 12:00PM by Elizabeth Harper
Filed under: WoW Moviewatch


What is it with kittens and World of Warcraft? What's their strange draw to the monitor or keyboard? Because I'm telling you -- you can't browse World of Warcraft videos these days without being overwhelmed by an onslaught of adorable kittens, busily trying to melt faces or pwn n00bs. They've clearly got an unhealthy fascination with that cursor...

Previously on Moviewatch...

Adventures in Azeroth: Introducing Cat

Posted Jun 17th 2007 5:40PM by Elizabeth Harper
Filed under: Hunter, Leveling


Last time we talked about my adventures as a newbie hunter running around Zangarmarsh with my pals in WoW Insider's It came from the Blog guild, I was a newly minted level ten trying to figure out what pet to tame. And knowing little of what I was doing, I asked for your advice on what I ought to tame. From the image above and the title of the post, I'm pretty sure you can guess what the results are, but I'll break it down for you anyway. Out of a total of 762 votes, cat won out with a total of 198 votes. However, boar was very close behind with 190 votes. And in third place, the noble owl, with 82 votes. (If you want to see the full results, check here.)

So, as you can see, I went out and tamed a cat in Eversong Woods -- and I have to say, it's a completely different game after getting a pet! With a pet doing the tanking, I didn't have problems with monsters rushing up into melee range, where I can't use my bow, and beating on me. (Really, I'm hopeless once something gets into melee range!) And if something does get into melee range? I can just call my faithful cat in to pull it away. Oh yes, it seemed like the game was going to be eeaassssy sailing from here out. But of course nothing's ever easy...

Continue reading Adventures in Azeroth: Introducing Cat

An Outland gear guide for feral druids

Posted Mar 22nd 2007 1:51PM by Mike Schramm
Filed under: Druid, Items, Tips, Burning Crusade

Kaliban's Class Loot Lists (a.k.a. WoW Loot) does a pretty good job at providing overall views at gear for different classes, but I've never seen anything as detailed as this incredible list of Burning Crusade feral drood gear. They've got what looks like every piece for every gear slot, all organized according to its benefit to feral druids.

And in addition to the Bear tanking gear list, whoever put this together (I heard about it from outintospace) has also provided a gear list for "Cat durids" (they're for fite)-- both for sustained DPS and burst DPS. This is a lot of work-- even if there was some kind of script involved in an API, this is a lot of information to put together and organize, and it could be the only gear guide you'll ever need as a feral druid in Outland.

It's got all the way up to Tier 5, too, which makes this even more complete than Kaliban's List. Tier 6 isn't in there, but of course that's because we're just now hearing about what it will be. There you go, feral druids-- now you know exactly what gear you want and where it is. Get to tanking!

Update: And to go along with the Hunter Wiki from a few days ago, someone has started a Druid Wiki as well. Thanks to commenter Metaphyzxx for the link!


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