Peter's Blog

I've been dropping my play rotation and playing withever character I felt like playing: discipline to the wind, it's a game! Shame for pooky though. So, in no particular order:

Maexyn

Maexyn rocked Hinterlands and the STV pirates. She could handle two warlocks plus minions in a single fight. She is powerful, gives me the same feeling as when running a hunter, that I can try anything. She's 44 now and tackling Tanaris, although I may send her to Feralas.

Maesyn

Tackled the worgen in Darkshire and managed to handle pairs of equal levels in cat form with the help of Natures Grasp for some CC. Got to level 30 and travel form, although that is no big deal after swift cat form.

Went up to southshore and started tackling the Murlocs. I was wondering why I was struggling when I realised they were levels 30-32, I thought they were high twenties. Anyway, still managed to prevail, albeit carefully. Coped with pairs of Murloc Oracles (healer/caster) plus melee murlocs in cat form by rooting the melee guy and burning down the caster. Tough fights though because of the healing.

Fighting equal level mobs, the cat can manage maybe two fights before it's health drops to 50% and it can do with a heal. I use a 'regrowth' which is an instant heal plus heal over time and is more mana efficient than the Healing Touch which is just a heal. If I'm going into a tough fight I will then do the following (while regrowth is still ticking):

• Starfire, long cast damage spell
• Mob now running at me so Regenerate HoT (instant cast!)
• Mob hitting me, switch to cat
• press attack button as the stupid cat won't defend itself.
• wait a second or two for some energy
• rip
• claw whenever there is enough energy

On a good fight this leaves cat with 70%ish health which will suffice for the next fight. With the above she could tackle level 34 cats at level 30 although she needed a good heal afterwards.

I don't even bother with bear mode these days, if a fight turns nasty I run.

Got to level 31 and hence the Feral Faerie Fire talent which is nice not only as a minor debuff but because it can be caste in cat form from 30 yards and hence is a ranged pull. Up till now I have been body pulling in cat form or switching to caster so a ranged pull is very welcome.

Maezyn

I hadn't run Maezyn for a week or two and she immediately felt powerful, more powerful than Maexyn in the way she could burn down Hellboars. She did more Hellfire with few problems and dinged 61. The freezing trap is just the greatest thing there is.

Her Arcane Shots are criting in the 800's, I think this is better than Maevyn was achieving, as would be expected for a Markswoman. I've geared her primarily with attack power. Even with all this Beefy still keeps agro, very few problems. Still loving the precision with which she can pull and choose exactly where beefy will engage, very nice compared to a wafty voidwalker.

Professions

Maexyn's enchanting is nice, Maesyn got a new mace and Maexyn put a 'greater impact' on it which gave it a nice white glow. Absolutely useless enchant for a druid but it gave Maexyn a skill point.

I'm toying with dropping Maexyn's tailoring and making her an alchemist. Alchemy is sooo lucrative and I'm struggling to get enough cloth to level the tailoring as well as making everyone a first aider. I don't want to farm or buy cloth and Maesyn has collected lots of herbs.

I have a number of pcs running linux now that I have hooked together. Copying files between them is a matter of uttering scp invocations along the lines of

scp me@there:/path/to/file ~/put/it/there

With ssh keys set up there is no need to enter a password but still this precludes the use of luxuries like file browsers. To cover this there is sshfs which invisibly turns an sftp login into a file system so the files on the remote box look like they are on the local hard disk. But then there is still the hassle of mounting them when you want to use them.

Along comes autofs and this is coolness, it means that the connection to the server is made automatically whenever one tries to access the file. The connection will disconnect automatically if it is not used so it is not permanently using resources like an fstab entry would.

Peter's notes:

• switch to root

  sudo -i
  

• enter

  ssh-keygen
  

  and keep pressing enter until it stops hassling you
• enter

  ssh-copy-id user@server
  

  where user@server is the remote account you want to sftp to. ssh-copy-id is my BIG discovery today, it sticks your public key in the remote servers ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file saving much tedium.
• run

  aptitude install autofs sshfs
  

  and press Y if it asks.
• vim /etc/auto.master and add:

  /mnt/ssh /etc/auto.sshfs        uid=1000,gid=1000,--timeout=30,--ghost
  

  which maps anything in /mnt/ssh to an automatic file system. Your /mnt directory should already exist but /mnt/ssh will be created for you by autofs.
• vim /etc/auto.sshfs and add your shares:

  desktop  -fstype=fuse,rw,nodev,nonempty,noatime,allow_other,max_read=65536 :sshfs\#peter@desktop\:/
  

  this links /mnt/ssh/desktop to the root directory of my desktop pc.
• run

  /etc/init.d/autofs restart
  

• exit out of the sudo
• run

  ls /mnt/ssh/desktop
  

  and relish how cool all this is.

Autofs plus Sshfs

On the left, my desktop as viewed from the Mythical Convergence Box, on the right Peter's Blog on Slicehost.

An important thing to underline is that since the connection is made as root it is necessary for root to have an ssh key to the ssh account that is sharing the files, NOT from your own user account.

Since this uses sftp it is secure and easy to pass through firewalls etc. I copied 9G of photos over the link from desktop to convergence box in maybe ten minutes so the performance is reasonable.

Thanks to this guy who figured out the incantations.

My Mythical Convergence Box was working ok as a mythtv backend but as a server it was frustratingly slow: slow to boot firefox, task switch, run wow, whatever. I was itching to upgrade it.

I decided the cheapest solution was a good old processor/motherboard/memory upgrade so now the box has a Dual Core 64 bit AMD processor, a AMD690GM motherboard and 2g of 800Mhz ram. I also splurged on a 750G SATA hard disk since they were on special offer. I installed the native Ubuntu 64 bit version for a free 64 bit state of the art operating system. Why pay more?

This fixed the performance problems

Myth and everything all worked fine, 64 bits did not cause any compatability problems. The 750G disk will hold about 375 hours of TV recordings, should I have 15 solid days (and nights) spare to watch tv.

The motherboard I bought had an AMD/ATI chipset so my biggest problems were getting WoW to run without crashing, ATI's linux drivers not being the best. I used the ones installed by ubuntu, I tried installing newer ones at one point but they made no difference. I tweeked more things than I can remember googling for but the most important thing is to add

SET gxAPI "opengl"

to WTF/Config.wtf as otherwise it tries to runs in direct 3d mode and immediately dies with a fatal exception. The frame rate was then crap and I had to turn all the settings down but it does run wow acceptably: while setting it up I became preoccupied with gathering turtle meat.

The graphics are still odd, there is something wrong with the colour balance that makes everything looks cartoonish and when watching recordings the top line on the display flickers. It's awfully tempting to get an nvidia card..

On my desktop Wow still runs just fine, even with mythtv showing Alien vs Predator on the second monitor. Add a nice mug of coffee and life is sweet.

I found the best tip ever.

Scenario: hop into /etc and start editing any file using vim of course. Go to write the file and find it's read only: bugger forgot to launch vim with sudo vim or sudoedit. This happens to me around 50 times a day.

Solution:

:w !sudo tee %

I had to go through various man pages to understand this one:

:w ! execute a command, sending it the contents of the current file

sudo run the command as root. The contents of the file being edited get passed through sudo to the command that sudo launches

tee the tee command is normally used to allow one to view text that is being pumped to stdout while also saving it to a file. Here it is being used primarily to write from stdin to a named file. cat > % does not work because the '> %' part is run as the pleb user, not the superuser.

% vim replaces this with the name of the current file

It has the downside that the output of tee that is sent to stdout is fed back into vim so vim will wave it at you unless you type in

:w !sudo tee % > /dev/null

which is far too much typing.

vim will also prompt you that the file has changed and do you want to reload it.

HOWEVER the good thing about this tip is that it is short enough to remember and doesn't need any plugins installed or .vimrc files editing and hence can be used immediately on half a dozen different accounts.

Could this be the best of both worlds?

Best of Both Worlds

On the left we have kubuntu running under vmware player on Windows Vista. To the right we have Outlook and some Vista widgets running on the Vista host.

Vmware player is incredibly solid and linux installs nicely unlike Microsoft Virtual PC which runs into various problems (which Microsoft aren't rushing to fix). Vmware player is free and I prefer it to Vmware server as I don't need the 'server' element. It's missing features like pause/rewind/snapshot so it is less useful for testing setup programs (cannot roll back to a clean o/s install) but is ok if all you want is a simple desktop os. It supports USB, unlike the free versions of VirtualBox.

I found a site called Easy VMX that allows me to make new virtual machines for vmware player so I can build whatever vm's I like.

Somehow (not sure how) the seamless mouse thing works and I can switch between kubuntu and windows just be moving the mouse. Unfortunately cut and paste between them does not seem to be working.

So why use Vista as the host? Because I'd need another license to run it in a vm on a linux host

I'm giving kubuntu/KDE a try. Compared to gnome it is either more suited to the power user or more bloated, depending on your viewpoint. I think I'm leaning to krusader as a file manager, I could probably run it under gnome but it costs nothing to try KDE.

TBH there's something about the gnome philosophy of cloning windows that irritates me. KDE may have once used 'non free' software but I don't really care.

Good to see the blog works in Konquerer and the text editor has a spell checker! Ironically Konquerer is flagged in red.

Maexyn

Maexyn got to level 46 in Feralas doing the dart spriter, naga and yeti quests. Not much to report execpt to say what fun it was in the dart spriter camp when I kept pressing the howl of terror button instead of shadow bolt. It has to be THE best way to agro a whole camp.

I haven't got into using Death Coil yet but I read a good tip: use the three second death coil window to cast a proper fear.

The yeti seemed to resist the Voidwalker's taunts and Maexyn got a lot of beating and had to eat/drink every ten mobs or so. I maybe could have switched to succubus but voidwalker is just the best warlock pet. It is nice to have Sacrifice available.

Maezyn

Maezyn did all the shatter point quests without dying, a first for me. I'm happy with my pulling, the boar makes it precise and Maezyn can burn things down pretty quickly.

Right now I would say I can't really tell much difference between a beastmaster and marksman hunter, they both get the job done. A beastmaster pet is probably a better tank but I don't seem to get into big (3-4 mob) fights as often these days, maybe because my pulling is better. I prefer silencing shot to the beast within.

Maesyn

Maesyn got to level 32 by killing things in southshore, not the easiest fights. However, at 32 she got two nice things:

Ravage

A nice opening move, have to use it from behind in stealth but it can take 20% of a mobs health in one hit. Almost worth messing around in stealth for.

Feroscious Bite

I've been waiting for something like this. An instant hit finishing move that uses up all combo points and energy but gives a big hit. This thing is one of the hardest hitting moves I've seen on all my characters and can take out a mob with 30% health left.

With better starting and finishing moves, Maesyn just got a lot more powerful.

A quick catchup.

Maezyn

Visited hunter trainer at 62 and discovered I had neglected to visit since level 58. Many upgrades and 62 yielded steady shot. With a shot rotation that includes Steady Shot she can kill very quickly but runs out of mana equally quickly.

My comments about beastmaster vs marksman in the last post proved wrong: marksman pet needs hefty healing.

In summary, battles are over quickly but pet healing and mana drinks make up for that.

Maexyn

Maevyn and Maesyn sent her all their herbs stocks and she is now a 285 alchemist. I decided that levelling tailoring just for the high level BoP's wasn't worth it. All the decent leatherworking plans seem to come from instances and I doubt tailoring is any different. Maexyn will never raid and is my only clothie so not much point in levelling tailoring. Still need to get alchemy to 350 to start lucrative transmuting and she can't improve alchemy skill till level 50 so that can wait for a bit.

She is now level 47. At 46 she could kill level 47-49 water elementals and zapped giants in Feralas effortlessly. 30 seconds to kill a 49! I was happy when pook could kill something three levels higher in less than two minutes.

Maesyn

Went kinda crazy and levelled her six levels to 38. She's no longer the baby! I am addicted to stealthing up behind mobs, Pouncing and shredding. She can grind for hours with no mana breaks, rarely needs bandaging and never needs a food stop yet can still kill things in 20 seconds. Still very weak against multiple mobs and casters: caster camps are as difficult as for a paladin.

Druid play is more challenging than hunter/warlock but stabbing things in the back gives uneasy satisfaction.

I feel like expanding on yesterdays post. I can't skip over six odd levels of druid experience in a paragraph.

I did some reading on druid talent specs and went for a feral/restoration build with 11 points in restoration for the Omen of Clarity. The Omen essentially gives Maesyn a free heal or attack at some random point during a fight. As it can occur at any time it normally ends up as being a free Claw. I'm not totally bowled away with it but on the way to the talent I picked up Furor which is a 100% chance to get some rage/energy after a shapeshift which is nice. Normally when the druid shifts she has no energy to fight and has to wait which is kinda frustrating. Furor fixes that. It also enables some cool tricks, e.g:

• can switch to bear, instantly bash for a stun and heal (although whenever I try this trick the heal seems to go wrong and give bugger all healing and I'm staring incredulously at 20% health: it's on my todo list to figure out what the problem is: global cooldown?).
• she can switch to bear and then has enough rage to instantly Feral Charge which can work as a spell lock, although it has an annoying 8-30 yard range and the casters always seem to be at 7.5 yards away.

Her current fighting is to prowl up behind something and Pounce which stuns the enemy for four seconds (extended with two talent points), then Shred while still behind. This is quite a devestating combo, it can take half a mobs health in one go. I've done a lot of stealthing in the last few levels and with two talent points in improved stealth you can pretty much do anything around a mob as long as you don't accidently go through it if it suddenly changes direction. She doesn't need to be directly behind to Shred, she can be perpendicular, i.e. stabbing it in the shoulder. With the swiftness talents it isn't too much of a problem to get into position and as I mentioned yesterday it is quite satisfying.

I love travel form: it doesn't seem that much slower than a normal mount but it's so cool being about to change in and out while running and it made the long runs (gadgetzan, desolace) quite tolerable. It's much better for running away than Aspect of the Cheetah as there is less (but still some) chance to be dazed. The game has an annoying bug where it takes it a few seconds to work out that you have left a building and can switch to travel form, like the opposite of the delay between entering a building and being dismounted. When the druid enters a building she is 'dismounted' from travel form to caster rather than the faster cat form so one has to try to preempt this (memo to self: does this 'dismount' cost mana? Prob not, although I don't see any tactical benefits).

As I mentioned yesterday, she has little downtime. If she is low on mana she can wait for enough mana to switch to cat, then idle away some time killing things, after which mana has regenerated for a heal and switch back to cat. I normally use Regrowth for healing as it is more mana efficient than Healing Touch and has a heal-over-time element so she can be some way into a fight before her health dips below 100%. Also worth noting that the HoT from Regrowth appears to stack with the HoT from Regenerate so she normally casts a regenerate immediately after a caster pull.

As a grinding/farming machine the lack of downtime and the speed of travel make the druid a good choice. Just keep away from caster camps!

According to wikipedia:

Blue Smarties were re-introduced in the UK in February 2008, using a natural blue dye derived from the cyanobacteria spirulina.[4]

Violet Smarties are dyed with cochineal, a derivative of the Cochineal insect which is listed in the ingredients as carminic acid. Its presence means that Smarties are neither kosher nor vegetarian.[5] [6]

So there you have it. Smarties are made from insects and bacteria.

Maexyn

Took Maexyn to Searing Gorge and did about eight quests in two hours to get her from level 47 through half way to level 49. Interestingly the Golems there were immune to Drain Life and Siphon Life so replaced these with Shadow Bolts and Immolation respectively.

I did have to do a Howl of Terror in the Cauldron when under attack from three mobs with the voidy netted. The results were not good. Best warlock skill: soulstone.

Maesyn

At 38 Maesyn took on the higher level parts of Desolace, particularly the Undead Ravagers (lvl 37-40) and the Demon camp (lvl 37-39?). She dealt with everything quite comfortably. She can handle casters now: at 38 vs a level 40 centaur caster thing she just stealthed up, Pounce, Shred, a couple of claws and it is dead in 12 seconds. lvl 38 Warlock + minion? Stealth up, take out the minion in two hits in as many seconds, take out the warlock in 12 seconds. Not a problem.

Fighting in cat and get an add? Again, not a problem, press R to cast Regenerate, press F to go back to cat and continue. Regenerate (Heal over Time) is quite ok if you have a reasonable anount of health to begin with, it tends to stop your health falling further, makes up for the beating you are taking. And it's instant cast so you can do it whenever there is mana.

Fighting in cat and get two adds? Not a problem, press = for dash and run away.

I had an enlightened moment about my stealth attacks and started doing this:

• approach mob from any directing in stealth
• press 7 to Pounce
• while mob is stunned go behind it for a Shred. Here I realised that I just have to go through the mob, I don't have to worry about going around it to avoid breaking stealth any more. This makes it much easier. 'Behind' is very loose, somewhere in 180 degrees in front of you has to coincide with the 180 degrees behind the mob, that's all.

She went back to STV to do the troll temples to get the last two tablets. The trolls were level 34-37 or so but dense and tricky. I love stealth, she just walked through the main gates past the guards, no having to kill everything on the way in (she had no rest bonus left so pure killing is not an efficient use of time compared to rapid quest turnins). She had to clear about six trolls from an area in front of a tablet but again stealth is great for scouting and choosing targets: pull melee guys with Feral Faerie Fire, stealth/pounce stray castors etc. She had to do the last three trolls in bear but again the instant cast Regenerate spell is my friend. The trolls had a nasty trick of netting and running to distance to throw spears but shape shift breaks the net. That was a good fight.

At level 40 Maesyn picked up some new goodies:

• Nice pussy mount:

Maes at 40

• Dire bear form. Tried this out on a level 43 Basilisk and lived with about 40% health left and no healing. Not bad but kitty, with an initial regenerate could end the fight much faster and with more health left.
• Found a druid hat on the AH that gives energy or rage after a shape shift, similar to the Furor talent AND it stacks with the Furor talent. This means that after pressing R for a regenerate, when she goes back to cat she gets 60 energy which is enough for a free Claw with a bit of change.
• In prowl mode she creeps a bit faster. Prowling was ok before, what with the swiftness talents, now it is better.
• A skill that reduces damage from falling. Can she survive the Aldor lift?

Summary

I'm enjoying the druid more than ever. Her survivability is improving as I learn the tactics and I enjoy the play style, especially the back stabbing and 12 second kills. The warlock is powerful but a bit mechanical, casting DoTs is a slow way of killing things.

I'm thinking of leaving Maezyn on hold for a bit, along with Pook. Maezyn is on the edge of what to me is the biggest grind in the game, the part between western helfire, through Zangarmarsh and Terokkah (sp?) up until Nagrand. I cannot think of a single quest in that long stretch that I enjoy doing, it is weeks of grind. Also as a hunter she has now got all the useful hunter talents and I'm not sure I will learn a lot from levelling her. Her leatherworking will be useful to Maesyn.

I'm having more fun running Maexyn and Maesyn and learning about Warlocks and Druids so I'm going to focus on them for a bit.

Next goal: Maexyn to 50.