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.
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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.
Posts
Hiya Saphire,
ReplyDeleteWow, what a great posting. Kudo's to you for making the effort to help "young hunters" as I call them. And what an effort. Every new 80 should have access to a guide like this.
I have a habit of taking baby hunters under my wing, I seem to spend a lot of time helping them, boosting them for gear, respeccing them, and generally trying to ensure that the "huntard" population is made smaller day by day, if you know what I mean. It's really nice to see that there are people out there that make the same effort.
/salute and warmest regards,
Celtarion of Nagrand-EU
Just out of interest, what else do you play? I play a Draenei priestess as my main alt, along with various others such as a DK, lock and rogue. Although I utterly love my hunter, and will be a hunter forever, I must admit, healing is pure WIN!
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Celt
Hi Shane
ReplyDeleteTy for your comment. Its nice to se other hunters taking 'young hunnters' under their wings and helping be the full potential they can be.
in answer your question i have a 79 pally (curently retri) but i'm usually Holy, a 72 mage and a few others of little lvl.
Really useful... You said AP is for MM and BM, Agi is for surv. But i have one question for you: Is crit chance good for BM? I mean, i know crit is good for anything, but i thought it is especially good for BM cause of some talents like, GFTT, Cobra strikes... Practicaly, more crit gives u more mana and more dps on pet (pet makes u regen mana when crits) So, my question is: Is it worth to put crit gems and ench instead of AP?
ReplyDeleteNice work Saphirestar, seems like a very useful post for all new hunters. One thing I'd like to add though, Glyph of Mend Pet is still broken and will not work if you have points in Improved Mend Pet. That's why I chose to put the one extra point I had to Spirit Bond (after getting all the damage talents ofc).
ReplyDeletejagerns; (I hope you won't mind me answering this, Saphirestar)AP is considered better for BM hunters because pets scale with AP, Resistances, Armor and Stamina but not crit. Speaking from a raiding point of view as BM hunter you're more about reliable sustained dps than high burst damage (which is what crit and different procs provide). Of course you need a good balance between all stats, but as a general advice I'd say go for the AP gems.
@Jagers heya hun yes idd you are correct some crit chance is good. As i said in my post the concensus is AP is good for BM, but i have no AP gems prefering Agi over AP for this very reason. I woulndt however use crit only(smooth autummns glow) no for for striaght agi or AP as Adera says. I prefer the extra small bit of crit agi gives of straight AP. Ty Adrea for shedding more light on the subject.
ReplyDelete@ Adera i didnt relaise the glyph was broken having no issues with it myself. so yes the 1 point in SB is probably just a good a filler point to get down the BM tree as any other.Tho id have persoanlly gone for something else but its just to get down the tree. Lets hope they fixed the new glyph of Mend Pet for 3.1 then :)
ReplyDeletety both for your posts great to see is being appreciated. big hugs
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey Saphirestar I played a hunter in vanilla WoW and was very active raiding, I changed class tho at the beginning of TBC.
ReplyDeleteBut now I feel like returning as a hunter and I know a lot have changed, my question is, what would you advice to start out with when you hit lvl 80? MM or BM? Sorry if its already been said somewhere but reading all comments is not allways my strong side.
i would advice BM till you get gear with decent INT on if you want to go MM at some point as MM is very mana intensive so the more int from gear the better and HIT get gear with hit on and dont forget the Focused Aim talent. always sepc into that untill you get 264 hit (non draenei)
ReplyDeleteI must admit I never had a problem with the Glyph of Mend Pet myself, but it may have been broken by recent patching, as I have not been BM since The Great Nerf. God I miss my angry red kitty. Bring on Dual Spec so that I can get her back and play BM when soloing old world stuff.
ReplyDeleteamen to that shane.
ReplyDelete