Advertisement

Scattered Shots: The 2008 holiday gift guide for Hunters

All I want for Christmas... is you.


Welcome to Scattered Shots, the other WoW Insider Hunter column. This week, we break from the gear guides for a little bit of holiday spirit. And nothing says holiday spirit quite like presents. Or at least that's what I tell people if they don't appear to be planning to give me a present.

I'm not saying this week's column isn't for Hunters. That would be silly, what with this being a Hunter column and all. But this column goes out primarily to the Hunters' friends, guildmates, family members, spouses, significant others, and the like, who may be thinking, man, here it is, Christmas day, and I still don't have the proper gift. This column aims to help them find that gift. But hey, if you're a Hunter who wants to get something special for yourself too, you should still read on. You might just find an idea here.

Yeah, I suppose if you wanted to get your Christmas shopping done for your special Hunter EARLY, this guide is a little bit late. But hey, there's 12 days of Christmas, and where I come from, The first day is the 25th of December. Besides, this is a Holiday Guide, and the Holidays, all told, extend to at least mid-January, right? So yeah, we're totally good. Anyway, if you have a Hunter on your gift list this season, here's some in-game gift ideas from various professions, dungeon drops, and elsewhere that just might woo your special Hunter, or appease them until next year, or whatever it is you may need to do.

Swiftarrow Armor: If your special Hunter is getting up to the high 70s in level just about now, why not buy them a nice suit of armor to help them get over the top? Swiftarrow armor, made with Leatherworking, comes with Belt, Boots, Bracers, Gauntlets, Hauberk, Helm, Leggings, and Shoulderguards, and takes various amounts of Borean Leather and an Eternal Air each to craft. It has plenty of all the basic stats a growing Hunter needs, plus some extra resilience if your Hunter likes to PvP. Check your Hunter's Armory, check your bank account, and buy as many or as few of these pieces as you want. They're sure to be appreciated.

The Nesingwary 4000: If your Hunter is a gun lover, here's something that's sure to make their season bright. The Nesingwary 4000 is a crafted gun that takes a lot of expensive components to craft, including a Frozen Orb and 3 Sun Scopes. It's better than pretty much any other gun outside Heroic Naxxramas, though, augmenting high pure DPS with some nice attack power and critical strike rating. It also comes with a yellow gem slot, so if you're feeling really generous, you could even stick a Glinting or Rigid gem in there.

Loque'nahak:
This one is going to be a little more difficult to pull off. Your Hunter will need to be there and she'll need to have Beast Mastery, the 51 point talent in the tree of the same name. Also, he's the only tamable beast of his kind, he's incredibly rare, and you'll have to run yourself ragged all over Sholazar Basin to find him before someone else tames him or kills him for the Northern Exposure or Frostbitten achievements. But if Your Hunter was the type who camped Humar the Pridelord for hundreds of hours and currently laments the lack of rare and unique pets in WoW today, she'll want Loque'nahak. Just hope you're the only person who goes for this gift.

Arrows or Bullets: Until a new patch brings us new faction rewards or items, the best bullets and arrows in game for a Hunter right now are engineering crafted. That's certainly a pain for your Hunter is they're not an engineer, but it's the perfect opportunity for you to get your gift shopping done. Just buy a handful of Ultra-Safe Bullet Machines or Saronite Arrow Makers from your local engineer, and your Hunter will love you for it. And then go through horrible withdrawals when the ammo runs out in a few days, but hey, nothing's perfect.

A Non-Combat Pet: Does your Hunter have a favorite pet? Why not get them a non-combat companion that matches it in appearance or theme? If they use a Dire Raven, get them a Hawk Owl. If they use a Dragonhawk, get them a Dragonhawk Hatchling. If they use a Silithid, get them a Cockroach. If they use Bun'kar the mighty, get them a Snowshoe Hare. The list goes on and on.

Rusted-Linked Spiked Gauntlets
:
This is where things get really expensive. These drop off Gluth or Faerlina in 10-man Naxxramas, but they are bind on equip. They're really the perfect Hunter gloves, even adding a bit of hit rating on top of the other amazing stats. It'll even beat out their 10-man gauntlets, most likely. This, though, is definitely the equivalent of the $1,500 bottle of Cognac or the limited edition 24 karat gold and diamond encrusted Macbook.

The Mirror of Truth:
This one's also going to take some Hunter participation, but it's nice in that you can make it a long term promise: "Hey, I'll be your instance buddy until you have enough Emblems of Heroism to grab this." The mirror's a really awesome trinket that most Hunters are probably going to want to add to their arsenal sooner or later, so it's a safe bet they'll like the idea. Even more if you're a Healer or Tank so as to make it easier to find those other 3 group members.

Let Scattered Shots help fill your every Hunter need with columns on everything from handling Your Pet to setting traps to speccing your Hunter for WotLK and choosing which Wrath reputation to grind. Also, don't miss our Hunter Wrath information roundup or BRK'S Wrath pet videos!