arena

Updates and Goings-On

by

Part of my intent in reviving the site is to make it run more efficiently so that I can eliminate the expensive VPS bill each month. In doing this, I’m fiddling around with the forums in hopes that I can lessen the resource load once people start using it again.

I may end up chucking the forums altogether, but I’d like to try and get the community active again. We shall see. In the meantime, forum access will likely be spotty, but it has been that way for quite some time anyway. Upon checking them out today I noticed the forum was throwing back an error, and I’ve no idea how long that’s been going on. If you’ve tried to access the forums this year and have been denied, I do apologize. 🙁

Read more

Interview with a Beast Master

by

Garxz, Gladiator BM Hunter

…and not just any Beast Master, but Garxz, one of the top ranked Hunter PvP’ers in all of WoW. His 3v3 team is currently ranked just shy of 3k, and at the time of this post, Garxz is holding down the #3 slot on the ArenaJunkies hunter class leaderboard. Did I mention #3, as in #3 in the world…

Yeah, I know… pretty impressive.

For starters, I have to thank Kazador of Emberstorm for suggesting I contact Garxz. Kaz has been a regular here at The Lodge for the past few years, as well as a hunter PvP enthusiast and all-around devotee of the class. Kaz discovered Garxz when doing some online searches for the top hunters in the world.

Anyway… Kaz sent me an email a few weeks back…

Hey Gar,
I was looking up top hunters today, and stumbled across the top BM PVP hunter in the world, currently at just under 3K rating. This player must be your long lost twin. Hugely successful in BM PVP, and clearly has a thing for taming rares, especially spirit beasts. And named Gar. Weird.
Anyway, seems to be a very cool person, active on forums, etc. I’d strongly suggest you get a hold of this person, and interview them. BM macros, strategy, etc. I’d love to see you lead the community in a good discussion of BM PVP, with the best there is.
I hope you can tackle this project!
Kaz

Well, tackle it I did!

Read more

Hunters and Spell Penetration for PvP

by

Cataclysm edition…

Green Arrow is spell pen cappedWhile working on my PvP guides, one thing I’ve been taking a hard look at is Spell Penetration. I’ve not really focused on it as a stat up until now, as I’ve been using my PvP gear to pull double-duty for me in BGs as well as dungeons. However, I’ve now amassed enough alternate pieces to be able to throw a decent PvP set together, optimized with PvP stats.

So onto the topic of Spell Penetration and Hunters…

Hunters are not casters, so wtf do we need spell pen for..?!

The reason hunters need spell penetration is because although we don’t cast spells per se, we do fire shots that do spell damage. A good portion of our DPS in PvP is supplied by way of spell damage – namely these three shots:

Because all hunters rely upon at least one of these shots, and because pretty much all of our PvP foes will have some form of resistance up, Spell Penetration is an important stat for PvP – especially in arena.

Read more

So I fell off the wagon

by

Alcohol Abuse…the WoW sabbatical wagon, that is.

The other day I was commenting on my 2 week absence from Azeroth and how nice it was to divert that time and attention to other things. Well… last night I couldn’t resist the urge to queue for some arena matches. I mean, after all… I didn’t want my partner to start worrying about me. 😉

It’s funny just how long two short weeks can be in WoW time. It took me two matches to remember I was MM, and another two to remember where all my skills were. BM is hard coded into 4 1/2 years of WoW muscle memory, but MM is not. 😉

Read more

An old friend

by

Uhk'Loc

Last week I went to the cave at Fungal Rock in Un’Goro Crater to reunite with an old friend. Uhk,Loc, or Mongo as I refer to him, was not there when I arrived. The next day however, I found him waiting patiently right as I logged in. 🙂

He’s been one of my all-time favorite pets, with this being the fourth timed I’ve tamed him over the years. Each time I’ve let him go it’s been a tough decision, but I always do so with the notion that I’ll probably be back to call upon him again at some point.

Read more