the hunters sanctuary

well ppl my little blog and my massive effort has been noticed,woot! The 120 or hits im getting each day here from you lovely ppl has paid off. I've been asked to be the wow hunter correspondant for Gaxonline the game networking site. So I'll be posting hunter guides on there. I will still keep up this as a personal blog as to what im doing in my wow life. but...
The meat of the show will be at the hunter's sanctuary
Please register and visit me there for all the usual tips tricks, theory crafting and hunter chat.
you'll find a good buch of ppl all mad about gaming from every angle, many podcasts from the members and guides, reveiws and blogs from gaming addicts/ fans. :)

Plus there is a gaxchat (look at the bottom right hand corner of the gaxonline main page. a little person icon with a green/red dot. Click the popup icon (not expand) to bring the chat to a new page) so you can get into contact with members and bloggers directly.

See you soon there. I love you all keep reading here for all my wow blogging and my new page for all the hunter chat and love you'd xpect to find here.

happy hunting

BRK We Love You

BRK has finally quit!

Its sad to say, but the big man himself, BRK has left wow to spend more time with his family. It understandable and a shame that he has left the game.

We wish him the very best in everything he does and hope he returns at some point, cos we will miss him so.

Best Wishes BRK and see you soon

Macros Again

I've been asked in game a few times now and ive noticed on wow hunter forums ppl still asking for macros to use on hunters. I have been holding off for 3.1 to come in. But hey! no idea when that will be yet. So here are all the macros i use on Saphirestar


Hunter's mark
a hunters mark/ send pet macro which does both at the same time, will also when right mouse clicked will JUST do HM and pet will remain at your side for boss pulls etc

when creating the macros posted use the ? icon when creating your macros

#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/cast [button:2] Hunter's Mark; Hunter's Mark
/stopmacro [button:2]
/petattack

Misdirect

this will md your pet or when you set a focus using the new ingame mark focus or xperls (addon) focus mark ability will md your focus
if you want more info on focus ill do a post about it laters or contact me ingame

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [target=focus,help][help][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection
/assist focus

note: the /assist focus part will automattically after mding the focus swap to his target for easy swap targets to start your dps on the foscus target usually main target is focus and skull is his target. as an example

Stings

an easy all in one button depending on what modifier key you use (ctrl, alt) etc depends on what sting it uses. this is why the ? icon when creting the macro is essential the icon will change to the sting you have selected.

#showtooltip
/cast [nomodifier] Serpent Sting; [modifier: shift] Viper Sting; [modifier:ctrl] Scorpid Sting; [modifier:alt] Tranquilizing Shot

Traps
same as above only traps

#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/stopattack
/cast [btn:1,nomod]Freezing Trap;[mod:shift]Explosive Trap;[mod:ctrl,nomod:alt]Snake Trap;[mod:alt,nomod:ctrl]Frost Trap;[mod:alt,mod:ctrl]Immolation Trap;


pet attack / pet follow

to get your pet quickly in and out of aoe

/petfollow [target=pettarget,exists]
/petattack [target=pettarget,noexists]


--------------------------------------------------------------
Focus and how it works

setting focus

ok a small word about focus. you can set a target to your focus usually a tank in an instance or your pet if soloing use

create a macro and type the following place it on your task bar

/target focus

as a macro to set your focus target (note if its your pet and you mount you have to use the macro once you dismount set this as a button on your task bar

ok so you have your focus this is useful as you can now track what your focus is targeting and never hit anything the tank/ pet is not hitting
you can see what your focus is using various addons like xperl or use the new set focus by right clicking a players portait and clicking set focus


Assist Focus

/assist focus

or more complicated to add a hunter mark and set a focus see below

The Assist Focus macro is setup to assist and attack the target of the focus target; in this case, it is the main tank or main assist. You can use the Hunter's Mark / Focus Target macro to easily set your focus target; then use this macro to target his target from then on. So it is a main tank assist macro centered around the focus target.
or you can use the md marco i gave in the above post which will md and assisit focus every time you press mitigating any threat from the first three shots to your focus (usually a tank or your pet) depending on what you have set up.
here is the md macro again for you

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [target=focus,help][help][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection
/assist focus

md is only a 30 sec cd so use it as much as you can itl will also follow exactly what your focus is targetiing allowing your tank/ pet to gain agro on what he and you are hitting
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spec Specific Macros

Beast Master
1. Pet ability macro
/cast bestial wrath
/cast call of the wild
/cast rabid
or if you have a pet specific ability you want to control off auto cast like /cast serenity dust for moths
NOTE: Remember for this to work you have to have specced into both Rabid and Call of the Wild in your pet talents, and if you are MM or BM take out /Cast Bestial Wrath


Main shot roation
#showtooltip
/console sound_enablesfx0
/cast kill shot
/cast steady shot
/cast kill command
/console sound_enablesfx1

Spammable and to be used in tandam with

/castsequence reset=6 Arcane shot, Aimed shot
or it you dont have Aimed Shot...
/castsequence reset=6 Arcane shot, Multi-Shot

Marksmanship/ Survival
some ppl do say that you can get better dps out of manual shot rotations and that may be true. tbh i feel macros help me be more effcient in rotation and i dont have to watch so many Cooldowns Kill commend for example.

for mm/sv you can change these macros around if you like. again using the main shot macro listed

MM
/castsequence reset=6 Arcane shot, Chimera Shot

MM is i bit more complicated as you have both Arc and aimed and chimera shot it may be better ( i have tried this to some effect) that to use

/castsequence reset=6 Arcane Shot, Aimed Shot

and have Chimera on its own so the rotation would be
Serpent sting -> Chimera -> Arc -> Aimed -> Main macro spam then as and when the cd on each skill is available use them again

Note: yes use Chimera directly after using Serpent sting. it doesn't matter when you fire Chimera it will still do the same amount of dmg if you use it at the beginning of the macro than if you waited till SS has almost run out. The tooltip is badly worded. It will do the dmg Serpent sting has done AND WOULD HAVE DONE if left running so get it in first and fast.
This is explained a little better in the Big Red Kitty podcast episode 12

and the other macro i use for MM
/Castsequence Rapid Fire, Readiness, Rapid Fire
hit this twice to use rapid fire and readiness, when your rapid fire buff ends hit the macro again to use rapid fire once more. Saves on buttons/ key bindings if nothing else.

for SV its a bit easier atm (heaven help us when Black Arrow comes in)

/castsequence reset=6 Explosive shot, Aimed shot
or if you don't have Aimed
/castsequence reset=6 Explosive Shot, Multi-Shot


for all these macros they have to be spelt exactly as they are here to work. for specific shots/ skills you have to spec into them to work ( rabid/ Aimed ) etc
If you have any issues with any of these macros comment here or grab me in game. Ill be happy to talk about macros and hunters (as long as I'm not raiding at that time) :D

Happy hunting

Big Red Kitty - Episode 15 (3.1 inc)

new Big Red Kitty Podcast

Episode 15

This week BRK goes thru and indepth look at the new and upcoming talents and differences to hunters. The mechanics behind these changes and how it will affect raiding in 3.1

A special note. BRK goes thru HIT and what it means for hunters. very indepth and simple explaination on hit raiting to hit% and how it affects pets and how the hit talent Focused Aim will change in 3.1

Another essential BRK podcasts for hunters to listen to.

we love you BRK

Woot I'm 80, now What?! (pre 3.1) guide

I've been on the WOW Hunter Forums for quite some time and im beginning to see a trend. Ppl dont know what to go for first once they get to 80, What gear, from where, what instances to run, what stats take priority over the others etc.
I keep replying to these questions on the hunter forums but they appear day after day; hunters having no idea what to do once they hit 80.
I have made this 'Just hit 80' Guides so help clear some questions that appear time and again.

...........................................................

Once you hit the first thing you should do is have a look at the gear you can get form heroics and reputation. Make a list of which dungeon your drops are from and which reputions have the gear you would like. Get Atlas Loot Enhanced addon and have a look at http://www.maxdps.com/hunter/beastMaster.php
Altho this if for bm it gives you an idea of what to go for, with comprehensive listings on heroic/ rep gear, gems, enchants etc...

Now you have your list for e.g- Polished Regimented Hauberk From Agent Crusade.(Exhalted)
Go back to your Hunter Trainer and now change your spec for these reasons...

Note to start off.. Stay BM if you want there is nothing out there that says YOU MUST BE SV. or go MM its totally up to you...
However, SV is a very Gear/ Stat dependant build i really wouldn't advise going for this spec straight off. if anything stay away from it till you have some decent blue/ epic gear when you agi/sta/int will be high, crit will be high enough for procs to happening more often than not.

Talents
1. Put 3/3 Focused aim. Your hit will be way off the mark with Quest rewards and non heroic gear as hit menas nothing when lvling.
SO Hit is my main priority? you ask... Yes it is
here is a full comprehensive listing of HTt - http://thehunterssanctuary.blogspot.com/2009/02/number-crunching-hit-rating.html

To sumerise you are aiming for 264 hit (for non draenei) (8%) this will remove the need for 3/3 in Focused aim, to put these points elsewhere.

2. Take out those talents you no-longer need (Spirit Bond for example) Put you points in dmging abilities not small passive healing. Just remember in heroics a small heal from Sprirt bond wont matter if you are hit by a heroic mob/boss..

3 Get talents (no metter what the build) Carefull Aim, GFTT, Lethal Shots, Mortal Shots etc

Reputation
Get all the reputation faction tabards and wear one at all times when doing heroics. you can find where each tabard is from wowwiki or thotbot. These will increase your rep for which ever faction you are currently wearing.
Note: Do the daily NORMAL dungeon and Daily HEROIC Dungeon every day if you can. This will give you gold for enchants, gems etc and the normal gives you an added rep bonus for completion.

Find a Ferocity pet. http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/
you where probably lvling with a bear or gorilla (or atleast a tenacitcy pet or some desciption) this poor creature is now destined to stay in the stables for the rest of his/her life. its a shame, but its time is over. You are after dmg now not surviveability

If you are BM, I recommend the Devilsaur or Spirit Beast, cat, raptor in that order,
if you are SV or MM i recommend the Cat, raptor or something for fun if you aint min/maxing.
pre 3.1 here is an example of a ferocity build BM / other spec
http://thehunterssanctuary.blogspot.com/2009/03/pets.html
i have tweaked my own personal Ferocity build to take out Heart of the Phoenix and put in more reisitance. HoP was gettting me down bugging out too much so i put the talents elsewhere.

lvling you pet up!!!

Ppl hate lvling pets. even tho Blizz have made it that much easier bringing low lvl pets to a min of 5 lvls under your current char lvl.
1 rule works and its two fold for benefits GET INTO HEROICS.
Take your lvl 75 Devilsaur, cat, raptor, wasp, sporebat. whatever into heroics, the heroics you esp want gear from to start with. 5-6 heroics later your pet will be a 80 and you have rep from the faction you are after and a good chance of gear.

To sumerise here. Get a ferocity pet, give it a good build one like i have suggested above and get it into heroics and lvl 80 asap.

Stats
here is a list of prioriy of stats that you must work on first
1. HIT (ice walker on boots, hit enchants on everything you can, hit gems, hit gear trinkets etc
2. AGI/ AP depending on build AP for BM/ MM (AGI for SV) Balance these tho
Note: Youll prob note i have really no AP gems n my gear i prefer agi for crit as well as AP. but it is the concensus of opinion the AP scales better for pet. But it doesnt scale with BOK.
3. STA better for SV due to the talent Hunter vs The Wild
4. HASTE (dont bother with hasrte if you are BM) Haste is only essential for MM and SV
here is a comprehensive list of haste numbers
http://thehunterssanctuary.blogspot.com/2009/02/number-crunshing-haste-rating.html
5. INT you dont really need to worry about all good hunter gear will have INT on (please dont gem for it, its a waste of a good AGI gem slot) With points in Carefull aim with INT will get converted to AP.
5. Armour Pen dont look for this stat it comes on gear whether you want it or not. it comes by itself so dont look specfically for it.

so in summary HIT HIT HIT 3/3 in focused aim straight off get to gem enchants gear whatever it takes to get to 264 HIT then take points out of Focused AIm and then you are free take the points from Focused AIm to put elsewhere. From heroics and raids the more your gear has HIT on you are then free to socket AGI/ AP and move enchants to AGI / AP

Addons/ Macros
Learn and look at various hunter addons and macros ive listed a load on the site as well as a post on the addons i have found useful
Addons. http://thehunterssanctuary.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-addons.html
Macros http://thehunterssanctuary.blogspot.com/search/label/Macros

Last but not least
Get to know other hunters (perferably ones who know there stuff) you can search your servers best raiding guilds and try to get talking to hunters from them. Most will call you a noob and tell you where to go in no uncertain terms. Forget these selfish *&^($£%&U's try someone else or feel free to talk to me on Aerie Peak EU. There will always be someone like me on your server if you look hard enough., Ask around someone will know a hunter out there that knows their stuff and is willing to share the knowledge.
Visit hunter sites. BRK.net etc and the other sites that ive listed on the nav bar of this blog.
The wow hunter forum is a mine field!!. you can find some nuggets of good freindly info. However mostly youll find hunters whining about lack of dps, whining about hunters being broken etc. shrug all these off in the knowledge that a good hunter will always be top of dmg meters with equal gear. despite the whining about nerfs..
Tread carefully on the wow hunter forums and dont be suprised if the massive amount of trolls on there flame, jump on you for every little thing/ opinion.
Ignore em, they are usually kids who like to faceroll and do 5k dps. That time is over and they cant handle it..

Dont feel embarrased to ask. if you have a nooby question or want some advice ask here. Comments or emails, im happy to address any ideas, questions or otherwise.

Tier 8 Skins

Is it just me, or are Bizz a bit plate mad of late. Almost all the T8 skins look like plate even mage T8 does.
Don't get me wrong i love the look of T7 and this was my first time ive ever managed to get a full set of Tgear and its the only helm Ive ever had on 'show', but we are playing a RPG shouldn't our chars look and have gear that is in line with their class? I know blizz still make druid gear to look natural with leaves vines and globes and priests with wings or looking atleast holy and pious. But this is becoming rarer and rarer as the T gear comes out. Everything looks like plate, dark metal heavily on the 'skull on chest/ shoulders' motif. its just getting me down.

I rolled a hunter, how is a hunter supposed to hunt, track beasts, hide behind trees, blend with the forest (i know a romantic view of hunters) or whatever covered in big meaty plate looking kit. I can def say that this helm WONT be 'on show' its just plain fugly!!!
I prefer the black and green skins of the t8 tho i have only some idea of the colour relevance. 10 man being one colour, 25 another and pvp another tho, I'm not sure about the 4th colour or why hunters have 4 colours and rogues only 3. but nvm.

What are your thoughts, are they fugly or awesome or both?
I think they look awesome, but really don't look well... very huntery
And whats with the helm :(

female version above male version below
There is some consolation atleast we don't have a helm that's like the rogue T8. Good god what where Blizz thinking of. YUK!

Gorilladins Rule - Go Bubbles

On one of my recent posts i recommended Gorillas as the number 1 tanking pet. I was browsing wowinsider and found this.
Gorillas may not be the most pretty of pets but heck, if you still think Gorillas ain't the best tanks watch this.


OMG!! Ive done Sapphy 25 man this is amazing. I dont recommend you try this tho. This amazing hunter has stacked on sta just for doing this so he has reduced his dps significantly to aid in his pets uberness. But it goes to show the threat generation once given afew MD's and a head start, this pet is truely great. the wow forums has the full story
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=15659708438&postId=156095227261&sid=1#0

I wonder how bears will do once they get Swipe and Thunderstomp

Stop auto attack and lemmings

I received an email today from P.J O'Neil

Hi;

Very usefull info in your Blog- made me think you could help me with something that is driving me crazy:

Before the patch, I used a Macro to fire a hi-threat shot and then stop fireing to avoid breaking my own trap with auto-shot. Now, no matter how much I play with the syntax, I cannot stop shooting. /stopattack does not work, neither does /stopcasting.

Blizzard has sent their standard boilerplate "please disable addons" response to any question, so I am at a loss.

What am I doing wrong, what command will stop shooting.

Thanks for a great Blog.

Well thank you P.J its nice to see my blog is being appreciated.

In answer to your question:
I havent cc'd since Wrath came out as most mobs/ trash can be 'aoe'd' and while lvling with a bear or gorilla takes out most of the need for cc with their multi-mob threat abilities, i thought this might be something to look into, just for curiosity's sake.
As you say stopattack and stopcasting no longer work, so i tried another way so here is the macro you asked for. For a high threat shot i used Arcane Shot for an example but you can use any shot that doesnt put a dot on (Distracting Shot, Aimed Shot, Arcane Shot)

Just remember to hit the macro twice: once to shoot the 'threat' shot the second to stop your auto attack you can spammit if you are paranoid :D spam it all you like it will only fire again if the shot you use in the macro is off CD.

#showtooltip
/cast Arcane Shot
/cast attack

WHAT!! you say /cast attack stops me attacking???. yup it does. what you are doing is toggling auto attack off, which is automatically turned on when you right click the target or start firing. so this macro toggles it off after firing a shot.
Another way to do it if you aren't stuck for room is put your trap down, shoot the mob, then Disengage.
Disengage will take you out of combat leaping backwards this also means the mob has to run further to get to you so has to walk/ run over your trap.

Note: Disengage
Disengaging takes a certain awareness of your surroundings. Mobs behind you will obv be very interested in you, if you land in the middle/ next to em. Also Disengage will not work if you are on an incline looking down. Silly blizzard wont let us leap back and up and the same time :P
However if you are on an incline facing upwards and disengage, you will fly backwards way further that you anticipate. Which can cause extreme amusement, but may kill you as you splat when you hit the ground. eg standing at the top of stairs looking up you should fly back 20 yards or so. however you are more than likely to leap way back to the bottom of the stairs or off the edge.
Also disengage wont care if you are on a edge of a cliff. Disengage while standing at the edge of a cliff, edge of anything thats an extremely high drop, tops of castles/walls, anything you can fall off and die. Disengage wont stop at the edge. you ll fly off the edge like the lemming you are. weeeeeeee SPLAT!
Much to the amusement or chargin of your teammates :)

hope this macro and info helps you P.J and thank you again for reading my blog

New addons

Ive been browsing the net last few nights and came across a fewaddons id heard of before but never used.

Power Auras Classic.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info8579-PowerAurasClassic.html.

Id seen a relly good blog post with the addon parts 1&2 of BloodArrows Blog
part 1 - http://bloodarrowswowblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/bloodarrows-survival-hunter-interface.html
part 2 - http://bloodarrowswowblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/bloodarrows-survival-hunter-interface_07.html

amazing addon when configured.

if you have any issues with this addon give me a shout is taken me ages to get to the point where i understand it.

Note: Also on part 2 go into the comments. Bloodarrow has very kindly put his exported code strings into the comments. All you have to do is download the addon from wowinterface. type /powa, press import and copy and paste the string from the comments. I did and they are great and work fine.
But im BM, you say. Yup i am, but i've made power Auras for Quick shots, FI, Rapid Fire etc and when Duel Spec comes out ill be BM/SV

if you want the code strings for the ones i use put a comment on and i will
so far im using auras for:
Aspect of the Viper
Quick Shots
Ferocious Insp
Rapid Fire
and all of Bloodarrows (hunter's Mark and Serpent sting) with Exp and LnL for when i go SV.
A really good addon i would recommend to everyone.

MSBT MikScrollingBattleText
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5153-MikScrollingBattleText.html

amazing again saw this on Bloodarrows blog and tbh not alot was said about it so i went investigating and found for hunters this youtube vid that really helped my out on how to configure this addon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4r6LYYCwOc

for a small guide on how to configure this for your hunter watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFd4wYoZpSs

I had to watch this quite a few times before i understood everything and again if you want any help i will do my best, just post on the comments.
I have both addons running. OMG i love em. I wouldn't do with out them now.

I went into NAx 25 man last night for the last two bosses and i was top dmg on both fights. I dont put this down to just having the addons installed but the animations and sound triggers really made me more aware of when abilities where ready or out like Serpent Sting, my shot rotation became smoother and the AotV aura really made me aware of when viper was on. The addon Viper Notify is good but it doesnt show you Viper is on, only that when you reach the threshold of your mana pool (usually 92%), however, if you reach it and continue to have AtoV on it wont warn you again. The pulsing blue aura really makes you more aware of it.

2 really good addons to add to your arsenal tho both are very difficult to get to grips with to start with. Persevere with them and youll find them as effective as i have.

Ty Bloodarrow

Tenacity Tanking Build for BM hunter

While you lvl most hunters will be Beast Mastery as this give you the easiest way to lvl with your very own pet tank.
Above is what my Tank pet (bear) spec was at lvl 80. tho at 80 i got my Devilsaur.
Ive been thru the talents quite a few times and with this spec a lvl 80 hunter can easily solo the Dragonblight Group quests.
The defensive abilities this tree gives you majorly increases the survivability of you pet and the few points in spiked collar will give your pet that little extra bonus damage.

Dont flash right down to the end tier as soon as you can. Last Stand and Taunt are very nice but not that necessary. make sure you have Pet Barding and Blood of the Rhino and only then think of other talents.

Pet tanks.
there are two camps in this: Gorriladins and Bears. Either are considered the best tank pets. Most hunters will say either of these pets to go for when lvling.
Gorilla have the aoe Thunderstomp which is excellent for aoe lvling and major 360 degree threat and Bears have swipe, a 3 mobs dmg attack hitting the mobs in front of the pet.
I had a bear mainly because that's what i had in the stable at 70. But i will say this; only go for a gorilla if you feel you can gather alot of mobs, keep your pet alive and aoe the mobs down. If you feel 1 mob at a time is more your thing, less stress full and not so hard on your pets health either is fine.

Note: ive touched on this before but in 3.1 thunderstomp will be taken away from Gorillas as a family talent and will be replaced with Pummel. (Pummel the target, interrupting spellcasting and preventing any spell in that school from being cast for 4 sec. (20 Focus, 5 yd range, Instant, 10 sec cooldown)

Thunderstomp will become a Tenacity ability, available to all tenacity pets, bears inc. so Bears will have swipe 3 mob hit/dmg ability AND thunderstomp a 360 degree threat ability. Making bears awesome as tanks.

GO GO Bear tanks

On a very side note. Tried today 3 manning Attumen and those who went will be there every week. I went with a very good Paladin friend and my partners Shammy Alt to farm for Midnight, the horridly rare mount. We remain positive against insurmountable RNG drop rates. My Devilsaur tanked really well and tbh it was alot easier than we all expected, took about 20 mins tops. No mount unsurprisingly. Same time next week we try again.

Pets - Ferocity

I have been asked a few times about pet talents and what is the best spec for dps.
I was going to wait for 3.1 as some new pet talents appear but i thought i would post here as ive been asked quite alot now.

This is your typical dps build for non-51 BM hunters best for MM and SV huntersnote the 1 points in great sta is just to get down the rest of the tree altho you can go for Dash or Armour but ive found that little extra pet health is better

For BM 51 talent hunters with extra 4 points for pets i advise thisAs long as you have the last 3 tier points you can put the extra points anywhere. i prefer charge and great resistance. Charge for the extra 25% AP Bonus for stunning a target. Wont work on raid bosses but will on trash and great resistance for a little extra survivability.
ive been doing alot of wws reports with me and a sv hunter in IF of late and we noticed a few things between us.

1. never think what was on autocast still is and what you turned off autocast remains off. Before raids and instances. Spend 10 secs making sure growl, cower is off and that your focus dump (Bite/ Claw, Smack) and pet ability like cat: Rake is on. they turn off and on at will.

2. the talented abilities you have taken. i.e Rabid and Call of the Wild you can leave on auto cast, BUT, they wont always go off every time they are off CD. we tested this out a few time and its just plain better to turn them off auto cast and manually cast them with an all in one macro. Have them on your pet bar so you can see the CD timers as rabid is 30 sec CD and Call of the wild is 3 mins.
Macro is
/cast bestial wrath
/cast call of the wild
/cast rabid

for those SV and MM hunters just take out the first line.
For a BM hunter you pet bar should look like
all off auto cast.
For other SV and MM hunters you dont have Heart of the Phoenix so put cower here if you want so you can make sure its off Auto.

Lick you Wounds - you can leave on auto cast. its fine just make sure its on auto

Pets in general.
As MM and SV you may think your pet is secondary DPS to you and they are. However, if you dont spec Go For The Throat you pet is starved for Focus and will just sit there auto hitting waiting for focus regen. The SV hunter i tested with didnt spec GFTT and his pet couldnt do a damn thing.With 2/2 GFTT added a good 500 dps to him. with SV you could prob get away with 1/2 in GFTT as you will crit so often the 25 focus will be fine. But if you want to give your pet that much more go for 2/2 for 50 focus and BM always go for 2/2.
if you look at most bad dpsing sv hunters, 1 issue will always be no points in GFTT. i wont go into the others :)

Pet addons. Some nice addons help you regulate your Pet abilities.
Omni CC will give you CD timers on the icons to show you when the abilities for you and your pet are ready to use or getting ready to be. This will also make shot rotations smoother.

Kharthus's Hunter Timers will give you a real time countdown timer table on all your abilities and pet talents that are up
The above shows an example of what it looks like. this will also help you keep track of Serpent Sting, Hunter's Mark, Rapid Fire, traps and Pet Abilities (Rake, Monstrous Bite)

Macros

i thought i would post here the macros that im using at the moment and ones that can be used for various build/specs.

macros are very usefull, with the amount of shots a hunter has at their diposal, ive found that macros help me keep ontop of my rotations

there are 2 main macros i use here. for bm i use the pet one with BW, but BW can be taken out for MM and SV builds.
1. Pet ability macro
/cast bestial wrath
/cast call of the wild
/cast rabid
or if you have a pet specific ability you want to control off auto cast like /cast serenity dust for moths

2. main shot roation
#showtooltip
/console sound_enablesfx0
/castrandom kill shot, tranquilizing shot
/cast steady shot
/cast kill command
/console sound_enablesfx1

after long hours or target dummy shooting, arc shot in this macro did fire but not as effecient or as quickly as it could be so i took arc shot out and put tranq in for when this is needed you dont have to worry about finding it on your bar; in naxx for e.g the bone shields on the military ward or in os on the enraged fir eles.

This is an all purpose macro easily changed for sv. swap tranq for Explosive or for mm; Chimera.

The other macro i use is your other shots available to spec into. this can be changed towhatever shot you have available to your build.
3.
/cast sequence reset=6 Arcane shot, Aimed shot
if you dont have aimed shot

/cast sequence reset=6 Arcane shot, Multi-Shot

again very versatile if you want more control over your explosive shots than you have in the main macro and you dont have aimed you can change the macro to suit.

/cast sequence reset=6 Explosive Shot, Multi-Shot

and either leave in tranq shot in the main macro or use Aimed if you have it

#showtooltip
/console sound_enablesfx0
/castrandom kill shot, Aimed Shot
/cast steady shot
/cast kill command
/console sound_enablesfx1


ive messed around with these macro for a number of years, when you had to incorporate your attack speed into them. now we dont have that to worry about that, ive refitted the macros with kill shot as priority when i realised that i wasnt getting kill shots in before mob died. which i must admit isnt easy on trash. these macros eliminated my problem with kill shot and kill command.
I know button mashing sounds inane and some ppl hate the ideas of macros, but ive found them endlessly usefull in keeping control of pets and shots.

i hope these give you some ideas. feel free to use the macros posted and if you make any new ones that are better, please email me with them so i can try them out and i will post on here along with kudos.

As steady shot becomes less and less important, we may see a reduction in macros using it. we will have to see. Also with Black Arrow comming this could also be incorporated but with it being on the trap 30 sec CD im not sure how we can. we will have to wait and see and do extensive testing when and if this is all finalised for 3.1.