Finally Went to Stratholme

I'm admitting this now.  The Culling of Stratholme (CoS) instance in the WoTLK expansion is one of, if not, my favorite instance of the Northrend ones.  Other players seem mixed on it, but I enjoy it.  First, the lore aspect. Out of the Northrend instances, this one probably tells a story the best (the end of Pit of Saron) isn't far behind.  As a disclaimer, I have not been to the Halls of Reflection yet.  The other reason I enjoy CoS is the simplicity of the layout.  You basically run back and forth before you follow Arthas around through town to face the main boss, Mal'Ganis.

What did this inspire me to do?  Why, go back to vanilla and solo Stratholme of course!  Part of it was just to see how this version of Stratholme looks.  I couldn't really see, it was dark!  Another reason was to experience a higher level vanilla instance, with the thin hope of a mount drop from Baron Rivendare, the final boss.

What was my take on vanilla Stratholme?  It took awhile for me to complete, but I enjoyed the atmosphere of it.  This version is supposed to look like a town that has seen better days, with it's former denizens roaming the streets as zombies and ghouls.  There's also a section where the Scarlet Crusade, those pesky zealots bent on taking out the undead, hold fort.  Running this instance solo as a decently geared 80 made this an easy run for me.  However, if I were to run it with my paladin at the appropriate level (which I hope to do), it would probably pose a bit of difficulty.  The mobs are plenty, and the bosses can provide some challenge to the uninitiated.

Overall, old Stratholme did not disappoint.  It ties in nicely with the lore, the settings fit the atmosphere, and I picked up some decent loot to AH or vendor.  I recommend running this one.

Nearly a Flawless PUG Run

Earlier today I put myself in the LFG que.  I wanted the two frost badges that would get me to the 50 I needed to upgrade my cloak.  I was farming saronite in Icecrown when the invite screen appeared.  After clicking yes, I wondered where I was going to go.  Loading screen comes up for Forge of Souls (FoS).  I thought to myself this run will either be awesome, or lousy.  I completed FoS on normal mode with an awesome group that basically carried me.  I had subsequent runs on normal mode that failed (wiping at last boss and people fleeing party).  Now I was going to run it not only on heroic, but as an improved (vastly is pushing it), hunter.

As I normally do, I greet the other players.  They all say "hi" back.  Who knew!  We start by clearing trash, when one of the two paladins in the party says this was his first time there.  I chimed in by saying it was my second.  Before we get to the first boss, one of the party members gave strategy.  She said the boss was easy.  We'll see.  We take the boss (Bronjahm) down, with one party member wiping.  It wasn't to much of a struggle, but I notice the dps numbers.  I realized this is just the group I enjoy.  One where the members communicate with each other, everyone knew their role, and the players aren't putting out crazy dps numbers; just enough to allow the instance to provide a challenge.

We clear more trash with no problem, and get to the final boss, the Devourer of Souls.  Once again, we were provided with a strategy.  While it wasn't a easy victory, we defeated it with all party members alive.  In fact, besides me (go figure) we didn't take much damage.  I give props to the healer for keeping the party member's health up. 

This was one of the better PUG runs I've experienced.  It was smooth, everyone seemed to play their role well, and the instance provided just enough of a challenge to keep me at least on my toes during the boss fights.  I felt a tad nervous when I saw the loading screen due to previous experiences, but after today, my heart won't race as much when I see the FoS loading screen.

Don't Go There Wolf...

As I've commented on previous blogs, I'm figuring out the mechanics of the hunter class in WoW.  A key component I realized, and I'm a tad embarrassed to say quite recently, is pet control.  Pets are indeed useful to hunters, but they can cause trouble too, which I've learned.  If there's anything good to come out of the LFG tool besides badges, it's that it allows players to learn things about their class they never thought about while soloing.


As I was questing along (I didn't even do 5-man instances until I got to the high 70s), I always had my pet on defensive mode, with growl turned on, because I didn't know any better.  As long as I was able to kill x number of boars or go speak with this NPC, it was all good.  I got the job done.  I didn't die.  I completed the quests and received my rewards.


Flash forward to a normal UP and heroic Nexus run a few weeks ago.  I had been running in PUGs, but nobody ever commented on what my pet was doing.  I let the tank pull the mobs, and once the tank was in place, I fired away, with my pet charging in.  In the Nexus run, I had my pet in defensive mode, and yes, with growl on.  The pet pulled a trash mob, and of course, a player in party made some helpful comment to effect of "the huntard pulled the mob".


That incident made me think of how I was controlling my pet during these runs.  So I put the pet on passive for subsequent runs, but still sending the pet in when it seemed it wouldn't be able to pull anything.  In the UP run, I was wrong.  I didn't think to turn growl off, so of course, the pet generated threat, and pulled another trash mob.  Once again, a player in the party made some sarcastic comment akin to "nice pull hunter". 


After those experiences, I keep my pet on passive 90% of the time while running an instance.  In boss fights, I'll let the pet go in.  Of course, growl is off!  I've been doing this the past couple weeks, and I was surprised the other party members didn't comment as to why I never send the pet in!  After browsing forums on this topic, I found other players put their pet in passive in instance runs too.  Of course, after the run is over, I put my trusty wolf back on defense, and turn growl back on when I'm questing.  


While I wasn't exactly happy about the way I was called out running the instances with my pet, it was a learning experience, so in an odd way I'm thankful for them being jerks.  It really hit home that I didn't think much of pet control, and hence, became a little more educated with the hunter class.  When I run instances now, I'm more comfortable as to when to use the pet, and when to keep it a spectator.  I haven't had any complaints yet!