Comments on: This Isn’t Totally Scientific, and So What

By: juzelle

juzelle — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:35:50 +0000

From an SV-turned-BM-hunter, if you were geared and gemmed for SV , with a much more efficient spec(shame shame mister kitty!), you’d probably have faired a little better dps output wise.

Excluding the upcoming changes, currently SV is the little sister of the 3 specs damage wise, we all know this. But in a regen spec, raid buffed I’ve pulled 2800-3300dps.

It’s a far cry from the 4800 I’ve seen from geared BM hunters, but it’s fairly respectable nonetheless. I went BM for Loque(best 51 point gimmick ability ever!), but I’d part ways with my leopard god pal to go back to SV in a heartbeat. here’s to hoping, right?

By: Dalaila

Dalaila — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:09:08 +0000

Deleting a level 80 toon = fail

By: Squishy

Squishy — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:43:21 +0000

Why don’t you use a private server or PTR when reaching some of these conclusions? It seems to me you could remove some of the variable in relation to gear with a private server.

By: Haarits

Haarits — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:57:39 +0000

Actually deleting a level 80 hunter because of panic that BM will suck after a patch that’s not even here yet = foolish. IF it turns out on live that BM is really suffering, you can bet the ACTUAL outcry will get more attention than the kneejerk “patch notes leaked oh noes!” panic-attack that’s been happening. BM wasn’t very good before, so I hear, and became one of the top-ranked PVE DPS specs by the end of BC. It could happen again, in a few months (if it really suffers as much as predicted at all), and then you’ll be without an 80 hunter because you deleted it instead of just playing some other class for awhile.

Spirit Beast’s exotic, so no SV Loqnloads.

On that subject (since I don’t switch out of BM spec often, so can’t comment much on all this), I finally saw Loque’s mate in ZD 2 nights ago en route to my first Heroic Gundrak run… and then last night I finally saw Loque himself for the first time.

Dead.

I mourned, then skinned the poor corpse… and got his pelt! “Of the Bandit”. Might get some nice cash on the AH for it; if not, it’ll wait for my feral druid or enhance shammy to level up.

By: Stupid Mage

Stupid Mage — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:38:20 +0000

It’s the raspberry latte things that are screwing him up.

By: Capn John

Capn John — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:33:44 +0000

Can an SV Hunter tame a Spirit Beast? Just wondering, because I’d get a kick out of seeing an SV Hunter with a Spirit Beast called Loqnload.

/groan

By: Merckx

Merckx — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:12:50 +0000

Anyone interested in more info on survival there is a great thread going on the hunter forums, it’s got builds, gear, glyphs shot rotations, ect. A great place to start.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=14132915697&sid=1

By: Corr

Corr — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:58:10 +0000

@ BRK: Many of the comments here are on target, many are not. I did not see you mention glyphs however! I am in pretty decent gear, but on live servers with a 6 minute test I did 2.6k dps as Survival. PTR I did 3.3k [they're talking about scaling back down ES though :'( ]

What is your haste as survival? Survival wants to meet the soft haste cap, or as close as you can get without gimping yourself, in order to bring steady back down to the 1.5s cast. This can be accomplished with imp aspect of the hawk.

How do you afford IatH without gimping your other trees? Simple [Glyph of Improved Aspect of the Hawk]. This gylph adds 6% haste to your proc, which is the equivalent of adding another 2 talent points. You want to decide the amount of points you use based upon your unbuffed haste.

My current spec is thus: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cbZzeVbMZe00i0cIhxuIh0t

Arguments and caveats about this build: I have 1/3 focused aim because I am currently below hitcap. I replaced my Sphere of Red Dragon’s Blood with a Darkmoon Card: Greatness and lost a decent amount. I have a accuracy enchant waiting my The Undeath Carrier for when drewd staffs become stat sticks.

People argue that you don’t need 5/5 Hunting Party, or 3/3 Expose, and it’s true. However, I hate relying on a % proc You may find yourself using a few talent points elsewhere.

Glyphs: Serpent Sting, Steady Shot, Improved Aspect of the Hawk

My Gear: http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Argent+Dawn&n=Corr

I do NOT like the Trap Dancing that some have put into practice, to me it’s not a hunter’s playstyle. However, there are many Naxx and 5 man bosses where trapping adds to proc L&L is completely viable. I even put a immolation trap infront of my tank before they pull patch (with Misdirect up, of course).

Good luck, BRK. Right now Survival lacks the dps of BM, but not by a huge margin. On the PTR with it’s current build, Survival tops all my tests.

By: Richard "Pocky" Kim

Richard "Pocky" Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:45:41 +0000

Edit: I meant “Multi-Shot works too”, not Arcane.

By: Richard "Pocky" Kim

Richard "Pocky" Kim — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:37:04 +0000

My hunter (leveling as Survival) general uses this rotation:

Serpent Sting -> Explosive Shot -> Aimed Shot (Arcane works too) -> Steady Shot -> Explosive Shot -> Whichever is available and makes the most sense

While mana consumption is definitely a concern, Serpent Sting definitely needs to be up at all times, both for Lock and Load and Noxious Stings; they both help the Survival build do more DPS.

While it’s currently doing a fair amount more DPS on the PTR, I’m guessing that at best, it will be equal to Beast Mastery, but will likely end up lower than it by a little by the time they are done.

(This is my current leveling build, if anyone is curious: 0/12/53)