Marksman was the original hunter raiding spec back in vanilla. After falling out of the top spot in BC and early Wrath, MM is back with a vengeance. MM is topping meters, punting gnomes, and kicking so much ass MM hunters have to use addons to take names of all the ass they can’t get to just now, but will get around to kicking at their convenience.

The MM spec comes with the most versatile toolbox, the most controllable DPS cooldowns, two optimal raid specs, and the strongest AOE of the hunter specs. However, MM is also one of the trickiest hunter specs, relying more than other specs on proper use of cooldowns and good movement management.

Join me after the cut as we go through the nuts and bolts of the MM hunter spec and how you too can learn to punt gnomes and top meters.

Continue reading Scattered Shots: Marksman 101

Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: Marksman 101 originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The video is absolutely gorgeous. While some of the footage is either a recreation or a filming of in-game events, the entirety of this piece is just amazing to watch. Varath did a great job of creating interesting, captivating scenes. The voice acting is solid. The human voice was convincing in its tenor. The narration had a fantastic pace; it was neither so slow that I lost interest, nor so quick that I couldn’t keep up.

My only criticism of the piece is that the subtitles were off. It wasn’t anything too horrible, but the use of language could probably have gotten a second edit. The small misses in language was a little distracting in what was otherwise such a great piece of work.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

Filed under: WoW Moviewatch

WoW Moviewatch: The Shadow of Dawn originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW’s newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. For links to all our tips, tricks and how-to’s, visit WoW.com’s WoW Rookie Guide.

If you use the Dungeon Finder with any regularity, you’re likely to eventually find yourself grouped with a player who speaks a different language. World of Warcraft is localized (translated) to nearly a dozen different languages, including two versions of English (USA and EU), French, German, Spanish, Russian, Korean and two versions of Chinese. While U.S. and Oceanic players can generally count on groupmates to speak English, things can be quite different elsewhere in the world. Individual Latin American and EU realms tend to attract groups of players from particular areas — Brazilians on one server, Hungarians gathered on another, Italians dominating still another.

Many players welcome the language barrier as an opportunity to polish their language skills. Still, how do you coordinate your way through a tricky pull with someone who doesn’t speak a word of your language?

Let’s crowdsource this issue. We’ve compiled a list of common terms you might use in a PUG. We’d like you to list your translations in the comments, if you are fluent in another language. We’re not going to cover Russian, Korean or Chinese, since those players generally do not cross paths with Western players. Please keep your suggestions brief; simplicity trumps elegance. If you’d like to see phrases we didn’t include, feel free to suggest them, but keep in mind we’re sticking with the basics. We’ll compile the list and create a starter guide in next week’s Rookie column.

Continue reading WoW Rookie: What’s “move out of the fire” in your language?

Filed under: WoW Rookie

WoW Rookie: What’s “move out of the fire” in your language? originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I’m pleased to announce that due to the acquisition of our parent company by one Mr. Andrew Ryan, Around Azeroth will now be changed to Around Rapture. But seriously, this Cult of Rapture-styled butterfly was discovered by Nomadigin of Earthen Ring after his heartless murder of two Val’kyr warriors. “It holds the dialectic between gentle nature and morbidity,” he writes. I’m not really sure what that means, but it certainly sounds deep.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val’kyr on mounts, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

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Around Azeroth: Mesdames butterfly originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Normally we don’t get too excited over updates to the Battle.net Mobile Authenticator, but reader El Oreo brought the most recent update to our attention. Version 1.1.0 of the iPhone version of the mobile authenticator contains the following updates:

• A new “Copy” feature lets you copy the currently displayed authentication code into your device’s clipboard. You can then paste it into other text entry fields, such as when accessing Battle.net Account Management on Safari.
• Miscellaneous UI improvements.

Obviously that second note isn’t all that exciting, but I think the first one is worth mentioning. This is a feature users of the mobile authenticator have wanted for awhile, not just for Safari but also for Blizzard’s other upcoming app. To be more specific, the Auction House app that Blizzard has recently announced (which I hope and pray is as good as Fallen Earth’s mobile app). You’ll need to log in to use it, so you’ll most certainly need to use the authenticator that’s on the exact same phone. Since the iPhone doesn’t let you use two applications at the same time, this copy feature is going to be a welcome addition. Sure, you could just remember what the generated code is, but this is 2010. Who remembers things anymore? I have computers for that.

Filed under: News items

Updates to the iPhone mobile authenticator originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Lately I am supremely enthused about my shaman. Fist weapons! Zapping things! Windfury! Turning that guy into a frog! That guy is totally a frog! Now he’s on fire!

The best thing about the enhancement shaman playstyle I’m working with (designed for five mans and the occasional 10 raid) is working out for myself how to glyph and spec for it. It’s admittedly not the most efficient spec, relying on a lot of 3 second Fire Nova blasts in big trash pulls, but it’s undeniably fun. Basically, with Maelstrom Weapon and FN, I love the trash mobs in VH or Utgarde Pinnacle. (Edited to correct the mistake I always make.) You go ahead and pull another four mobs, mister tank, I’ll just hit Feral Spirit when I pull aggro. Glee! And I love hitting my “This oughta help!” macro and popping Heroism, it makes already fast boss kills go crazy fast. There’s something satisfying in turning Cyanigosa into a smear on the floor before she can do that annoying Arcane Vacuum.

It’s actually gotten to the point where I have to remind myself to switch over to tank for raids. Oh, if only warriors had Bloodlust. Or could tame shamans or something.

So have you rediscovered the love for an aspect of the game?

Filed under: Breakfast Topics

Breakfast Topic: When the love comes back originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler’s latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we’ll keep you informed.

In today’s edition Ghostcrawler says “U mad bro” and let’s us all know that there is a pony.

Table of Contents

• Ghostcrawler
• Other
• StarCraft II / Diablo III / Blizzard News

Continue reading The Daily Blues

Filed under: The Daily Blues

The Daily Blues originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Here at WoW.com we’re on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow!

Because of dungeon finder, we’re all PUGging a lot more these days — for better and for worse. Let’s just say that if today’s TDQ covered horrible tales from the dungeon finder, it would be ten times as long, at the very least. But fortunately for all of us, WoW-bloggers around the world have some great advice to offer on how to improve your PUG experience.

• Panzercow discusses heroic PUG tanking.
• Too Many Annas walks you through how to be successful in a PUG.
• Can Tank, Will Travel talks about tanking irritants (many of which seem PUG-related).
• World of Warcraft Philosophized offers advice for dungeon speed runs and wonders if the dungeon finder should put people of similar gear levels together.
• And — a bit older than the rest of the posts here, but still worth reading if you’re interested in the topic — our very first guest post covered tips for DPS running heroics.

Filed under: The Daily Quest

The Daily Quest: Dungeon finder tips and tricks originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey North American players, want to PvP with Blizzard’s QA staff? They sure seem to have been doing a lot of these lately. Your next chance is tomorrow, Thursday the 11th, on the PTRs, so get your strategies ready. The details:

• Anasterian realm (but players on Broxigar can participate too by queueing for randoms)
• 3-11-2010, 4:00 PM PST
• Queue for a random battleground
• The Blizz staff will be in the guild ‘Blizzard’ Horde-side, and the guild ‘Blizzard QA’ Alliance-side.

Who’s going to try their hand against the boys in blue? Get your PTR transfers in now if you haven’t already. And yes, I know our dear friend Mr. Street isn’t in the QA department, but I just love these Ghostcrawler shops. He’s poking Skeletor in the eye, and He-Man in the nostril! So hardcore.

Filed under: Events, Blizzard, PvP

PvP with Blizzard QA tomorrow originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s that time again, ladies and gentlemen! The Patch 3.3.3 PTR has been given a brand new build, and with it comes a few changes to the patch notes. There aren’t many changes, but the few that are there are rather significant to the classes they impact. The changes are as follows:

Hunters

• Heart of the Phoenix: Cooldown reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Warriors

• Thunderclap: This ability now counts as a ranged attack, granting it double damage on critical strikes instead of 150% and ranged miss chance, and still cannot be dodged or parried.
• Bladestorm: Warriors can now be Disarmed while under the effects of this ability.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Focus: Now increases the damage done by Starfall by 10%, down from 20%.

We’ve updated our full patch 3.3.3 patch notes listing to include these additions. If you’ve missed any previous updates, make sure to check them out!

Filed under: News items

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Updated patch notes originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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