3.3.3 Foolishness

So the PTR is up for 3.3.3, a long with the new patch notes.

Hunters

• Talents
  • Beast Mastery
    • Ferocious Inspiration: This ability is now an aura and provides 1/2/3% damage to all party or raid members within 100 yards and boosts the damage of Steady Shot by 3/6/9%.

So it looks like ferocious inspiration is getting an overhaul. The damage buff is being changed into an all the time aura. Cool, now let’s see hwo well that holds up on the PTR. I’ve copied Gwen over and had Wife copy a mage so I can see if arcane empowerment stacks or over writes it. The other half of the change is that FI will no longer boost arcane shot by 1/2/3%. Instead it will boost STEADY SHOT by 3/6/9%…. DAMN IT!!! BM hunters have been trying to loose the one button mashing, face rolling, window licking, drooling idiot rep since TBC.I know that Blizz has said they wanted to up our PVE DPS, and make us more of an active spec. But, this this is nuts. If this does take effect, it’s time to start stacking ArP by the boatful. So I’m off to the PTR to test this tonight and see how bad it is. So until next time, don’t forget to reload, so you don’t run out of ammo.

Perspectives Of A Raiding Beast Master

Lately there’s been a lot of negativity aimed at BM hunters. WoW.com’s Scatter Shot column had a post bad mouthing us. OutDPS had a follow up post on us also. While it wasn’t as blunt, it wasn’t very encouraging either. I know that every BM hunter out there is tired of it. We know that MM and SV have the potential to do more DPS than  we do.

Everyone thinks all we do is spam steady shot. If that is all you do, go roll a death knight. If you AFK auto shot go roll a death knight.Learn how to play your class and your spec. I have just as many buttons, cool downs, and timers to watch.

Shots
Bm has a shot priority similar to other other hunter specs, but its slightly more gear dependent.

With 2 piece T9 bonus
Kill shot > serpent sting > Arcane >  Aimed > steady

Without T9 bonus
Kill shot > Arcane > Aimed > Serpent Sting > Steady

We have to keep an eye out on all of our shots. We have to make sure that our stings are always up. If arcane or aimed is about to come off of its cool down, don’t fire steady shot. It’s better to wait that half second and get the better shot off and hold off on steady shot.

Keeping Fluffy Happy
Pet management is another huge thing we have to keep an eye out for. Don’t let Fluffy stand in the fire. Be ready to call him back so he can be repositioned. Keep an eye on his health. It’s YOUR responsibility to keep him up. I love it when a healer throws a heal his way. However, I never ever expect a healer to heal my pet over someone else. Fluffy’s health, happiness, and DPS are completely in my control, and are my responsibilities.

Cool Downs
As for cool downs, we have several to watch out for. Of course there’s BW. Then of course there is rapid fire, yes we use it and love it as much as an MM hunter. We also  have on use items such as trinkets to keep an eye out for. Knowing when to pop a cool down, and when to hold off on it is key. BW is almost always used whenever it’s up. As a BM hunter you will not be the hardest hitting hunter, but you will be the fastest hitting. We already have a 20% haste bonus due to Serpents Swiftness. If you save rapid fire for heroism, along with BW, you can easily have your attack speed go down to less than a second. So our damage is done with the quantity, and not the quality of our shots.

So all in all, yeah BM is pretty much screwed when it comes to raiding. We don’t provide unique buffs, and our over all DPS is lower that other hunter specs. So with the new patch coming out, hopefully things will start to change for us. Keep an eye out there for posts about 3.3.3. So until next time, don’t forget to reload so you don’t run out of ammo.

The Summons

Fair warning all, this is going to be my first ever attempt at an RP post….

The push would begin soon. Gweninu felt the time coming deep in her bones. After the Lich King’s ruthless assault on the tournament, there could be no denying it. Gwen could not forget that fateful day. Duranub Raiding Co. had been summoned by Highlord Tirion Fording to compete against the Argent Crusade had to offer. No one had expected Arthas to react the way he did. After he demolished the floor and sent them all crashing down in to the ruins of the Old Kingdom, the shock and hatred of what they saw had motivated them into action. Snub’rican had been raised once more and was even more powerful than before. Now, that was all in the past. The Lich King’s champion lay dead and buried in the ruins hidden deep below the frozen earth.

Then it started, the the assault on Icecrown Citedel. She had watched the Argent Crusade and the Knights of the Ebon Blade finally put aside their differences and combine their might in to a supposedly unstoppable juggernaut. During that time Gwen had received an odd summons from Jaina Proudmoore. It seemed that Jaina had found a chink in the Citadel’s defenses and wanted her to be part of the strike force she was leading to go after Arthas. Turns out Arthas knew about it, and was expecting them. Only a handful of them escaped to the airship alive, the rest ended up as servants of the Lich King.

But that was all in the past. Now she languished by a small fire on the banks of the river that ran through Crystal Song Forest. She was occupying herself with preparing a variety of fish to be served as a feast for friends and comrades alike. As she looked up, a smile played across her lips as she watched Sushi and Devilicious going after a school of glacial salmon. That’s  when she felt it again. The warmth spreading from the sigil in her pocket. It was more intense that the last time, signaling an urgency that was new to a Duranub summons.

A menacing growl suddenly escaped Sushi as the spirit beast swung its massive head skyward. As Gwen gazed skyward towards Dalaran she clicked her tongue twice, hearing the command Sushi stopped growling and vanished from sight with a bright flash.

Looking towards the great black lizard, she gave a sharp whistle calling Devilicious to her side. As the lizard stomped out of the water to her side, she caught the flapping of giant leathery wings in the distance. Turning her head back and forth, she finally pinpointed the direction of the flapping. She quickly closed her eyes and envisioned the acutely accurate eyes of an eagle. With a snap her eyes flew open, sharply focused distant sound.Her eyes quickly focused on a purple protodrake closing the distance at a high rate of speed. As she reached for her crossbow, she refocused on the figure mounted on the drake’s back. Gwen relaxed her hand as she closed her eyes, feeling slightly dizzy as her vision readjusted itself back to normal.

Belghast was coming. Now that was something new, usually if Bel needed to contact someone, he would send Thalen or one of the other officers. With a gust of forced wind, the drake landed about fifty feet down the bank from the small camp, she was able to make out the clacking and clanking of Bel’s armor as he jumped down from his drake. As he walked towards the small campfire, a cold wind whipped down from the glacier to the north.

"Gwen."

"Bel."

She reached down to the to prepare a plate of fish for him, as he lower himself down by the fire.

"So what brings you you down here on this lovely day Bel?", Gwen asked while she reached over to toss Devil a fresh fish.

"If you would’ve answered the summons we’ve been sending you, you’d have known by now. Bel replied through a mouth full of fish.
Slowly she reached down, and picked up another fish. She casually flicked her wrist, sending the fish into the air with a click of her lounge. In a sudden flash of light Sushi appeared, catching the fish in midair, and landing next to with a happy purr.

"So the assault on Arthas has begun then?" she asked as she scratched Sushi behind the ears.

"Yes, we’re expected to go in full force, seeing as the sneak attack didn’t work out so well." Replied Bel sadly.

Gwen just sat there digesting  everything that Bel had told her, along with everything that had happened. She could feel Bel staring a her waiting for her reply. "Alright, when do we leave?" Gwen asked in a tired voice.

"In two days, we’re meeting at the Ledgermain. It’s good to have you and your ‘friends’ with us again Gwen." Belghast said with a smile.

He then stood up and walked slowly to his drake. Gweninu watched as he mounted the drake and took off back for Dalaran. with a heavy sigh, she looked down at Sushi and finally spoke. "Soon. Soon it will all be over fuzz ball and we can head to warmer climates," she said with a smile.

Time To Choose

 

I’ve been torn as of late, with which spec I should be using, and which pet I should use. At heart I am a BM hunter ready to rip through the enemy with my trusty companion; MM is is just my secondary spec.Duranub is slowly but surely working our way through ICC, and I’ve been swapping specs back and forth. I know I’ve started to fall behind on the gear and DPS checks. I missed several raids when my account was hacked, so I missed out on 2 weeks worth of DKP. Due to time constraints, I can’t always run a random heroic everyday. I also don’t have  the time to join in on either of the 2 10 mans that DRC has recently started. So while others are raking in the badges, mine are slowly trickling in.Right now, time is my biggest problem. I need a clone, Wife agrees with me on that one.

Anyways, the point that I’m trying to make is I need to make a decision. Do I keep BM as my main spec for raiding? Do I say forget it and go with MM? I enjoy BM a lot more than I enjoy MM. If I keep going BM, which pet do I use? I know that Devilicious’s DPS is higher than Sushi’s, but I like the look and feel of Sushi better. Ugh my head hurts.
Then there’s the progress that we’re making. Marrowmar, Lady Gaga, and Gunship are all on farm status. We’re killing Saurfang, but he’s not on farm status yet. We’ve started on The Plagueworks, and I know my gear isn’t as good as most of the DPS. So it comes down to how I spec for now.

The easy part for us is over. Now it’s time to hunker down, and start to really think it through. Since we’ve been in ICC, I’ve been slowly slipping. I went from being top 5, to lucky if I finish in the top 10. So what’s a pure DPS class to do? I bite the bullet and go MM, for now at least.

However, all of that can and will change. We ran the weekly raid quest, ToC and then headed off to ICC to start on The Plaugeworks on Thursday night. I stayed as BM and my DPS was higher, and I finished in the top 5 for over all DPS for the night. Ummmmm wow, so maybe I will stay BM. So until next time don’t forget to reload, so you don’t run out of ammo

Blogroll Update

Just a fast post, I’ve added Lyraat’s  WoW Reprieve to my blog roll. Enjoy him. 🙂