Os dejo con algunos requisitos que me gustaría que cumplierais para el clan:

- Jugar regularmente. Ahí dos o tres personas en el clan ahora mismo (que van a ser expulsadas) que aún no las he visto ni conectarse. No pretendo que juguéis 5h diarias, pero si que lo hagáis regularmente, por favor.

- Tener un mínimo de calidad. Tampoco quiero a Chuck Norris en mi clan, pero sí alguien que sepa más o menos defenderse, que conozca los mapas y modos de juego bien, y juegue en equipo. Con un nivel 3 es aceptable.

- Tener la expansión GENE. No es necesaria para entrar en el clan, porque podemos jugar sin ella, pero si no la tenéis, no podréis jugar al modo supervivencia.

- Disponer de headset. Tampoco es imprescindible. Con los mensajes predefinidos sueles salir al paso, pero con un headset es mucho mejor para definir las tácticas y meterte en el juego.

- Hablar español. Era evidente, pero por si acaso.

- Tener el menos lag posible. No exijo que os paséis a los 10mb de telefónica. Podéis abrir los puertos de vuestro router y vuestro lag se verá reducido notablemente (si es que no lo habéis echo ya).

En el modo supervivencia solo pueden jugar 6. Si superamos ampliamente esa cifra, nos dividimos en 2 o 3 grupos y sin problemas.

El nombre del clan es BerSerKerS, uniros, y me ponéis que venís del blog, y si tenéis problemas con cualquiera de los puntos anteriores.

Saludos, Belco.

I don't know ANYBODY who's owned an iPod for more than 3 years without having to replace it, exchange it, or get it repaired. I'm fascinated by this question:

How has the iPod secured such a sterling reputation, despite the fact that, on average, it won't even last 3 years?

Are there really so many people replacing their iPod every 2 years that it's an irrelevant issue?

I may be exaggerating a smidge. Kara certainly is unforgiving of undergeared groups, but that's not what makes it so difficult. Zul'Aman is even harder, as are the progression raids that follow. What makes it hard is the transition between expecting one's gear to naturally progress along with one's level, to having to go out and grind to progress that gear up. Most of us, on the way to lvl 70, and even early on as a 70, are happy with whatever gear drops off of whatever boss we just killed: If it's an upgrade, you roll on it, and if it isn't you let someone else, or you DE. The rules change, however, once you start thinking about specific loot that you need to hit certain targets.

To succeed in Kara a group needs to sport a certain level of gear, and while the same hold true to a greater extent in ZA and Gruul's and later raids, the gear obtained in Kara helps the group reach those thresholds for the next raid.

So: The upshot of all this is that before you walk into Kara with the rest of the guild, we are going to have to require that you meet certain minimum thresholds, regardless of whether you play the role of a healer, a DPS, or a tank. While some of them may strike you as onerous, it should be noted that every single one of these requirements can be met using nothing beyond instance-drop and quest reward blues. Also, try to keep in mind if you're short: These are not minimum requirements to clear Kara, they're bare minimums. A group consisting of nothing but guys hitting these minimum targets is going to have a miserable time of it, and a group that has Kara pretty well in hand is not going to be drooling after someone just barely hitting these minimums. You're still bringing the group down if you only hit these minimums. It's just that you're not bringing down too much.

I mean, why are you only wearing the minimum 15 pieces of flair?

Anyway, without further ado, Uncrushable's unbuffed minimums for Kara:

Tank

Warrior (Protection)

• 12,000 Armor
• 12,000 Health
• 490 Defense (Uncrittable)
• 350 Shield Block Value
• Miss + Dodge + Parry > 30%

It should be noted that warriors can actually achieve uncrushable without any more than 27.4% combined dodge/miss/parry/block. However, lvl 70 warriors can just roll out of bed and hit that target, and to reduce the chance of being crushed by fast bosses (or adds) after the charges of shield block are used up we've set a slightly tougher standard.

Druid (Feral, Unbuffed, but in Bear Form)

• 20,000 Armor
• 15,000 Health
• 415 Defense (Uncrittable)
• Dodge > 30%

The 415 Defense requirement only applies to Druids with Survival of the Fittest at 3/3. If you don't, well, you get a bright yellow sticker to put on your forehead that reads "Slap me, I'm a dumbass!"

Paladin (Protection)

• 9.000 Armor
• 10,500 Health
• 490 Defense (Uncrittable)
• Miss + Dodge + Parry + Block > 72.4% (Or 67.1% with Library of Repentance)

Paladin tanks almost never use up all the charges of Holy Shield, so they need only hit the target, not exceed it like warriors.

Ranged DPS

Mage (Fire/Frost)

• 6,000 Health
• 7,000 Mana
• 90 Spell Hit
• 600 Bonus Damage
• Spell Crit > 25%

Mage (Arcane)

• 6000 Health
• 7,500 Mana
• 600 Bonus Damage
• Spell Crit > 25%

Arcane mages benefit from the 10% of spell hit they get from Arcane Focus. They need more mana though: Arcane Blast and Arcane Missles are hogs.

Warlock (Destruction/Demonology)

• 7,000 Health
• 6,000 Mana
• 100 Spell Hit
• 600 Bonus Damage
• Spell Crit > 20%

Locks offset the best raw damage output in the game with an appalling lack of spell hit. They're going to PWN all those trash mobs, though.

Warlock (Affliction)

• 7,000 Health
• 6,000 Mana
• 600 Bonus Damage

Hunter (Marksmanship)

• 8,000 Health
• 6,000 Mana
• 1,750 Armor Piercing
• 75 Hit rating
• Crit > 17.5%

Hunter (Beastmaster)

• 8,000 Health
• 6,000 Mana
• 1,500 Armor Piercing
• 75 Hit rating
• Crit > 17.5%

Druid (Balance)

• 75 Spell Hit
• 600 Bonus Damage
• Crit > 15%

Good things happen when chickens crit; Crit a lot.

Priest (Shadow)

• 6,000 Mana
• 50 Spell Hit
• 650 Bonus Damage

Shadow Priests gain a staggering 10% spell hit from talents, so they can skip spell hit walking in the door. They're going to have to make some of it back near the end of the instance, though.

Shaman (Elemental)

• 6,000 Mana
• 35 Spell Hit
• 500 Bonus Damage

Melee DPS

Rogue

• 90 Hit Rating
• 1350 Amor Piercing
• Crit > 20%

Rogues bring so much non-damage goodness to the table (Sap, Kick) that you can skimp a bit on their raw stats.

Shaman (Enhancement)

• 100 Hit Rating
• 1,100 Amor Piercing
• Crit > 20%

Healer

Priest (Holy)

• 5,500 Health
• 7,500 Mana
• 1,050 Bonus Healing
• > 100 MP5 while casting

Druid (Resto)

• 1000 Bonus Healing
• > 100 MP5 while casting

Paladin (Holy)

• 8,500 Mana
• 1,100 Bonus Healing
• Crit > 15% (For Holy Spells)
• > 90 MP5 while casting

Much of this content was ripped off from lots of other sources, and it will probably be updated as we go, but for now it will do. Note that much of this is pretty flexible. A warlock with only 550 bonus damage but who has capped his spell hit will outdamage a one hitting these targets exactly, and a mage with a super-high crit rating (read: Deep fire) might be able to skimp a little on spell damage. Still, expect that if you are short in one area you're going to have to be deeper in another.

Additionally, since we're talking about gear: Don't expect much love from raid leaders if you're wearing off-spec gear. A Holy Priest who eschews a quest reward like Haramad's Leg Wraps for an epic for epic's sake Spellstrike Pants ("but I have the recipe, and they're purple!") isn't doing the raid any good with his choice. Often, an off-spec purple is inferior, given how narrow our jobs are in a raid, to an on-spec green. Know your job, love your job. You chose that job 69 levels ago, don't try to change now.

These minimums will probably get a group to curator. You'll wipe 10 times on the way, but you'll make it to Curator. And then you'll wipe another 10 times before you realize you still have to improve to beat him. Most of those numbers have to go up 10% across the board to down Curator: He's a tough DPS and healing gear check. And if/when you get to Prince: Well, I have no idea. Never took him on. (That may change tonight.)

Now there may come a day when nine of us can walk into Kara and farm the whole thing without bringing a tenth player. And perhaps when that day comes we can start bringing in fresh level 70's to power level their gear. I don't see that day coming any time soon, though.

The next post will start talking about talent specs. We won't be quite as rigorous with talent specs as with gear requirements, and we'll try to leave some wiggle room for customization.

That means you can use this wall adapter to charge other devices that use a USB cable, from mobile phones to many PMP/mp3 players without needing access to a computer. Why would you buy the $29 Apple USB Power Adapter, when for $16 or less, you can get something that will do the same job (in a smaller form factor), plus throw in a battery charger and 2 rechargeable AAA batteries?

I've combined the adapter with a Targus super mini-USB hub to charge 4 items simultaneously in hotel rooms: a pair of batteries, two mobile phones, and an mp3 player.

Just make sure you have enough cables. You might be a lifesaver at an airport when someone needs to use one of the inexplicably hard-to-find wall outlets at an airport to charge up a phone/mp3 player. I've helped a couple of people who wanted to charge their iPods before getting on the plane, but I was already using the outlet - lucky I had extra unused USB ports. I keep it in my laptop bag with two batteries in it for my digital camera, in case the camera batteries run low (quick swap and charge the dead ones later), along with the wall outlet piece and the mini-USB hub. Stay tuned for the next Travel Gear and Gadgets post for another device I keep in the bag that comes in real handy when traveling (also another airport lifesaver).

If you charge batteries from your computer USB port, you can download software that allows you to track the charging process on your desktop. I've bought 3 at Office Depot (one for me, two were gifts), where you can trade in an empty printer ink cartridge (from certain brands only, I think HP and Dell) for $3 of store credit. Make sure to comparison shop, as some places are more expensive.

One drawback: it's not a rapid charger, so 2 dead AA batteries could take several hours to fully recharge. Hopefully you won't need more than two right away. If you feel you may need to charge more than 2 at a time (for some cameras or larger devices), you may want to buy a second unit or consider a rapid travel charger or a 4-battery charger (which will certainly be more expensive, but justifiable if necessary).

Previous Travel Gear and Gadgets:

1. Mini-laptops

Something strange happened to me the other night while running Kara.

It was just before the Opera, as we were huddling under the stairs to find out what the night's performance was going to be, when....  well you see if you can spot the difference...

Before...

After...

See here's the thing, they are both me!
What?
How?
I have seen pirates before - but undead pirates?

Anyway, while I was checking out my undead pirate stuff, I noticed my PvP dagger... had to take a shot cause I thought it looked so good.

I also checked out a pugger's Prince's dagger.. now there's a strange looking piece of metal.

On another note, who set the bonfire in the Pink Pigtail Inn... Ohhh I suppose that was me...

Gnomer and out!

I started by pulling my trusty Boogie MkIV out. I unboxed my seldom used but hard to part with Roland SDE 1000 (my last piece of rack gear from the 80's) and hooked it up to the loop. What a joy. I never forget what a great piece of gear the Roland delays were but I don't often get to use it. I just don't want to have to haul around a rack anymore. I usually just use my Digitech CF7 in the loop for a little depth when I want it.

I then pulled out my blackface bandmaster and cab. I plugged in quite a few pedals and had a little tonefest all to myself. I put a few homemade OD pedals through the paces. I played with the leslie setting I use on my Zoom Choir. To be truthful I was actually trying to get some tones dialed in for the country stuff I've been doing. I think I've got the thing dialed in now.

There was some work to be done. I had a bad tone pot on two of my guitars. (Go figure, I hardly ever use the tone control). I replaced those as well as going through a few other things. Then there was the task of the day. I needed to take apart and clean my Echoplex. I don't use it much but it does need to be cleaned. (especially after the July 4th outdoor gig I did).

All in all it is great to get a day to spend tinkering with your gear. In the end I always end up liking what I like and the rig's for the gigs very rarely change.

Scott

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It was not just Frank London, of course. With Petras Vysniauskas playing sax, Anthony Coleman at the piano/keyboard, Arkadijus Gotesmanas as the drummer, and Sean Conly on bass, this was quite the dream team. They played some of the very obscure sounds I am told are called free jazz, and some wonderfully rich melodies, inspired partly by Jewish traditional music and composed by the musicians themselves.

I was busy running around the church wherein the concert was taking place, trying to get the most out of my D40 with the kit 18-55/3.5-5.6 lens. Obviously, nothing really good could come out of it. However, I did learn things.

So today, I've been reading through dozens of LiveJournal communities, pages upon pages of Ken Rockwell's website, online shops, and second-hand auctions - all to get at least some vague concept of an idea of an understanding of what lens I need to aim for next, and how much it would cost me. And you know me well enough by now to tell that I found out precious little; otherwise I wouldn't be whining here.

All that can be said for sure right now is that it's going to be a lot of time and money before I can enjoy myself while shooting a concert in a very dark hall. Word of the day - absolute befuddlement.

A friend turned me on to Timbuk2 bags a few years ago.  They make some really awesome messenger bags.  Check out there website to build your own.  I picked up one of their commute laptop messenger bag for a song over at SteepandCheap a few weeks ago.  The quality is very nice and there are so many pockets it's perfect for all your totin' needs.

Meta - Chaotic Skyfire Diamond
Red - Runed Living Ruby
Yellow - Potent Noble Topaz
Blue - Glowing Nightseye

Kaliban's loot list

Al menos el viaje a Gijón tuvo su parte productiva, me agencie los tomos 2 y 3 de MPD Psycho:

Los tomos 1 y 2 del cómic de Metal Gear Solid:

Y además he tenido la suerte de encontrar el Gradius V:

Ya tengo nuevo juego que disfrutar hasta la salida del Yakuza 2.

Wrong.

If you've been soloing & levelling up, and doing some instances, you probably have no idea what hit rating (spell hit rating for casters, but for the rest of this article I will be just using "hit rating" unless I'm pointing out the differences) is. That's hardly surprising, since it is virtually irrelevant whilst levelling when you're attacking mobs roughly your level, or when the bosses in lvl 70 instances are "only" lvl 72, but the moment you start raiding you realize two things:

1. Nobody gives a crap how well you do clearing the trash mobs in the raid.

2. The bosses you fight in a raid are considered* level 73.

What does this mean? Well, it means very very bad news for your DPS. Every level higher than you a boss is inscreases your chances to miss (or be resisted) with your attacks (spells.) And while that number is marginal with a 1 or 2 level difference, it gets ugly when it's a 70 vs. a 73:

Source: Wowwiki

As you can see, it gets pretty ugly at lvl 73 for Hunters and Rogues, and it gets positively hideous for casters. So how do we combat this reduction in our DPS? Hit Rating. That's how. There's no stat in the game more important for buffing your overall DPS than hit rating, and having a respectable hit rating is absolutely essential before you walk into Karazhan. Nothing aggravates a Raid leader more than checking the combat logs and seeing his 950 DPS Warlock get one out of every five spells resisted. Now, there's always a 1% chance to miss/resist, so we only really have to make up for the other 8%/16%. How do we obtain hit rating? Chances are you've never seen a piece of gear drop that has it as a stat unless you were actively looking for it.

Hit %

Well, to start you go to your talents:

Source: Wowwiki

There are equivalent talents for physical attackers, but basically any talent a Warrior, Rogue, or Paladin has that's called "Precision" will help a great deal.

You may have noticed Hunters don't have an entry in the above table. Sorry guys. You get rogered but good. On the other hand, you only have 8% to make up for whilst most of the casters have more, even after the talents kick in.

There is one other way to get hit rating without gearing for it, and that's having a Dranei in your party, and/or being a Dranei. Dranei give everyone in the party a +1% chance to hit with both physical attacks and spells, so it's to everyone's benefit to bring along at least two of those blue guys into every ten-man raid. Also, due to a bug in the game the benefit stacks to 2% if you have two Dranei in the party, but only for them. Apparently a Dranei giving himself +1% and another Dranei giving him +1% are considered different effects. This only affects the Dranei themselves, and only stacks up to 2%. Having an all-Dranei group won't scale to 5%.

Hit Rating

Now once you've done what you can with talents and your friendly neighborhood blue skins, you're still going to have work to do to get that number up to 99% where it needs to be. That's where hit rating comes in, as a stat on your gear. The numbers differ for hit rating and spell hit rating, but basically:

• 15.8 Hit rating = 1% hit percentage
• 12.6 Spell Hit rating = 1% spell hit percentage

The numbers are strange because they were originally normalized for lvl 60's. These numbers apply at lvl 70. It's reasonable to assume you're going to have a Dranei in your party, (or you can ask your raid leader to shuffle people around so you do,) and that you're going to max the talents that give you hit rating, so after that you'll just need to get the rest of the way since you can't count on having a shaman with Totem of Wrath down.

For examples: Elemental Mages, this means obtaining an additional (12.6 * 12) 152 spell hit from gear. Shadow Priests and Affliction Warlocks only require 64 spell hit. Rogues with 5/5 Precision only need to get an additional 3%, yielding (15.8 * 3) 48 hit rating from gear.

Theorycrafters could probably argue this point better than I, but consider how much more important hit rating is to your overall DPS like this:

If you hit for 2500 damage each time you connect (a low estimate) with an attack, an additional 25 points of bonus damage is required to increase your overall DPS by 1%. That's assuming you even get the full 100% of your bonus damage applied to the special move or spell you're using - Often you won't. More importantly, as your attacks scale up in damage to 3000 per, 3500 per, etc, you're going to need more and more bonus damage for that 1% bump in DPS.

On the other hand, hit rating scales with damage linearly: 15.8 hit rating or 12.6 spell hit rating will always bump your DPS by 1% no matter how much bonus damage you stack, so long as you're not capped. The moral of this story is simple: Cap your hit rating. Determine how much you need, and then find the blues and the gems that give it to you. Do it early, do it often.

* - A boss will "con" as just a skull, but functionally behave like a lvl 73.

The project is just getting off the ground at the moment, so bear with me it will get updated further.

I tabbed it as a new section on the header or you can follow the link here. So if you have a minute wander over, take a look, and let me know what you think.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

I must not buy the beautiful new Osprey Exos pack when it becomes available.

etc.

Being mobile and travelling light is not exactly compatible with trying to make as high as possible quality recordings. The stereo rig will be a Sennheiser mid-side setup but I also plan to do as much hydrophone recordings as possible. Part of the trip will be following the River Arno upstream out of Florence. Let's see how that goes.  Pelican cases to the rescue.

Gear:

Sennheiser MKH 60
Sennheiser MKH 30
DPA 4060
Aquarian Audio H2a-XLR hydrophone
Sound Devices 302 field mixer
Nagra ARES-PII+ recorder

The DPA's will find their place in Chris Watson's tried and tested sonic coathanger setup. One of the things I learned when we were with him last December.

The Nagra continues to amaze me. No other recorder delivers such high quality in so small a package. You can put in the inside pocket of your jacket. 2-track only but such great preamps, phantom power and 24 bit resolution.

Why bring it up?  I was sharing my love for well crafted songs sung by tenors with Mr. Boghos via email youtube links today and I ended up here:  10CC's The Things We Do for Love.  Pitch correction did not exist in 1977 but listening to all these parts, you'd think it did.  The vocals are spot on and a joy to listen to.  I hope you like it as much as I do.  Unfortunately, I can't embed it due to copyright concerns.

Click here

That's still not all that bright when thinking in terms of projection technology (the crappiest little desktop projectors push 1,100 and something driving a window display will need a lot more than that). But it's more evidence  LEDs  will at some point be an alternative to current, bulb-driven projector systems we're seeing for things like ad displays in sidewalk retail windows.

The sorts of units now in use are limited by the short life span of the bulbs, the high cost of said bulbs, and energy consumption.

LEDs will mean a much longer lifespan, likely lower cost per unit, and lower energy consumption. All good things, particularly when combined with miniaturization of the projectors that should allow for some very cool projected displays in the reasonably near future.

(Above: tee is much more yellow than appears here)
The Big Tees are no longer a "tease" and we're delivering them hotcake style, oven mitten not included.
This particular tee is called "The Kang", or "King" with southern twang... and today we're playing by the "Kang's Rools." That's right..The KANGS ROOLS!!!

Rool# 1 - Visit the online store today and check the goodies daily. Buy!

No other Rools seem necessary at this point, so do "first things first, second things never."

Detail of the Blue "Kang" tee.

Also, we hope that you enjoy these other fresh tees right from the Bakery! Eat em' up!

What does this Obama tee have to do with my music? Nothing really, besides that fact that it's "FRESH"
and I'm down for some change too. Can we have everybody rocking this tee in a few weeks?? YES...WE..CAN!!
Currently only available in red! Get one!

Also, the Billy Drease face logo tee is now available in bright, eye catching colors.

Big shouts to Ivy and Goldi. I appreciate yall..I DO!!!

Gems

Rare (blue quality gems for hunters) 
sockets they fit and prices very approx uncut/cut on ah (prices are very approx. and based on my server.  They have risen dramatically recently with the advent of season 4 arena and new BG gear, and a bug with no green gems available as drops through mining, so they may fall in future.)

Delicate Living Ruby* +8agi Red 50g/65g
Shifting Night Eye +4agi/+6stam red/blue 35g/45g
Smooth Dawnstone +8crit yellow 25g/35g
Glinting Noble Topaz* 4agi/4crit yellow/red 35g/55g
Wicked Noble Topaz* 4crit/4ap yellow/red 35g/50g
Jagged Talsite 4crit/6stam yellow/blue 7g/15g
Solid Star* of Elune 12stam 

Uncommon (green quality gems for hunters)

Delicate blood garnet +6agi red
Balanced Shadow Draenite 6ap/4stam red/blue
Glinting Flame Spesserite 3hit/3agi Yellow/red
Jagged Deep Peridot 3crit/4 stam yellow/blue
Ridged Golden Draenite 6hit yellow
SHifting Shadow Draenite 3gi/4stam red/blue
Smooth Golden Draenite 6crit yellow
Solid Azure Moonstune 6stam blue
Wicked Flame Spesserite 3crit/6ap

The uncut gems cost around 2G each at the moment on the ah. The cuts vary from 2G to 15Gish - prices vary wildly on my server.

Meta Gems 

These fit in a helmet slot. They usually have requirements you have to meet for them to work, e.g. must have 6 red gems. This means you must have 6 red gems socketed on the armor you are wearing (any armor obviously not just your hat). Remember red, doesn't just mean rubies or garnets, it also mean purple or orange gems that count as a red and a blue gem. If it said 2 reds and 2 blues and you had 1 purple and 1 orange you would meet the requirements, as the purple and the orange each count as both a red and a blue  

If a JCer can cut the meta gem you want, you need to supply them with either an uncut earthstorm diamond or an uncut skyfire diamond. Alchemists can transmute these with the ingredients below. Alchemists can make one transmute per day. If you ask an alchemist to transmute a gem for you, its polite to offer a tip, as they are using up their daily transmute.

Earthstorm diamond ingredients for transmute: 3 deep peridot, 3 shadow draenite, 3 golden draenite, 2 primal earth, 2 primal water

Skyfire diamond ingredients for transmute: 3 blood garnets, 3 flame spesserites, 3 azure moonstones, 2 primal fires, 2 primal airs

However, if you intend to buy the ingredients check the prices against the prices of an uncut or cut gem on the ah - the prices of the ingredients are so high at the moment it might be cheaper to buy you uncut or even cut direct from the ah.

Relentless Earthstorm Diamond +12agi & 3% increase to crit damage (requires at least 2 red gems, 2 yellow gems, 2 blue gems) {this is the best hunter meta imo - however the requirements are quite restrictive and may not make it better than the Swift Skyfire Diamond - as the latter gives you the option of stuffing all your sockets regardless of color (except for 2) with Delicate living rubies}

Swift Skyfire Diamond* - 24Ap and increased run spead (by 8%) (requires at least 2 yellow gems and 1 red gem) - second best hunter gem imo

Enigmatic Skyfire Diamond* = 12 critical strike rating and 5% snare and root resist (more of a pvp one but still probably not better than those above) (requires more red than yellow gems)

Swift windfire diamond - 20ap and run speed (by 8%) - slightly lower stats that swift skyfire but here's the nice part - this one is purchased with Spirit Shards - those green things u pick up in the Auchindon instances and wonder what they are for. 8 spirit shards gets you a meta gem. For the alliance - you buy them from Spirit Sage Zran in Allerian Post (he's standing outside the broken tower left hehind the inn).

To meet the socket bonus or not?
If you match the correct color gems to the sockets you get a socketed bonus. Sometimes however, it is not worth blindly meeting this, if using a different color gem might be better for you. Tinvuiel is often specced as a survival hunter which is all about agility and goes for delicate living rubies where ever possible.

Wot no epic gems?

You might be wondering why I haven't mentioned epic gems here.  The reason is, I don't consider them to be good value for money for most players.  And if you are a player who has both the armor and the money, to make them worthwhile, then you probably don't need this guide.  Most of the epic gems cost around 500G each compared to around 30-70G for an equivalent blue gem.  But for that, almost 10 fold increase, you only get around +2- +4 to your stats.  If you are socketing these in armor that is not T5 or above, the gems are likely to be worth more than the armor, and it's possible you may find an upgrade for that armor piece in the near future in any case.  This is not to say that I don't encourage you to slot and enchant your armor, I do, I just bulk at the price hike on epic gems.  Roll on WOTLK when hopefully prices will fall.

There are a couple of exceptions to the note above - firstly epic gems that drop in heroics.  Anelf my partner's druid has collected several healer epic gems from heroic Slave Pens :>)  And epic gems that jewelcrafters can craft for themselves only (they are BOP) from rare blue quality gems.  Soupdragon my shaman alt has a couple of these, they tend to be unique equipped, so she can only wear one of each type.  The quest to kill the final boss in normal Magisters Terrace also drops a nice epic gem for hunters - just make sure you slot it into something you are not going to replace in a hurry :>)

Final Note:
Rare (blue) jewelcrafting patterns are hard to come by and prohibitively expensive on the ah. If you do get a good one (especially for hunter gear, because we're biased right?) you might want to consider offering it to a guild jewelcrafter for a fair price before ahing it. That way you and the other hunters get cheaper gems. However, the jewelcrafter might not be able to offer you the full ah asking price, so don't feel it is your duty to do this. You need money same as the next player, and it was your lucky day when you got the pattern, so don't feel bad if you decide to ah it.