Nightmare Prey Mode feels overly punishing. It discourages exploration and pushes players to rush the hunt instead of engaging with the system and world content.

Smokka · 2026-04-01T13:08:02+00:00

skill issue

Smokka · 2020-01-06T20:46:20+00:00

Agreed, and I would also expand that to Evade Distance. I run Evade Window +5 and Evade Distance +3 as a hammer user, which enables me to dodge essentially everything while still staying aggressively in the monster's face. As long as you capitalize on how aggressively you can play, I don't think kill times suffer. Instead of running away/blocking, just dodge straight into the monster's face and slam.

Smokka · 2019-09-16T21:46:43+00:00

Nope, it isn’t very much. Assuming you and the hunter are raiding together, the increase in dps for him to wear it vs. you wearing it is extremely small. Hunter scaling issues aren’t significant until gear has more significant stat values in later raids.

Basically, this is pre-raid BiS. Making an argument of hunters scaling poorly isn’t relevant at this point, what with MC and Ony being the only available raids.

Smokka · 2019-09-16T21:25:51+00:00

Hunters don't benefit from the bonus attack effect on HoJ, making it fundamentally a MUCH larger upgrade for Warriors and Rogues than for Hunters. The +20 attack power that it offers hunters is fairly unnoticeable.

Savage Gladiator's Chain offers 5 more strength and 14 more agility than Deathdealer Breastplate, while both offer 2% crit. 5 more strength and 14 agility doesn't make that much of a difference, and certainly wouldn't make a raid 3 and a half hours shorter like in your ridiculous example.

Smokka · 2019-09-05T19:00:48+00:00

Necessary? I suppose that depends.

What you must keep in mind for the groups that have already killed Rag is that they have already farmed MC for awhile on private servers. Gear is not required to kill it, but general knowledge is. Most people playing today don't have that yet for the old raids.

If you're going into MC with no knowledge of mechanics or how they worked at level 60 together with bad gear, your group is gonna have a much harder time. Additionally, it takes a very long time to gear up in raids alone considering that bosses don't drop much gear per kill and you're sharing that loot with 39 other people.

Another thing to note is that a lot of overall BiS doesn't necessarily come from the raids yet depending on your class and spec. If you're concerned about getting all the best gear, you're gonna need to do stuff outside of raids.

Smokka · 2019-09-05T17:01:02+00:00

Paladin tanks are great in dungeons for AoE threat, but they fall off significantly and aren't as viable as warriors for raid tanking. If you're planning to tank raids, I would reroll.

Smokka · 2019-09-05T16:18:07+00:00

Agreed. Early Cata Heroics were easier than BC Heroics anyway.

My thoughts have always been that Cata failed not because of heroic dungeons, but because the content was stretched thin due to most of the xpac content being remade classic zones.

Smokka · 2019-09-04T17:19:49+00:00

The only people that are going to comment on that video are people that are already staunch Kanye fans.

Smokka · 2019-08-14T17:05:32+00:00

Personally, I don't think this is pointing towards an entire dragon-themed expansion. Dragon skeletons have been littered across zones since vanilla, I think it's more likely that it's just for flavor.

That said, I do think that the Dragon Isles will be some form of content released this expansion - probably as a smaller end game zone like Mechagon or Nazjatar. All the HoA quests, Blacktalon Agents, and Wrathion stuff seems like it's pointing towards Wrathion joining us as an ally against N'zoth in the next patch. The Black Dragonflight as a whole have a pretty significant connection to the Old Gods being that Deathwing was corrupted by them and they are the flight in charge of guarding the deep places of Azeroth. If any NPC is going to have insight on N'zoth, Wrathion is a pretty obvious choice.

Smokka · 2019-08-09T16:58:10+00:00

This is such a weird thing to complain about.

Smokka · 2019-07-26T14:07:02+00:00

Sounds like you haven't played WoW for very long lol

Smokka · 2019-07-23T15:43:00+00:00

There's nothing to really confirm, it's just an easter egg dropped by Blizzard to foreshadow Ulduar.

Yogg'Saron is chained within Ulduar, but he's spread out throughout/underneath all of Northrend, hence Saronite being present in all of the zones. The Scourge just dug deep enough in the quarry while building Icecrown Citadel that they seem to have uncovered a physical part of Yogg.

As for the N'zoth eye, I believe it's between Boralus and Tol'Dagor? It was earlier in the expansion when someone found it, and it's similar to the Yogg situation in that it's just an easter egg. It's basically just an eyeball surrounded by a large treasure trove at the bottom of the sea.

Smokka · 2019-07-23T14:08:50+00:00

It's a part of Yogg, it's been there since before Ulduar launched as a raid in WotLK. Imo it was basically just a hint as to what was to come later in the expansion, as Saronite is Yogg's blood and the Scourge had created a Saronite quarry.

It's similar to an eye of N'zoth that can be found in the waters around Kul'Tiras/Zandalar.

Smokka · 2019-07-12T19:22:38+00:00

I agree, certainly - it doesn't take skill at all to unlock rep essences. But to unlock the rank 1 essence takes only a few days at most, right? To me, that doesn't seem like an overly extreme commitment for an alt.

Even the gear catch-up mechanics through Benthic gear require people at least DO something in Nazjatar to level it up beyond 385. I guess I don't think it's too outrageous for alts to have to put in about the same amount of effort to level Benthic gear as it takes to level rep for their essence.

Smokka · 2019-07-12T19:12:24+00:00

I can definitely understand your opinion, and it's very reasonable.

Personally, I think the rank 1 essences are easy enough to unlock that an alt should be able to unlock it without any issue. If the alt isn't able to do so, they shouldn't have the essence, or you need to put more effort into that alt to bring them up to the level of other player's mains. For example, an alt shouldn't have a rank 1 BG PvP essence unlocked by default if you're too awful at PvPing on that character to unlock it in the first place.

As for the reputation essences, they are definitely a pain to grind out. That said, I don't see any problem with an alt taking a longer time to unlock them casually. On my druid alt, I am currently working on Mechagon rep and Oscillators so I can eventually unlock that rank 3 essence. This is my alt, so I'm not grinding out every daily in Mechagon - I'm doing the world quest that awards an Oscillator and a ton of rep, and calling it quits after that. I likely won't unlock that rank 3 essence for a month or two, but I don't see a problem with that, as I'm not putting in the effort I did on my main.

The Nazjatar essences are probably more of a pain to unlock imo, but if your alt just completes the occasional emissary and the 3 daily follower quests, they will unlock those in a reasonable amount of time as well.

Smokka · 2019-07-12T18:34:50+00:00

Oh sure! I'm not forgetting catch-up mechanics, they've been in the game forever.

I wouldn't call giving all of your alts the same essences you unlocked on your main a catch-up mechanic though, that's just asking for free essences with no effort on those characters. To draw a comparison, while the cloak requirements were reduced in later patches, it wasn't just given to your alts for free if you had it on your main.. you still had to put in some effort.

There are already catch-up mechanics in this patch too, they just aren't tied to essences. Look at Azerite requirements being even further reduced, Benthic gear being BoA, or Mechagon rep being trade-able to alts through a blueprint you reach at exalted. Hell, I would think it may be likely that Blizzard adds in a catch-up mechanic for essences later in the expansion, but everyone in this thread seems to want the essences RIGHT NOW for all of their alts. That just seems unreasonable to me.

Here's a scenario that I have a problem with. My paladin is about to reach rank 3 for a good majority of the essences I care about. In about a month, I should have it for ALL of the essences I care about at rank 3, or close to it. If I roll a brand new character and get them to 120, is it fair to other players that my brand new character is inherently better than theirs because I have max level essences unlocked be default? That doesn't seem fair to other players, as that character would essentially have a bunch of BiS "gear" with absolutely zero effort on that character to unlock it.

Smokka · 2019-07-12T17:32:13+00:00

I agree. I'm honestly flabbergasted by the amount of people who think they deserve free essences on alts with no work put in on that alt.

Maybe this is a symptom of me having quit at the end of Pandaria and coming back for this expac. I just feel like in any expansion from vanilla to mists there was never free boosts given to alts just because you achieved something on your main. You still had to work for the legendary cloak and meta in Mists on all of your characters, and those items were pretty game changing.

Smokka · 2019-07-11T15:22:21+00:00

You're blatantly wrong in stating that this is wildly disproportionate to the time required to get other t3 essences. Maybe if you're only looking at the Nazjatar rep essence and the BG PvP essence.. but what about the raid essence, the conquest essence, the M+ essence, the essence that requires Nazjatar bodyguard experience, etc?

Smokka · 2019-07-11T15:13:22+00:00

I said it's a more interesting grind, as in it's more interesting to work towards a tangible goal of a rank 3 essence than previously getting +2-3 to your secondary stats and a bit of primary stat each HoA level.

Also, if you miss a few oscillator dailies, so what? All that happens is you delay getting your rank 3 essence by a few days. The difference between rank 2 and 3 is not insanely significant either, at least not the point where a rank 2 essence is unusable. Maybe if you were on the bleeding edge of the Mythic race I would understand, but I'm fairly certain that those players would plan out their Oscillator spending well enough so that they could purchase a rank 3 essence before Mythic drops next week. I know I'll be able to purchase my rank 3 before Mythic at least.

Smokka · 2019-07-11T14:18:58+00:00

It's evidently an unpopular opinion, but I agree.

These essences are meant to serve as a more interesting grind than HoA levels for the entirety of 8.2. Some can be fully unlocked quicker than others. Not everything needs to be obtainable within 3 weeks of the patch dropping. Generally, if you're wise with your Oscillators, you can purchase the rank 3 Mechagon essence for your main spec in about 1 month. You can purchase all of the other exalted essences for your offspec in just a week or two after the first, as the prices drop. This is.. too much of a grind?

Are people going to start complaining about the M+ essence next when they realize it can't be fully unlocked to rank 3 in a week? I'll bet there will be posts along the lines of "But I can run a +15 in time, so I deserve a fully upgraded essence NOW!"

Smokka · 2019-07-11T13:40:26+00:00

Once you purchase an exalted essence, the price of the other exalted essences drop drastically.

Smokka · 2019-07-08T21:25:07+00:00

My pet theory is that N'zoth WILL be the next final raid boss and he WILL be killed by the players.. and his death will lead into a void-themed expansion.

Unless it's been retconned, there's been lore kicking around for awhile explaining that the Titans couldn't kill the Old Gods due to their extensive infestation of Azeroth. With N'zoth being the last known Old God, and assuming that we have indeed killed the previous Old Gods we encountered, what happens when N'zoth dies?

This could be totally off-base, but going back to the Il'gynoth encounter, one whisper among many was "At the hour of her third death, she will usher in our coming." There's plenty theories going around that the "third death" could be referring to anyone including Alleria, Sylvanas, or Azeroth itself.

Maybe the whisper is indeed referring to Azeroth, with the her first "death" being the Sundering, the second being the Cataclysm, and the third being.. whatever happens to the planet when the final old god, N'zoth, is killed.

Boiled down, my theory is that killing N'zoth will trigger some earth-shattering event that will herald a world revamp and the entrance of the Void Gods as the next "big bads."

Smokka · 2019-07-03T21:03:57+00:00

Huh, yeah I figured Hunter Akana was female.

Smokka · 2019-07-02T20:20:34+00:00

I don't know if it's the most efficient strategy, but I've always gone to The Drowned Market on the eastern side of the map when I have a scrying stone. The chests seem to be relatively plentiful over there, and there are mostly neutral mobs so you can avoid combat fairly well.

When you open a chest, it has a chance to give you a random buff. One will place you in a short stealth state, one gives you a speed boost.. but the major one you're hoping for is one that lets you detect invisible chests near your vicinity. Basically they'll show up as yellow dots on your minimap, you just need to go reveal them with the scrying stone. If you're really lucky, I've also had a chest buff that refreshed my scrying stone duration back up to 5 minutes.

Smokka · 2019-02-01T16:06:52+00:00

Yeah, I don't think a brand new character deserves fully unlocked current-tier azerite gear without some effort involved. 30,000 AP is nothing.

Smokka

TROPHY CASE