Posts with tag grandpappy-frostheim

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men. You can ask him questions on Google+.

There is a small vocal group of WoW players who feel that Burning Crusade was the pinnacle of the WoW experience, an unparallelled beauty of game design, and that life has gotten progressively worse ever since. Those players are starting to piss me off.

The reason they like BC so much is the same reason most players like an expansion more than all the rest: because that's when they started playing. Vanilla players like to talk about how hard yet awesome life was in our day and Wrath newbies (who, appallingly, are old timers themselves now) like to talk about how the game has only gone downhill since their time.

All of us old timers have one thing in common: we look at our glory days of exploring WoW for the very first time through rose-tinted glasses, remembering all the great stuff and glossing over just how bad the bad stuff was. But these BC lovers have crossed the line into being just plain daft, and trying to claim the exact opposite of how things really were.

Because really, BC sucked.

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men. You can ask him questions on Google+.

I've said it before and you can bet on the balls of the Titans that you'll hear me say it again, but kids these days don't know how good they got it. In fact, they got it so good that after years and years of complaining about every little thing, these days the kids are actually -- get this -- complaining that they have it too good.

I know, right? Kids these days.

A complaint that's been getting louder lately is that the game is being dumbed down. That because life is easier for these young'uns somehow the game requires less skill than the miserable pain in the backside the game was for us back in my day.

Well, I got some good news for you kids: The only thing that's been dumbed down is the useless, soft mass inside your noggin. In fact, by many measures, substantially more skill is required now than years ago.

Every now and again, we'll run a 15 Minutes of Fame interview with someone whose WoW personality simply overflows the standard interview format. In those cases, we have to resort to crazy bullet-point summaries before the break in order to have any hope of conveying the sheer reach of their awesomesauce. You'll undoubtedly recognize our subject from the pages of WoW Insider, yet his influence is felt far beyond its borders. It's true what they say: Sometimes the strongest, most potent things come in small (read: dwarf-sized) packages.

Who: Brian Wood, aka Frostheim, Grandpappy Frostheim
What: Dwarven hunter; blogger at Warcraft Hunters Union and WoW Insider; guild master of the massive, all-hunter Icecrown (US) guild Warcraft Hunters Union (WHU), recently responsible for the first all-hunter kill of a Cataclysm boss; podcaster with the Hunting Party Podcast; founder of the WoW Hunters Hall community portal; and eponym of the Recovered Cloak of Frostheim
When: Since 2005
Where: Icecrown (US-Alliance)
Why: Purportedly, being an "uncommonly good-looking hunter" has something to do with it.
How: Follow us past the break to find out!

All right, all right, settle down. Everyone take a seat, and someone bring me my ale -- then I'll tell you a little something about what being a hunter was like in my day, back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless but they were also men.

The latest hunter news includes the removal of the pet happiness system, and by Magni's beard, I have to say the negative response I'm hearing surprises me -- and here I thought that nothing you youngsters jabber about could surprise me anymore.

But you kids these days have it so good that you're actually complaining about how good you have it!

Well, let me tell you a little something about what pets were like back in my day. You think you know what the pet happiness system is, but you kids have no idea.

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men. You can ask him questions on Google+.

OK, kids, have a seat. I've got something very important to tell you today. You've all heard me talking about what things were like back in my day, how they were so much harder back then and how you kids go on complaining without realizing how much better things are now. Well, I've got news for you: You're about to find out what it's like to be in my seat.

You see, back when The Burning Crusade came out is when us old-timers first became old-timers. We were surrounded by the BC babies who had no idea how much better things were for their class. Then a couple of years later, we had the Wrath babies, who had things better than ever and what those BC babies had. Well, those BC hunters had to grow up and start talking about back in their day.

It's your turn now.

Pretty soon, we're going to have the Cataclysm babies, the hunters who just started with the Cataclysm expansion, and when they start complaining about how hard they have it -- well, then you'll be sitting right where I am now, trying to get them to understand how much better things are. Let me tell you the kinds of things you'll be saying about about the olden days of Wrath of the Lich King.

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men. You can ask him questions on Google+.

All right, sit down lassies -- aye, and you lads, too -- and get yerself something warm to drink. Or maybe do that the other way around. It's time you had some more learning about what life was like back in my day.

I've been hearing a lot of talk about Ghostcrawler lately. For those who don't know who Ghostcrawler is -- or the big GC, as we call him -- he's the man behind every blue post that you care about. He's one of nine grand masters in a secret cabal of masterminds exerting global influence over developed populations in an attempt to uncover ancient artifacts that could lead to the apotheosis of mankind. But for his day job, he's the lead systems designer for WoW; it's kind of like being God, but without the good press.

Now back in my day, we didn't have any Ghostcrawler. Oh sure, we knew in a vague sort of way that there was someone behind the curtain, pulling the strings, dishing out the nerfs and continually striving to make us hunters so darned good-looking; that much was obvious. But for us, it was just a vague faceless form, shadowy and ominous. We didn't have any GC chatting us up with blue posts, explaining the process and cracking jokes.

You hunters today, you don't know how good you got it. Let me tell you exactly what patches used to be like, back in my day.

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways ... back when men were men, and women were men too, and pets were next to useless -- but they were also men. You can ask him questions on Google+.

You hunters these days and your love affair with mana. All I hear from kids lately is, "Waa! I don't want focus. I like my mana!"

Well listen up, pups: You may think you have mana right now, but you don't. I don't know what that little blue bar you have really is -- some kind of frilly decoration that has something to do with "feelings" or "positive reinforcement" or some such nonsense, I imagine. But whatever it is, it ain't mana.

Now back in my day, we had mana! Back then, mana was actually a resource -- something that ran out and left you desperate and gasping, rather than some decoration that offset your health bar prettily. And when you ran out of mana, you didn't have no fancy aspect or Viper Sting to get that mana back in no time. Hell, no! You just sat there and you auto-shot until your mana slowly crept back up enough to fire another shot. And by the Titans, we liked it that way!

You want to learn something about hunters, back before everything was handed to you on a silver platter, back when we exulted in the injustice of our class rather than cried about it? Then listen up!

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs through the snow, uphill, both ways.

Young hunters these days got no appreciation for their traps. One of the signature abilities in the hunter toolbox, thematically appropriate, and stronger and easier to use than any time in WoW history, but they may as well not exist 'cause you kids can't be arsed to use 'em. Mob charging at you? Hunters these days just Feign Death (that is, if they don't try to melee it) then watch the mob make a beeline for the healer. Once it's safely carving pretty patterns into the healer's face, the hunter goes back to volleying the pack.

Bah! Kids these days!

Let me tell you something, back in my day our traps sucked. They were horribly limited and difficult to use by your pampered standards, but by the Titans we used 'em and used 'em well! So sit down, listen closely, and maybe you'll learn something about your class. You see, back in my day ...

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs uphill, both ways.

It seems like everywhere I turn these days all I see is hunters overreacting and complaining about the small bit of Cataclysm hunter changes we've seen. "I hate focus! I hate haste! We're going to become ranged rogues! I'm quitting if they do this! I'm going to hold my breath until they take it back! Huuuumph!" Kids these days, I tell ya.

Let me tell you, back in my day ... Well, back in my day hunters complained and moaned about every major change, too. I guess some things never change.

While Cataclysm may be the largest change our class has seen, it is not the first major change our class -- or our stats -- have had. Some of you are just too young to know that we've gone through this all before, although to a different degree. So have a seat, make yourselves comfortable, and shut your trap for minute and maybe you'll learn a little something about the way things were back in the day. Like Brann always says, "If ye don't know yer history, yer doomed to repeat it. Then ye'll look like a great buffoon, won't ye?"

Scattered Shots is brought to you by Grandpappy Frostheim, who spends his evenings in an Ironforge tavern telling young hunters how much harder things were in his day, when they had to kite mobs up hill, both ways.

All I hear from kids these days is whining about death knights. Whining about how bad they are at tanking in their PUGs or how they can't even do 2k DPS. You hunters these days should be grateful for death knights. You don't know how good you got it, 'cause you have no sense of history!

Let me tell you, back in my day we didn't have death knights. If we saw an undead servant of the Lich King walking around, we shot it on sight. In those days a bullet to the skull was redemption, not the sissy politically correct version you got now. We had redemption piled taller than your head over in the Plaguelands, I can tell you that.

So take a seat, put away your new-fangled dungeon finders and take a break from your crazy barber shop haircuts and let Grandpappy Frostheim tell you how things were back in my day, and why you should be thankful for those death knights.