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Welcome to Scattered Shots, written by Frostheim of Warcraft Hunters Union and the Hunting Party Podcast. Each week, Frostheim uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Got hunter questions? Feel free to email Frostheim.

The term “huntard” stretches all the way back to vanilla, when all the gold farmers were hunters (and actually farmed). While usage of the term has died down a bit due to widespread educational programming, it still exists, and we now know more about the huntard than ever before. Sometimes these bad players are just teenagers with parasitic worms burrowing through their brains, driving them slowly mad; other times, they're hillbillies destabilized from imbibing massive quantities of impure corn liquor and generations of profoundly unbiblical procreation.

But more often than not, the classic huntard behaviors aren't directly related to mental acuity. Modern medical science now knows that huntardism is a disease, often infecting newer players who just honestly doesn't know any better. They're trying their best. All too often, they're newer players who got some crazy and foolish advice (usually from other classes) and, not knowing any better, have done their best to follow it. But here is hope. Recent studies show that 90% of huntardism is, in fact, curable.

Join me after the cut as we take a look at how to identify the warning signs that a friend might be a huntard and how to break the news.

Classic warning signs

Remember that we all make mistakes, and we all have different learning curves. A mistake, or even a couple, isn't an indication that someone is suffering from huntardism. That is part of what makes this disease so difficult to diagnose and treat. It's only when we see a pattern of stupidity that we are able to diagnose the condition. The classic huntard warning signs include the following:

• pet running off and pulling random groups of mobs
• hunter pulling aggro
• hunter insisting on pulling groups on his or her own, typically without consulting the tank, certainly without permission
• pet sitting by the hunter's side, unused
• standing in void zones, usually followed by cursing the healer for his or her death and/or posting damage meters
• keyboard turning
• jumping off ledges of all kinds, ignoring the pet pathing ramifications
• Feign Death used reactively, rather than proactively
• use of downranked shots
• doesn't even have a pet out
• at level 80, has not spent talents down to the bottom of any tree; bonus points for going evenly into all three trees
• gemming for strength
• name is a variant of “Legolas”

If someone you know regularly does one or more of these things, he may be a huntard.

Huntards in the wild

While the classic warning signs listed above are the most common, they are by no means the only symptoms of this disease. In fact, while there are a limited number of ways or styles of playing a hunter correctly, the huntard can find infinite ways to just plain do it wrong. The mental process that leads to this can be a bit mind-boggling. Here are some actual sightings of the huntard in the wild:

• Hunter spotted with a strangely small pet. It turns out this is the first pet he ever tamed. And this is not like the first pet you or I ever tamed — this is literally the pet he tamed in the level 10 hunter quest that teaches you to tame a pet. Only instead of returning to the quest giver to complete the quest and learn the Tame Beast skill, he instead decided that the pet was good enough and went on about his leveling life. As he got more and more levels, his temporary quest pet stayed exactly the same level it always was.
• Hunter spotted using Distracting Shot a lot during random heroics. When asked about it, he explains: “Distracting Shot makes them face me, and then I can use my Kill Shot on them.”

The intervention

If you suspect a friend or loved one is a huntard, you need to talk to him about his problem. It is not helping him or anyone else to leave this disease to run unchecked. But the way you go about telling him is very important. You must view it as an intervention. You must be non-confrontational and create a safe, loving atmosphere. If possible, engage the help of guildmates, parents, siblings and significant others (note: only one significant other at a time is recommended).

This is where so many people with good intentions miss the mark. They see someone exhibiting huntard symptoms, but in an akward attempt to cure them, they shout that they are a huntard, a dumbass, a noob, or tell them they suck. Huntardism is a disease of the mind, and it reacts negatively to these kinds of direct confrontational approaches. In extreme cases, it can even aggravate the huntard symptoms and cause an outbreak of new ones.

When approaching a huntard-capable player, remember the three steps: ask, explain, direct.

• Ask Never confront a huntard by assuming that he's doing something stupid (though, of course, usually he is). Always ask him first why he is doing a certain thing. Every now and then, there'll be an actual reason. Maybe he gemmed for strength because he lost a bet and was just doing it for one day. Who knows? But more often, you'll get a unique peek at the crazy that happened in his brain — and this is good. By understanding the huntard's thought process, you can better understand how to help steer him back on track.
• Explain Once you know why the huntard is doing the strange things he does and you've confirmed that there is no good reason, explain to him the correct way or ways to do whatever he's doing. It's important in this stage to keep things as simple as possible. Don't try to explain a lot of different alternatives, and don't try to expand into other areas he probably needs help in, but also don't just tell him what to do. Explain — without calling names or being insulting — what's wrong with the way he is doing it, and explain how this other way works better. Again, if there are multiple better ways, just pick one (the simplest) and get him started on that.
• Direct Finally, if you've done your job well, you now have the trust of this young, impressionable huntard. He's probably experienced a lot of people yelling at him and calling him a noob, but you were different. You took the time to talk to him, you asked him questions and found out what he was doing and why, and then you patiently explained a better way. The final step here is to direct this player to your favorite hunter resource site on the web. This is the “teaching a man to fish” stage. In all liklihood, you don't have time to teach him everything there is to know about being a hunter. Instead, steer him to somewhere he can do his own reading and his own learning at his own pace. Just be sure you're directing him to someplace kind to the unlearned — never send a recovering huntard to Elitist Jerks!

Not every intervention will work, and not every huntard is ready to change. But with time and patience, we can look forward to the day when this disease has been wiped out and is nothing but a footnote in the medical journals.

Scattered Shots is the WoW.com column dedicated to helping you learn everything it takes to be a hunter. See the Scattered Shots Resource Guide for a full listing of vital and entertaining hunter guides, including how to improve your heroic DPS, understand the impact of skill vs. gear, get started with Beast Mastery 101 and Marksman 101 and even solo bosses with some extreme soloing.

Tags: class-help, featured, guide, guide-to-hunters, huntard, hunter-guide, hunter-info, hunter-talents, talent, talents, world-of-warcraft-class-guide, world-of-warcraft-guide, wow-class-guide, wow-class-help, wow-guide, wow-hunter, wow-hunter-info, wow-hunters, wow-talent-guide

Filed under: Hunter, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

I decided that I would just let the in-game quests take me where they would — to follow more of a linear line than I normally would. While I could not resist exploring the map a bit, I pulled it back a notch and settled into helping local tribesmen and farmers with their menial tasks. Along the way I met incredibly nice community members (one even bought me a donkey mount!), discovered fun side-quests, and got pulled into chunks of mysterious lore.

Despite the small bugs that pop up occasionally, the game works very well on different set-ups. It also looks great, almost a combination of Ryzom, WoW and LotRO. The game throws you into an alien world, someplace that is familiar but very unusual. And while the character models could use some work, the mounts, monsters and wildlife look very nice.

Combat is a weaker point. The responsiveness is there but is a tad sluggish. Spell effects are still a bit lackluster, and mobs often run right through you, forcing you to turn around in order to face them. These are all things that can be fixed with small patches, and I have heard plans of possible character re-dos. With the release of the latest patch, my warrior class did receive a revamp and I noticed a step-up in power afterward.

Overall, Alganon's strong points:

• It's a beautiful game that runs well on many different setups.
• The game includes an in-game wiki that lists every single item, quest or bit of information that you would ever need. Ironically, its existence made me work harder to avoid using it, as some sort of challenge.
• There are a variety of quests, and there are quite a lot of them. You won't be bored for a long, long time.
• It has an amazing community. One player told me he enjoyed the “small community” feel to the game, and I couldn't agree more. I witnessed almost no useless or saucy chatter in the chat channels.
• It's free to download and try until level 30. After that, players will need to pay to unlock more features.
• Development seems to be ramping up, not the opposite. If this is a failing game, then I have no idea what failing means.
• The music in the game is top-notch, possibly some of the best I have ever heard. You can even download the music for free on the website.

Alganon will stay on my hard drive for a long time. I hope it continues to defy the nay-sayers and basement-ragers who take it too far in the comments. Here's my open message to the artists, musicians and coders who are working on this infamous game: keep it up. Forget what you read in the comments section. Not all of us wish you ill.

Next week we will be looking at Global Agenda, a shooter-style MMO that brings back memories of Tribes, late night sessions, and pizza boxes. I will predict right now that I will die — a lot. I am under the name of BeauHindman. Come join me in the new Sonoran Desert and we can pwn some faces together.

Each week Rise and Shiny asks you to download and try a different free-to-play, indie or unusual game, chosen by me, Beau Hindman. Some of the games will be far out of your gaming comfort zone, and some will pleasantly surprise you. We will meet each Tuesday and Friday night at 9 p.m. EDT (8 p.m. CDT), followed by this column the Sunday after. I welcome any suggestions for games, either in the comments or at beau@massively.com, Twitter me @Beau_Hindman or follow me on Raptr!

wow buy gold ​In the pantheon of video games, Leeroy Jenkins is a legend. Leeroy, the World of Warcraft character of mild-mannered Lafayette native Ben Schulz, shot to stardom thanks to a 2006 YouTube clip (seen below).

His gaming fame earned Leeroy a Howard Stern reference, a mention on Jeopardy and a spot on schoolgirls' T-shirts in Asia — and now the Army thinks it can use Leeroy to inform its multi-billion-dollar operations.

That's at least the perspective of Captain Robert M. Chamberlain, who authored a curious article published last year in the prestigious Armed Forces Journal titled, “Let's Do This! Leeroy Jenkins and the American Way of Advising.”

What's the connection? In the clip, Leeroy is seen screwing his WOW teammates by charging blindly into a dragon's den hollering “All right chums, let's do this! LEEROOOY JEEENKINS!” — and then, when everybody follows him in and dies, mumbling incoherently, “At least I have chicken.”

According to Chamberlain, this maladroit and disastrous battle charge, which completely disregarded his teammates' planned course of action, is analogous to the gung-ho way the Army used to run missions in Iraq. The Armed Forces adopted a more successful battlefield strategy when it embraced more culturally sensitive counterinsurgency tactics, says Chamberlain — but now he believes the Army is once again “pulling a Leeroy” in the blunt and awkward way it's approaching the task of advising Iraqi forces that are in the process of taking over security operations around the country.

The problem, writes Chamberlain, is that typical military approaches to advising Iraqis fail spectacularly because “like Leeroy Jenkins, these solutions substitute individual initiative and ability for meaningful planning.”

The solemnly worded article evokes a fantastical image of Iraq, where U.S. soldiers arm themselves with broadswords, call each other “chum” and chase madly after imaginary dragons. No wonder our overseas wars are going to Hell in a hand basket.

In conclusion, Chamberlain proclaims it's time “to put a stop to the ad hoc, idiosyncratic, Leeroy Jenkins philosophy of advising and replace it with a coherent institutional approach that acknowledges Iraqi politics and is driven by Iraqi concerns.”

And if that doesn't work, at least they have chicken.

Here's the famous Jenkins video:

Blizzard Entertainment and NetEase said today that they will be able to launch Wrath of the Lich King, the add-on expansion for World of Warcraft, in China on Aug. 31. That’s about 22 months after the expansion launched in the U.S. Still, the game is so popular in China that Blizzard will be able to pull in some healthy profits.

The delay is due to the regulatory and censorship process in China, where government agencies have to approve content before foreign companies can launch online games. On top of that restriction, Irvine, Calif.-based Blizzard, a division of Activision Blizzard, is not allowed to operate the game itself in China. It partners with Chinese online game firm NetEase in the operation of World of Warcraft in China.

Blizzard may be happy that it can finally launch Lich King, which was one of the most popular games ever introduced in the PC (even as an add-on pack, which requires the original World of Warcraft game to be played). But it’s pretty sad that the game has taken this long to get approval. Blizzard has had to play nice and wait patiently, because China also happens to be World of Warcraft’s biggest overseas market. Last year, Blizzard was unable to offer paid subscription service for a number of months as two Chinese agencies fought over jurisdiction.

“We appreciate the continued passion and support that Chinese players have shown for World of Warcraft, and we’re working hard to ensure that they have a topnotch gaming experience when Wrath of the Lich King is released,” said Mike Morhaime, chief executive and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment.

William Ding, CEO of NetEase, said his company was prepared to launch the game expansion and provide the necessary added support. World of Warcraft is the world’s most popular and profitable massively multiplayer online game, with more than 11.5 million subscribers. It was originally launched in 2004. Blizzard is getting ready to launch its third expansion pack for the game in the U.S.: World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

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Therefore a new enormous many thanks to the particular parents with regard to a splendid wedding rehearsal dining. Consequently your massive thank you for you to any friends with regard to a new amazing testing supper. Females moved to your lodge along with obtained just about all fairly using tresses in addition to makeup, and also the kids met regarding a number of exciting mmorpgs from the particular people residence. Absolutely no doubts, though, them granted for several additional individuals that will become a member of this market.

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At which could I invest in vending machines?

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Berber carpet is definitely a new completely non-natural carpeting which will means this could possibly be cleansed incredibly easily. Blot the liquid leaks while shortly due to the fact that possible by applying clear light towelling or even any report hand towel. Have your blanket by a professional washed when necessary. This put on as well as tear connected with your current blanket likewise works an critical part as well as that is specifically what precisely everyone obtain with this particular type regarding carpet, difficult putting on as perfectly due to the fact that very affordable. Possess your rugs professionally cleansed when required. Ideas for you to help retain your current floor covering searching superior.

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Wine drinks through many districts of France were being symbolized these, in reasonable charges. Most people swam in the motel swimming along with hot spa, got superb foodstuff in dining establishments, moved all over Monterey and also Pacific Grove. It was my husband's product.

Here are some photographs from some of our getaway.
The homemade wine supporting close friend, impressed with all the range, has been persuaded to pick out upward a number of wine beverages.
It had become an excellent astonish. All of us observed these people performing your ridiculous Japanese bday melody by nice drums, hence you want to get now there yet again for just one connected with each of our 1st birthdays.

The restaurant is only one block uphill on the tank, a quick walk. Some of our home wine warm good friend, amazed with all the assortment, has been persuaded to choose together several remover bottles. It had become an awesome surprise. When you strolled while in the eating place, all of us located in which portion of it opened in to a home wine sepcialist. Many of us travelled with your close friends, therefore we wouldn't own called for far better journey spouses.

This signifies the particular overall bulb power level how the dimmer switch settings should often be inside of most of these limits. This specific additional steady improve is definitely superior for that living on the light. The most typical is a retaining wall swap, which will replenishes an regular light swap.

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Halogen Dimmer switches usually are rated by using greatest along with bare minimum place wattages. There are a couple of kinds of dimmer goes press for press away and people which simply click away as well as in at the conclusion from the button rotation. I'm care-free, the particular reason I've this dimmer is that the idea has a rural control, We can change your lamps by my personal cubical sometimes however they may be constructed around room lights plus the swap denture is definitely throughout that room.