Breakfast Topic: Mastery of a difficult class

Player Volition of Burning Blade server posed this question on the official forums recently: what is the hardest class to play to its fullest potential? The question got further refined to: what class is easiest to play, but hardest to play great?

Druid, Shaman and Hunter came out ahead in the thread as difficult to master. Druids and Shaman for their myriad options and playstyles. Hunter for learning the exact timing of shot rotation and pet threat.

I can attest to the Druid part, especially if you are playing the secondary (tank/healer/dps) in a 5 man. You have to know how to play many classes at the same time and you have to know when to be using what form. Mage gets aggro. Do you bear form and charge. hoping to get it back or stand back and heal hoping the Main Tank can snap aggro the mob? For me, that's the fun of the class.

What do you guys think? What class takes the most skill to make the most of its talents?

(by wowinsider)

The twink experience (and toggling XP)

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Hammer of Grammar hits the comic scene

If you haven't heard of it yet, Hammer of Grammar seems to be the new breakthrough star in the WoW comic scene. I've seen it pop up in quite a few places already, and the latest comic, a great lore-filled dig at AFKers, has me completely sold-- not to mention that the comic's creator (who I'm guessing by the URL is someone named Meghan O'Hara? My kingdom for an About page!) is a big WoW Insider fan, and friends with our own Matt Rossi. So obviously they're good people.

The strip centers around a Melee Hunter named Gweryc (yes, that Gweryc) and a Human Priest named Auden (who is the author's character, I believe), but it's best when, unlike Flintlocke (which has garnered the most comparisons to so far), it avoids the adventures and just sticks to witty insight about this crazy game we play.

It's a great start for a cool comic, and hopefully we'll see a lot more from Hammer of Grammar.

(by wowinsider)

Wowhead screenshot contest

My long-time personal favorite WoW database site, Wowhead, is having another one of their contests: "The Lost Screenshots." This time, all you have to do is submit screenshots for NPCs,items, or other things that don't have one already. The winners will be the three people who submit approved screenshots for the greatest number of entries. Win what, you ask?

*First prize – Acer 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor
*Second prize – BFG GeForce 7900 GS Video Card
*Third prize – Logitech MX518 Optical Gaming Mouse
That's some fairly serious prizes. Note that dressing room and model viewer screenshots are disallowed. There are a few other tips and rules for the contest on Wowhead's contest page. I'm pretty excited about this one; it sounds like a lot of fun hunting down things and taking photos of them. (But then again, I loved Pokémon Snap, too.) The contest started at 12:01 AM EST yesterday, and runs until 11:59 PM EST on Tuesday, September 11. So get snapping!

[image via this excellent Dark Legacy comic]


(by wowinsider)

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The joy of grinding

I've never cared for grinding, myself. I just can't do it. I'm easily distracted and I quickly get bored of repetitive tasks. (Don't ask me how I ever managed to kill enough Furbolg to pick up that +15 agiity enchant from the Timbermaw way back when -- I'm really not sure how I managed to kill that many of the same creature in a row without starting to tear out my hair.) However, some people relish in the grinding game, like our own BigRedKitty's friend TJ. BRK seems to have an ongoing challenge with TJ to complete some of the toughest grinds in the game. After conquoring the firefly pet they've moved on to the Wintersaber mount. I've got to say -- I tried that grind for about a day before moving on with my life. However, I have no doubt that TJ will rise to the challenge, because after picking up that firefly, this is nuthin'. What about all of you? Are you grinders who would find these challenges no problem -- or more like me, who wouldn't last seconds?

(by wowinsider)