Category Archives: Blog

Z and Cinder’s Blog Challenge – Changing Mains

 

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Call it dumb luck. Call it good fortune. Call it whatever you want, just do it quickly and then come back here because we have things to discuss. Important things.

Back? Ok.

Z and Cinder’s Blog Challenge for this week involved changing mains. This is where the whole “fate” thing kicks in. Not only do I like a good blog challenge, but the topic caught me at a time where I was actually giving this an honest thought.

My main has been Death Knights for quite some time. Let’s call that time years. Blood DK’s are essentially unkillable, and Frost/Unholy DPS tend to be quite respectable in both PVE and PVP. My DK army has spread across several servers. If I was bored and wanted to try and make gold on a brand new server, which I have a tendency to do on a semi-odd-regular basis, I’d roll up a DK and start doing work. Hell, I even tried to get a Death Knight t-shirt made up (I needed to have a minimum of five reserved before they’d manufacture them, and I only had two. Both were mine.)

So when Demon Hunters came out, I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to give them a try. Just another Hero class, and a wannabe class at that. The hype annoyed me, and I wasn’t impressed with what I saw about them. They could glide? Double jump? Yawn. Still, I made one, got him out of the starter zone, then sat him on the bench while my cast of characters made the trudge to 110.

I wasn’t looking to add another character to my roster. Between professions, class quests, artifacts, and gearing, there was enough to keep me busy by focusing on only one or two characters. On top of that, I already had a bunch of characters I wanted to level. Hard cuts had to be made. I decided that most of the toons at 100, several of which were DK’s and former mains, were going to sit there for a long time. The last thing I needed was to add another log to the fire.

My Human DK, Rokkthor, was designated my new main. He was the first to reach 110, hit 850 iLevel, run a LFR raid, and dip his toe into Mythic content. He held up strong, putting up decent DPS numbers during his Mythic+ run and just being a solid character.

Meanwhile, my Night Elf Demon Hunter became my twink farmer. The DH was given twink privilege because he had good AOE damage, decent burst damage, and more importantly I found enough high iLevel leather gear to get him twinked. Since DH was the only leather-wearing character I had on the right server, at the right level, he became my gold maker. He was my farmer, with skinning and herbalism professions. and brother he was making me bank. The gliding that I had been so quick to poo-poo, helped me get around quicker. He’d glide from Highmoutain to Stormheim, dropping out of the sky to pick up herbs when he saw them. Another glide or two and he was killing packs of wolves for skins.

That’s when I decided to try an experiment. I had a level 100 Tauren DK on another server. I’d start a Demon Hunter there, and see just how much gold I could make. (Dude, you do this kind of thing all the time. DUDE! — Editor)

My boy Scaredevil was born.

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The result of my experiment was that I could make about 20k gold a week. The unexpected side effect was that I was really starting to like the DH.

It was that damn gliding and dash ability that really winning me over. They just felt… fast. So fast. Even in combat he was a literal blur of violence. He wasn’t topping the charts, but he was holding his own.

I like being self-sufficient. The DH was good in that he could self-heal, tank, and had mobility I could only get on my DK using engineering toys like gliders and rocket boots. In fact, when I switched back to using my DK I got him killed by jumping off a cliff and tapping the space bar to deploy my wings.

“Wrong class, dumbass,” said the DK from the bottom of the crater his body dug into the dirt.

Soon I was leveling my Nelf DH, and grinding Honor & AP on my Belf DH. My Death Knight was tapping his foot, waiting to get his chance to get some attention.

This past Tuesday my Death Knight, my main, had a Legendary drop from a Warden’s loot box. My first Legendary. That was it – the crown would remain on his head, locking down his status as my Main.

Wednesday, Rokkthor was sitting in Dalaran while my DH ran his World Quests. He did the same thing on Thursday.

Hmph. Will this infatuation simply be a winter fling? Or will it blossom into… something more? Guess I’ll figure it out eventually.

Meanwhile my Monk sheds a single tear, and sighs.

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Also, sweet Demon Hunter transmog.

Rokk Talk – Casual Heroes

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My Demon Hunter has been getting a lot of airtime lately.

 

I’ve been playing (and loving) Death Knights since Wrath of the Lich King. In fact, of the nineteen characters I had at level cap in WoD, eight of them were DK’s. When I switched my focus from a Horde guild to an Alliance guild, my main switched from Orc DK to Human DK. I dig the class, is what I’m saying.

So why am I playing my Demon Hunters all the time now?

That’s right. Demon Hunters. As in plural. I’ve got my Horde DH gearing up at 110, and I’m leveling my Alliance DH. My DK main, Rokkthor, still gets some attention now and then. I’ve run a couple of Mythic + dungeons with him, and he put up respectable DPS numbers despite only having an 850’ish iLevel.

But lately, when I log into WoW, I’m looking at my DH at the Character Select screen. When I research Transmog gear, I’m looking at Leather armor. It’s not even a balancing act between characters, or factions. I’ve forsaken one Hero Class for another. What I’m trying to figure out is why?

  • They move to thrill. They dash. Double jump. Oh and don’t get me started on the joy of gliding. I glide so damn much now that I’ve killed my DK by jumping off a cliff out of habit and spamming my space bar to pop my non-existent wings. If he could shit in my RL shoes, I’m sure he would by now. Demon Hunters are dynamic, which is a nice change of pace from the usual style of melee DPS I’m used to – stare at the ass of the dungeon/raid boss and try to stab it to death.
  • I’m finished with the DK. When I say finished, I don’t mean that I’m done with playing the class. Not at all. But at this stage of the expansion, I just don’t feel motivated to play my  DK. At least, not in a meaningful way. He’s pretty much as geared as he can get without running Mythic dungeons, or getting into a serious (or at least non-LFR) raid team. Now that I’ve done a couple of Mythics, I’m confident I could run them successfully if my goal was to fatten up my iLevel. I’ve gotten the sweet class title, so the Order Hall questline is done as far as I’m concerned. World Quests don’t offer much except gold and AP. I’ve maxed out the Artifact Research I can do, but other than capping all the artifact talents I’d just be playing for the sake of playing. I’ve even completed all the prerequisites for unlocking flight that I can do. There’s no reason to better Rokkthor any more than he is currently. If I was raiding or pushing cutting edge content, then maybe. I’m just not there. There are other characters who need gear and artifact power. Characters who can benefit from my attention.
  • Class motivation. I think most people who play World of Warcraft are familiar with Twitch streamer, Youtube creator, and PVPer / Bodybuilder / eSports Announcer, Bajheera. Watch his Twitch stream and feel the enthusiasm he has for his Warrior. It’s infectious. He got me interested in PVP back in the day and has more than once motivated me to blow the dust off my Warrior and wreck faces. Death Knights don’t really have that name associated with the class like Baj is with Warriors. Hazzed is a Frost DK that I follow and he has a fairly strong presence on Youtube (32,000 subs and counting). But as far as a breakout Twitch personality that brings eyes to the class, there really doesn’t seem to be one. Demon Hunters, however, have Fragnance. He’s the Twitch streamer from the EU who actually blazed to 110 in just over five hours with a Havoc DH when Legion launched. He mains a DH in Serenity, a group of raiders who felt that the raiding powerhouse Method was just too warm and fuzzy for their liking and split off to do their own thing. That probably isn’t entirely accurate, because I don’t follow the bleeding edge raiding scene and can’t be bothered to research it more thoroughly, but the point is that Fragnance has an entertaining stream, is a damn fine player who plays the snot out of his DH. His 64000 followers on Twitch is a testament to his success, and I have yet to find a DK with numbers like that

Will my Death Knight regain my love and attention? Yeah, probably. But for now, I’m looking to tear things up with my flapping bat-elf thing of death. From one Hero Class to another, and back again.

 

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Soon… ™…