wow-hunter
Latest
Scattered Shots: Hunter Q&A Part 1
Good day folks and welcome to Scattered Shots. The column that takes a good look at what it takes to be a Hunter in the World of Warcraft. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from the Hunting Lodge. This week we'll be reviewing the recently released Hunter Q&A. The Hunter Q&A was like the other Class Q&As, a mixed bag of frustration, tease, and interesting concepts. It shouldn't be a surprise that we didn't get the details we wanted. Nor should it be a complete shock to you that some Hunters would feel disconnected between what players want versus what the Developers are concentrating on. Given all that, I still felt that this Q&A was overall pretty decent. There is so much to review and discuss I've decided to break the Q&A out into 2 parts. Here's a quick highlight of the main things discussed in Part 1: Developers feel Survival Hunter spec is currently performing within normal operating parameters. Crowd Control still needs work. PvP has a big influence on PvE Class Balance Ammo remains a consumable because of technical difficulties. Ammo is a focus point on Hunter damage progression. Blizzard is hoping to cut the cost of Ammo to address the cost burden for Hunters. The Hunter "No Fire" zone will remain in effect. Development considers enhancing Hunter melee attacks. All that is just in Part 1! So let's see what Ghostcrawler had to say.
Scattered Shots: Cunning PvP Pets
Good day folks and welcome to Scattered Shots. The column that takes a good look at what it takes to be a Hunter in the World of Warcraft. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from the Hunting Lodge. This week we'll be discussing the best pets to use while playing solo. So grab your traps, check your ammo and let's go Hunting! This is our last installment in our series exploring the different pet families. In the first post we explored raiding with a Ferocity pet. We identified the current recommended raid pet for each raid build. The next post in the series discussed why Tenacity pets have become the pets of choice for while grinding and farming. This week I'm going to talk about Cunning pets. I like to think of them as the "Fun Pets." I think of Cunning pets as fun because of the different abilities they have. If you're lacking a particular ability or need an extra debuff, stun, even snare, the Cunning pets are there to help fill in the gaps. Because of this utility Cunning Pets have often found it difficult to secure a regular place in the PvE world of raids. However, some of the more popular ones are starting to see some success in PvP. So let's take a closer look at these unique pets.
Scattered Shots: Running solo with Tenacity
Good day folks and welcome to Scattered Shots. The column that take a good look at what it takes to be a Hunter in the World of Warcraft. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from the Hunting Lodge. This week we'll be discussing the best pets to use while playing solo. So grab your traps, check your ammo and let's go Hunting! For the last couple of weeks I have been going over raiding specs. First, we reviewed the suggested specs for each all the Hunter talent trees. And last week we discussed how to spec Ferocity pets to partner with you as you raid and down bosses.But we all know that there is much more to World of Warcraft than just running round min/maxing your character with best in slot items and downing bosses. For example, what do you do when you are out there leveling content? How about some way to take on multiple mobs at a time as you grind through for those twelve dozen Murloc eyes or maybe you are farming Arctic Fur for that Death-warmed Belt. So I thought this week it might be a good idea to look at our options, and pick out some pets that would make really great companions when out farming and playing solo. Let's get started by taking a look at what are Tenacity Pets and how we can use them.
Hunter DPS analyzer now online
A few weeks ago over on Scattered Shots I reviewed many of the different tools available for Hunters to improve their game. In that post I highlighted two of the most popular tools, The Hunter DPS Spreadsheet by Wertez over at my site The Hunting Lodge and the WOTLK Spreadsheet by Shandara on Elitist Jerks. Knowing that both spreadsheets are good at what they do, there is one fundamental issue, both require you to have Microsoft Excel running on Windows or some selected Mac systems. Using this as a good excuse to become more familiar with JavaScript and Ajax, Zeherah took the challenge and created Zeherah's Hunter DPS Analyzer. When I asked why she decided to pick up such a daunting task, Zeherah responded, "I was particularly interested because as a Mac user my ability to make use of the spreadsheet has always been limited, I don't have a Windows Excel and many features like the stat values and armory import don't work in the Mac version. This kept me motivated, but it also makes parts of this project extra challenging since I've had to try to figure out how parts of the code in the spreadsheet worked without actually being able to use or test them myself." As with all any DPS modeling tool, this won't give exact DPS numbers. But being based on Shandara's DPS Spreadsheet, and using the bulk of the formulas and logic found in it, you will get a pretty good idea of how making changes to your gear, talents and glyphs, buffs and debuffs, as well as your pet will impact your DPS. Taking the cue from Shandara, Zeherah has also enabled a PTR option on her site. So whether you're on the PTR or if our just wanting to see what might be in store for you in Patch 3.2, I highly recommend heading over to Femaledwarf.com and giving it a try. (Update: To make sure your bugs are addressed you can either fill out the comment box on the site or visit the Online Hunter DPS Analyzer Development Discusson at The Hunting Lodge forums.)
Scattered Shots: Raiding spec for Hunter pets
Welcome to Scattered Shots. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and you're not. Today we are reviewing what pets you should consider for raiding and how to spec out your pet for the best possible DPS. So join me will you? As we explore what it takes to make a raiding pet.This past week has been an interesting one for Hunters and their pets. If you were like me, finding out that Hunters could tame Garwal's Worgen form, reminded you of why being a Hunter is truly awesome. Of course it would last and Zyrhym showed up and had to burst our bubble by delivering the bad news that Blizzard was removing them from the game. Well, it was fun while it lasted.What was nice about this glitch was the passionate responses seen on the Official Forums and Hunter community at large. It really highlighted how much we Hunters love our pets. Many of us see them more as companions than just some other weapon in our Hunter bag of tricks.One way Blizzard has helped foster this idea is by letting us have three different categories (Ferocity, Tenacity, and Cunning) and literally hundreds of different pets to go out and tame. But to me the best part is being able to not only tame my pet of choice, but having the ability to train him. Doing this makes Hunters and their pets a combination as epic as Nutella and Pancakes.When you set out to tame your pet, make sure and match your need with the correct category. For pure DPS you have Ferocity. Need a tanking or good solo pet? Get a Tenacity one. And if you are in a PvP situation and want to make sure someone has your back no matter what? You could try a Cunning pet. With dual specs and Call Stabled Pet you can now match up your spec with the right pet and further enhance your status as the Supreme Hunter! Let's take a moment and talk about Ferocity Pets and raiding specs, alright?
Hunter gear for the level 80 beginning raider
Have you just reached level 80?Hoping to see endgame before Patch 3.2?Are you wanting to raid, but not sure what gear to get?Well then, this guide is for you!It might be true that you can go straight from questing and leveling straight into raiding Naxxramas. Maybe even get carried on a few 10man Ulduar Normal mode runs (if this happens I'm sure you will probably be a part of the next Guildwatch post.) When you make the transition into endgame you really can't expect to crush the damage meters. Don't feel all insulted and indignant, it really isn't your fault. When your questing and leveling you don't really focus on gear much. Not to mention making sure you have the correct pet or spec to achieve the numbers published on Elitist Jerks or some of those other Hunter sites.Another drawback of making the mad dash to end game could meant that you might have passed up on some great items to get your endgame raiding started on the right foot. Worse yet, you might have vendored or disenchanted some of those quest and reputation rewards for easy gold. Nothing can make you feel lower than a Gnome Warlock than showing up in quest greens and blues, doing less dps than the Tank all because you didn't think ahead and get a good starting raid set.
Scattered Shots: Climbing Hunter talent trees
Welcome to Scattered Shots. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and I'll be your tour guide each Thursday as we explore what makes our Hunters tick and how we can make them better.I've read comments here, over on the Official Forums, and other Hunter blogs and forums saying how Blizzard is forcing Hunters to spec either as Survival or Marksmanship. I always find this a hard argument to support, especially since it is Blizzard that has continued to give us three different talent trees that we can spec into. But as always, there seems to be a preferred talent spec. To me the blame isn't Blizzard but us Hunters always looking to squeeze out every ounce of DPS out of our class and remain on top of the damage meters. (Go ahead let the flames begin, but hopefully you'll give me a chance here.) We go out of our way looking, experimenting, and testing different build combinations to find the one magic build that gives us top DPS. Once we have found that, we tend to forget that we really can play all three builds. No, they all won't perform the same. And if you are in a progressive, hardcore, min/max raiding guild, well then stick with the spec-du-jour. But if you are like the majority of the players out there, you probably want to play something that better fits your play style. Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears, it has to fit just right.So let's look at the different Talent Trees, discuss a bit about what makes each one tick. Then look at the currently recommended builds and shot rotations for each spec.
Scattered Shots: A deeper look into the Patch 3.2 Hunter changes
Welcome to Scattered Shots. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and I'll be your tour guide each Thursday as we explore what makes our Hunters tick and how we can make them better. Man, this has been a busy week for us Hunters or what? With each passing day it is becoming more and more evident that Patch 3.2 is on its way. Of course we have to remember that "on its way" to Blizzard could mean anything tomorrow to a few months. With that in mind, it is probably a good idea to take another deeper look at the proposed Patch 3.2 Hunter changes and see how they might impact both the PvE and PvP game.
Scattered Shots: Hunter macros even your mother could love
Welcome to Scattered Shots. I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and I'll be your tour guide each Thursday as we explore what makes our Hunters tick and how we can make them better. Well, maybe not your mother. But you know us Hunters, we really love our macros. Unlike some other games out there, World of Warcraft gives players a pretty simple method to help customize their playing environment. We all know about the cool add-ons like Recount and RatingBuster. Now add to that the ability to arrange the look and feel of our User Interface and Blizzard really has done something special. Instead of trying to tackle those, I thought we could talk about the one that gives many of us players some difficulty: macros. And you know what? They really don't have to be that complicated. Before we get started, I would be remiss if I didn't at least explain little bit about macros. At least I need to define what macros are what they are not. Macros are a way to combine several commands (attacks, emotes, or other actions) and combine them into a single button press or click.
Patch 3.2 brings some Hunter love
I discussed last week about how Hunter trapping and crowd control had gone the way of the dodo. And now as reported earlier today, we have much to celebrate with the release of the official Patch 3.2 PTR Notes. Ghostcrawler and the development team are really showing us Hunters some much needed luvin. Aspect of the Cheetah: Can now be learned at level 16. I was really wondering what we were going to do now that mounts were available at 20. It seems we are in good hands. We only have 16 painful levels of slow run until we can get Aspect of the Cheetah and start zipping around. Deterrence now has a new visual spell effect. New graphics are always cool.
Ghostcrawler talks about 3.2 Hunter changes
I don't know about you, but with all these announcements about the 3.2 Patch being released. I have been sitting idly by gnawing at the bit and tempted to shout out, "Ghostcrawler! What are you going to do about us Hunters! Show us some love already!"Well it seems that our favorite Lead Systems Designer must have had the same thought as he posted up some insights over on the Official Forums in the Hunter's Questions and Commentary thread. In typical Ghostcrawler style we get no promises (I guess that pony is still not happening. Sorry Eliah.). But we do get some pretty interesting insights on what the Blizzard development team is considering to do to fix some very common complaints. Ammo costs Pet scaling Crowd control and trapping Read on for more details.
Solo Hunters can also get phat lootz
I have to confess something. I'm a sucker for hearing stories about someone playing their Hunter in offbeat ways. What do I mean? Well, take for example that fabled Hunter Tank Gweryc. Last week I got a great tip from Darth Solo over at WoW Alone about another offbeat Hunter idea. Seems Darth is a fan of solo play. At first I thought as you that this probably isn't completely original. We Hunters tend to just run with our pets anyways. But something kept nagging me to go check out WoW Alone and see just what Darth was doing. Turns out he's put a lot of thought into how to get the most out of your World of Warcraft experience without having to worry about the drama associated with PUGs or even some guilds. Of course I would be the first to admit that this kind of play style isn't for me. But if you want to find ways of enjoying your Hunter, getting loot all the while avoiding the drama associated with PUGs. Go check out his Hunter Solo Guides for gear, glyphs, and suggested specs for the Solo Hunter.
Scattered Shots: What you see is not always what you get
I can't believe it either, WoW.com actually decided to bring me back for another week! I am Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington from The Hunting Lodge and I'll be your tour guide each Thursday as we explore what makes our Hunters tick and how we can make them better. Last week we talked about the many different resources are available for Hunters. This week I thought to build on that and talk about item level (iLevel) and what makes a good upgrade. Yes, I'm sure you are already thinking, "Boring! How difficult can that be?" Maybe for some that would be true. But the changes that happened with Wrath of the Lich King have forced us to rethink some of the old standards. For example, Agility isn't always the king stat like it was in the past. Sometimes you might need to decide between adding Critical Strike Rating, Armor Penetration, or Attack Power all the while considering how much Hit you might be losing. I do agree that determining your next piece of gear should be relatively simple process. And for the most part, it is. But as with everything, there seem to be exceptions to the rule. Sometimes choosing between two items on the fly or in the heat of the moment just isn't that simple.
The great hunter nerf of 2008
I quote Ghostcrawler: "Hunters of all specs, and particularly Beastmaster, are doing too much damage in PvE."At this point you can stop reading if you're a Hunter and just assume the worst. But if you want to see how you're getting nerfed to the ground, read on.The rationale behind the changes is that Blizzard has been doing a lot of internal testing, along with the beta of WotLK, and has determined the other classes have not been able to keep up with the Hunter DPS output.The list of nerfs is wide ranging. Volley nerfed by 30%. Steady Shot now gains 10% of Attack Power instead of 20%. Kindred Spirits has been nerfed by 25%. Readiness no longer affects the cooldown of Bestial Wrath.The list of changes is not exhaustive. Ghostcrawler makes a point to say that these are just the ones they feel are ready for testing. He hopes to see them up on the PTR before they go live.The full 14 point list of changes after the break.
You could get snaked
Despite weeks of reports and player testing of the latest patch, when 2.3 hit, there were many unforeseen changes. For hunters in particular, the post-patch experience has been one of surprise and adjustment. Even aside from the undocumented changes such as the loss of feign death removing the hunter from combat, or our traps being restricted to one target, there have been many bugs that have left the hunter community scratching their heads. Of course, hunters were not dealt a losing hand. In fact, many of the changes have significantly improved the hunter's viability in the arena, and just in time for season three. Unfortunately, the fact that hunter pets are wiping Kara raids left and right seems to be what's fresh in everyone's minds. Yet, in this time of frustration and uncertainty, we can take solace in a quirky little bug that may actually provide more amusement than ghost runs. Snake trap has reportedly been sending snakes after members of the opposing faction, whether flagged or not. Because you cannot set the trap off yourself, and because an unflagged player won't be tripping it either, if you're going to pull this prank, you're going to need some help. Not that I endorse pranks, you know.First, choose a target that you won't be kicking while down, and make sure that your snakes aren't strong enough to actually kill the player (unless you're just mean like that I guess). Then challenge your friend to a duel. All you need to do is lay your trap near the character, and have your friend set it off. The unsuspecting player will be awfully confused when he or she gets bit in the shin.The downside to this bug is the fact that, should you find yourself surrounded by snakes, and you actually hit one, you will become flagged. In this way, this bug is a temporary means to lure a player into combat. What do you think about this bug; is it fun, or is it annoying?
