Locked and Loaded
“It’s Naxx-time, BRK.”
“Yes it is, Brain.”
“You ready?”
“We’re ready.”
“You’re Survivalist-spec, remember?”
“We remember.”
“Are you going to keep using “we” even though your pet is a sad, pathetic thing compared to Beastmastery-spec?”
“We are. For in our heart, we remain BM.”
“In your heart you’re BM, but in Naxx you’re SV.”
“Foshizz… yeah.”
“That’s not very enthusiastic.”
“If there were equality between BM and SV, we’d raid as BM. If the difference between the two was only 10%, we’d raid as BM. Played properly, our SV-spec is 20% higher DPS than our BM-spec. There is no way we can justify not raiding as SV.”
“You’ve got your addons straightened out?”
“Yes. Our range-finder and Serpent Sting timer are ready, we’ve moved our MikScrollingBattleText areas around, and we’re keeping that big, honkin’ action bar as it really works nicely.”
“Spider Wing?”
“Spider Wing.”
“Get ‘em, BRK!”
/charge… /sniff
“Some enthusiasm, please.”
/CHARGE!
“Better.”
/sniff
“Man up, you big baby!”
/trash cleared, first boss fight starts
/cast Arcane Shot
“NO ARCANE SHOT, DUMMY!”
“Whoops.”
/closes to boss
“GET TO RANGE, DUMMY!”
“Whoops.”
“THAT’S A LOCK N LOAD PROC! USE AIMED SHOT, NOT ANOTHER EXPLOSIVE SHOT!”
“Whoops.”
“As long as you’re that close, drop a trap.”
/cast Freezing Trap
“NO! IMMOLATION TRAP, DUMMY!”
“Whoops.”
…Low pet-health warning…
“No problem; Improved Mend Pet will keep Hobbes up.”
“YOU DON’T HAVE IMPROVED MEND PET, DUMMY!”
“Whoops.”
“Serpent Sting is running out, reapply it.”
/cast Explosive Shot
“Serpent Sting is running out, reapply it.”
/cast Steady Shot
“HEY DUMMY! SERPENT STING! SEE THAT TIMER BAR YOU JUST INSTALLED!”
“Oh yeah.”
/cast Serpent Sting
“Kill that boss, BRK! Go SV go!”
/dead boss
“Hooray!”
“Hooray! We topped the meters, excellent. Next boss is..”
…REAL LIFE EMERGENCY!! BRK TO THE LAUNDRY ROOM!!…
“Fellas, gotta take 5 minutes, be right back.”
/scoots to laundry room to find Mrs BRK standing in the middle of 96oz of liquid Tide on the floor, the walls, the doors, the washer and dryer, and everything.
/scoots back to Vent
“Fellas, this is going to take longer than 5 minutes. Replace me; I’ll be back later.”
/drops raid, spends next fifteen minutes de-soaping the laundry room.
/returns to Vent
“Yay! Back!”
“We’ve replaced you; we weren’t sure you were returning.”
/boggle
/log off
“It was probably just a misunderstanding, BRK…”
“Shut up Brain; don’t ruin our foul mood.”
/stomp around the house, two weeks of SV training and prep-work seemingly wasted stoking the fires of ire
/eat blueberry yogurt (the good stuff with the chunks of fruit on the bottom, not that smoothie-crap)
/login
/fly around aimlessly
/incoming whisper from friend in another guild
“Hey BRK, are you locked to a 25-man naxx?”
“Nope.”
/receive invite to 25-man naxx
/accept invitation
/run to Thaddius
/inspect the other hunters, and find one is a MM geared out the wazzoo, the other is BM, similarly geared wazzoo-style
/gulp
“OK BRK, Thaddius is a brutal fight for SV. We’re not going to be able to stay at range, we’re going to be constantly moving, and your pet is gonna stink. Stay alive, that’s what you need to do.”
“Stay alive, gotcha, Brain.”
/adds down, jump the ledge, engage Thaddius, stay alive
“Stick n move! Stick n move! Explosive Shot, Aimed! Explosive again! Stick n move! Serpent! Steady Steady Steady Explosive! Yes!”
“We’re doing it, Brain!”
“Stay alive, move with the charges!”
“We’ve been doing this for hours now; what’s the boss’s health?”
“97% percent.”
“Ninety-seven!”
“It only feels like hours, BRK.”
“How’s Hobbes doing?”
“You have a pet?”
“YES WE HAVE A PET! WE MAY NOT BE BM BUT WE STILL HAVE A PET, BRAIN!”
“Is it a Sporebat?”
“IT’S A CAT, YOU B@STARD! DON’T TRY TO BE FUNNY NOW!”
“A Bunneh perhaps?”
“YOU’RE. SO. FIRED!”
/Thaddius down
/pant
“Good job; you stayed alive.”
“Don’t think we’re going to forgive you anytime soon, Brain. Hobbes would like a word with you after the raid.”
/raid moves to Instructor Raveneous.
/priest Mind Control-tanks the boss, right at the bottom of the ramp
“NOT THERE, DEAR ELUNE NOT THERE!”
“Why not, Brain?”
“We can’t get to 30 yards range! The ramp makes us go out-of-sight of the boss and we can’t fire!”
“Well… how about we run down the ramp to the other side of the circle and fire from there?”
“Genius! Move it!”
/boogies to other side of the circle, gets to 30 yards range, lets loose with SV-DPS.”
“Much better! Yeeha!”
/Heroism cast
“HEY! Brain, we didn’t get Heroism!”
“Um… we’re out of range of the rest of the raid.”
“You think… you think maybe we should move back to the raid?”
“No. The only thing that can stop us now is that knife-throw attack the boss does on random people.”
/Boss targets BRK, does knife-throw attack
“Uh oh.”
/dead BRK
“Out of range of Heroism…”
“Probably means we’re out of range for heals, too, yeah.”
/expletive deleted
/rez BRK
/crush the Harvester, hardly worth mentioning
/crush the Four Horsemen, see previous post for BRK-epeen pics
“We did it, Brain!”
“We did. We successfully raiding 25-man Naxx with our SV-spec.”
“And looked good doing it!”
“And looked good doing it.”
“There’s just one last thing.”
“Yes? What’s that?”
“Hobbes demands justice.”
“For the Sporebat joke?”
“He’s blaming you for his current whimpy-DPS, ‘cause your ‘raiding ethics’ insist we go as SV now.”
“BRK? Don’t tell him we’re planning on leveling our Raptor…”
“That’s a You-problem, Brain. All You.”
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Hehe.
And a Raptor, really?
Soooo funny!
Don’t bother with the raptor. The only reason people think it’s a better pet is because the damage model being used in the DPS spreadsheet on EJ is incorrect. Cat > raptor, all the time, no exceptions.
BM for life! I’ll never change!
I’m not a Hunter. I don’t even play one on TV.
But the /sniff moments makes me sad. Not being able to play the game with the spec you choose is very fun. Having played a Demonology Warlock since the days of the 30 second Soul Link, I know ALL about that.
Especially considering the current state of Warlocks in WoW.
I am going to be instancing and, if I can work up to it, raiding as BM, If only to rub my Guild Leader’s face in the fact that I actually GOT the Spirit Beast. He did not, and now plays survival, and says he is not going anywhere near Sholazar, because he is bound to see the Beast immediately.
Anyhoo, Please keep doing what you do, for BM also, so that I can do the best I can, at what is currently the wrong raiding spec. It is wonderful to be in a guild that is a mostly family-and-friend guild, and will let you run with a subpar spec! (I have a very nerdy family).
Lol, it’s nice to see you miss your BM ways.
I guess it’s hard to break a habit
@Dorgol- the state of locks is awesome. Guess what class the best DPSer in my guild is (after you factor in gear)? Demonology/destro lock. Constantly top 3 in 25 man content, and still wears some blues. He beats the everloving spit out of our best geared SV hunter.
agani BRK, please remmber to link your addons. I’ve seen your links in your sidepanel, but still would like you to name them. I.e. whats that button addon you are using for the nice 4 buttons in your jump-video ?
Cheers
I so fell you on this!
OMG.
It was like reading a script of my raid last night!
The guilt is killing me. My pets hate me. All for the good of The Raid.
So this is what it feels like to sell your soul.
I hope Brain realizes that he still needs Hobbes. As we all know, ever little bit of DPS helps. (GEEZ!! Brain… what were you off remembering some romance novel??)
Anyways.. I think it’s great your going out there as the SV spec. It’s true if the difference was “minimal” (as GC puts it.) then it probably wouldn’t matter.
But don’t give up hope.. I hear that change may be a coming (Patch 3.1).
Also, I hear that there are mythical BM hunters still able to top meters and do impressive raid DPS.
What rangefinder addon are you using?
Woot, I love these posts.
Is it worth considering switching to SV for leveling, too?
Id still say BM ftw for lvling, I could solo 3 man quests, not sure if the Surv pet could take such a beating.
When I told my guildies that you OF ALL PEOPLE were going SV , they tried to
console me. It did not work. I started playing my BeLf pally over this.
BRK, you know that on Razuvious, the knife throw he casts has a minimum range. If you were inside the minimum range, trap-dancing instead of going for 30+, you wouldn’t get hit by it
And you’d get your Heroism! 
I went with Entrapment and Trap Mastery rather than Hawk Eye and Sniper Training, it gives me less to worry about. I definitely recommend it for the Gluth fight.
If there are mythical BM hunters still topping the charts, I want to know how. I switched to Survival and immediately went up 800dps across two halves of a Naxx 25 run.
This really is a sad, sad day.
Although, all those survival hunters can now finally have their time in the sun!
Which is good. It is… I mean, really… it is….
/sniff
“How’s Hobbes doing?”
“You have a pet?”
“YES WE HAVE A PET! WE MAY NOT BE BM BUT WE STILL HAVE A PET, BRAIN!”
“Is it a Sporebat?”
“IT’S A CAT, YOU B@STARD! DON’T TRY TO BE FUNNY NOW!”
“A Bunneh perhaps?”
“YOU’RE. SO. FIRED!”
BEST.
SEQUENCE.
EVER.
As a BM, I was 4th in gear rating (according to Warcrafter) and pulled the #4 spot in overall boss DPS through a Nax run….but I must say, the attention it required was causing me to sweat…Multi CD, Arcane CD, BW/Rapid Fire CD, did those damn Replenishment classes die forcing me to go into Viper, is my pet about to die….it was really more taxing then I was used to. I’ve since adjusted my UI and gotten a few more mods that make it a little more friendly, but not as much as it was pre-patch.
Then again, I was 4th in gear…2nd and 3rd were a tank and healer….so I’d say BM needs a slight buff. Our SV is top-geared that run, and beat out everyone by a good margin, while as a BM I was even with everyone in overall boss damage. I’m planning on specing SV next week just to see the comparison…and I expect to trump the rest of the raid by a large margin.
Love this post.
“Misery loves company” may be putting it too harshly, but at least there is a small amount of comfort in seeing that I’m not alone splashing and flailing around in this big, unfamiliar SV sea.
Well as much of an inspiration and help BRK has been, this was like a kick in the groin. I may be 3rd or 4th on the damage meter, but I’m still playing the way I like to play, BM. Mathematically, I may not be able to keep up with other builds or classes but its my dime and I’ll play my toon to the best of my ability.
In an odd sense, I feel a little betrayed by BRK, a little cheated. Seems like I remember hearing more than once the message that don’t necessarily do what I do, do what suits your play style and be the best at that. Well this seem more like a move to ensure that you remain at the top of the damage meter rather than maximizing what you love the most. Not the message I have heard here for over a year. /knifeinback (please remove)
But…but… I want to keep my giant red kitty! I want the Spirit Beast! I’m just now figuring out how to get all my shots right in BM!
I don’t wanna switch!
/slap Blizz
Hilarious BRK. I hope you don’t mind but I’ve borrowed the conversation idea for my own blog.
You Betray you BM calling ……SHAME ON YOU BRK !!!!!
just for a little more dps , you changed spec for that and not completely understanding SV , Ended the spec you had the most fun with , YOu have let down your Beastmastery Nation , you are no longer a Bigredkitty , how do you justify this
I will never change BM , it is in My Blood , while you are there with your fear or CC on you , Im still hitting the boss/mobs with my Big red Kitty Geki
I would so be disappointed in BRK if the DPS were not such a big part of what he talks about. I too have fallen into the DPS trap though since I know it’s the big reason I get invites. If my damage drops to marginal, I will no longer be so desired to group. I may be a nice guy in the groups, but a nice guy doesn’t mean you’ll be able to take down a boss necessarily.
I already miss going big and red, but I can’t say that SV is unenjoyable. If you have not tried it, give it a shot. You may just find that the play style is just as much fun.
i have a Survival Hunter Alt ,
I am still BM , and those a$$hats that dont invite you to a raid cause you are a BM …well they can stick it
i have a great Raiding Guild , and i still top the other Hunters in the raid , i may be behide a Mage , Fury Warrior , or maybe even a Shamie , but i am still top 5 or better
THE NERF BAT WILL COME TO SURVIVAL , or BM will be boosted up again ……and you spec change will be for nothing
Blizzard sees all the posts on the forums , and they will do something good to us in due time
From your Lord and Master
Zalenna
Aww so sad to see you miss BM.
I’m not changing from BM spec. I’ve been BM since the old vanilla WoW days. “Dismiss Pets!” raid calls anyone? Bm was horrible back then. If you could love BM then, then this nerf is nothing.
And certainly after 5 and a half weeks camping the Spirit Beast, my Guild leader didn’t bother even trying to tell me to change specs. >=)
Eventually, everything will get scaled back to decency again, and all the specs will be competitive. Just takes time.
/pats BRK
I tried Survival on Saturday, and while I was definitely pushing out more DPS in the heroics I ran, I ended up miserable and pissy and when anyone suggested inviting a shadow priest or ret pally I became more so. I hated it.
Specced back to BM and ran part of Naxx 25 with the guild. Number 17 on DPS. I’m going to blame most of that on the fact that I was wearing crap for gear, and everyone else had been raiding for weeks. Three pairs of the hunter pants dropped but all were already reserved. Which was kind of a kick in the gut since I am still wearing my level 70 badge pants, but maybe next week…after all, I’ve barely gotten back into the game after two months of 10 minutes every couple days. They don’t really owe me anything.
Ran a couple heroics with the raid leader later, though, and he was nice enough to say something like, “You know what’s badass about you, Izsera? You’re wearing mostly low-level gear, and you’re still putting out pretty solid DPS. That’s awesome.” So someone noticed I was trying.
Survival is undeniably “better”. There’s something about BM I really love, though, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. For me, playing a hunter is all about working with the pets, managing them to the point where hunter and pet move and attack as one. It’s what I’m best at, and what I enjoy. Fights that require a lot of movement for the melee and ranged are where I have the most fun (Thaddius was a blast!), and I’m always aware of where my pet is and what he’s doing and where he needs to go next, even if he needs to attack a different target than I do (though I admit I haven’t run into that in WotLK yet).
More than anything else, though, running as SV makes me feel like only half a hunter. I suppose I could get used to it–but I’m not going to, even if the guild flat out tells me to change spec or I can’t raid. Bolt and I can switch to tearing up old dungeons and hunting down rare beasties and grinding rep and doing everything else I haven’t had much time for instead, maybe even go for the Loremaster achievement. I’ll be happy just to have to have my daily does of RAWR.
A little hint for the warlocks here, go do your Doomguard quest line. A 15 minute Doomguard can add significantly to your dps every hour and don’t forget you can use your Inferno too, might as well. There is a whole new twist in the demon of choice now aday for us.
@Zalenna – it’s not just a “little” dps. That’s the problem. It’s 20% or more. People are reporting differences of 1000dps (from 3000dps as BM to 4000dps as SV, as an example), and that’s too much to not be noticed as a pure dps class.
As BRK said, if it was 10% (or less) most of us would not be switching…
@Izsera – I understand that feeling. For me, I’m well-geared, but my guild knows me for doing best with gear and spec since I’m not the best at reacting in the game. So going SV was something that I at least need to try, even though Loq’ is gonna stay in the stable for a log time…
Hopefully, GC will make some changes, and bring BM back within spitting distance of SV. Then I’ll go back, but for now, it’s SV for the benefit of the raid.
“There is no way we can justify not raiding as SV.”
“For in our heart, we remain BM.”
This is the part that breaks my heart for those so passionate about their class spec. Frankly, I find it surprising that BRK, one so enamored with the Beast Master spec, would succumb to the need to be “top of the charts.” This is one of the main reasons I DESPISE damage meters. People start changing to the “best” spec even at the cost of ones they know they could play better and honestly have more fun with.
I can understand playing around with a spec, especially since you had two great guests on the podcasts outlining some interesting alternatives to BM. But sticking with it despite your pining for what you truly love is saddening.
Those that would have you run with them (pure PUGs aside) should know what you are capable of and know what you bring. Top of the charts means nothing in my book. Dead boss = win. Everything else is just gravy … gravy that gets too frequently abused in my opinion.
If you prefer Beasty, go Beasty. Play for fun and the rest be damned. Fun > all. Stand your ground Beast Masters, and may that ground always be beside a big-ass red pet.
I maintained BM in 10 man Naxx and rocked the charts. My pet averaged about 900dps and altogether we were about 2500-3000 dps depending on buffs cause our group makeup changed a few times when people had to leave.
BM is still solid dps BRK. It may not be the highest hunter dps spec but it is competitive.
Is it so wrong to want to do the most dps for your raid? The Hunter is a pure dps class, dps is what we do. We don’t get invited because we have Frost trap lol. BRK loves the Hunter class as a whole, as do we all, and he’s addicted to DAMAGE!! as am I, I tried nerfed BM in naxx and was still doing ok on some fights, but OK is not good enough, those 1% wipes could have been avoided. BRK saw what the new SV spec can do, and so did alot of us, if you are happy to stay as BM, then great, but lol, don’t have a go at him because he changed to a better dps spec, you don’t pay his $15 after all.
:*( i cried when i had to put loq in the stable but then i was practically dancing after seeing my damage on a target dummy! *sniff sniff* go survival! …i think?
Can I live in your head? It seems fun in there.
TonyBone has it right !!!!
Damage meters are the devil , you should just let one person , like a healer carry that burden and report and meter at the end of the raid ,
Plus you have to factor in boss mechanics Like Gluth , Heigan ( pet dies alot if you dont have Improve Mend Pet) , Grobbilus ( My Pet has to stay out for this fight and take on slimes with the Pally tank or more than one slime will appear if he is on the boss ) , Sapphrion , and Kel; Thruzad
These fight require alot of Hunter / pet management , and if you dont factor that in your battle , than it seems to be off for the meter …ignore them ….they dont matter ….if you kill the Boss , the it is a win and who cares bout DPS ….numbers are just numbers
DPS is so high for survival , whoopie doo , But if you are good at what you do , know what you are doing , and know the Boss fight , DPS doesnt matter
Meters are bad, I just pick the talents with the prettiest pictures and press the buttons that make the coolest sounds. Because that’s fun for me.
Yeah I’m currently BM and will probably stay BM. I can’t comprehend the thought of putting my Spirit Beast on the shelf….nope can’t do it. However if my guild requires me to have better dps then I just might have to spec SV (grudgingly of course).
I played a bit with SV for our N-25 run yesterday. I must have sucked with my timing because I wasn’t anywhere near the dps BRK put out.
We have EoE-10 tonight and I’m seriously thinking of going back to BM… of course our raid complaining that I didn’t bring my white devilsaur probably contributed to this decision…
I’m sure BRK is wrangling with the same two issues you guys are bringing up – stick with the spec you love, or do your best for the raid? I guess that is really this post is all about.
Each of us has to make a choice, he has made his. Although it’s great to see some other specs talked about here now, I’m sure BM will be tweaked a bit higher in the future and we’ll see the return of the kitty of big and redness…
The BM nerf has wreaked suffering upon our class. Yes, the SV spec is buffed, I’ve respeced into it and just love playing it, so in a way, it’s been worth while. But at the same time, it’s led to the commission of atrocities. I’m guilty of a horrible sin.
I killed Loque’nahak.
I was farming adder in Sholazar. Been farming there for days gathering herbs and having a friend blow them up for inscription. I want the Nobles Deck for the Greatness card (+90 agility plus buff). Want it. Really. Badly.
Saturday morning about 8:30 AM, I’ve actually been up all night, raiding earlier and now flying my loops in sholazar looking for herbs. Out of the corner of my eye I spot him. It was the southern spawn point, next to the mesa. He was beautiful. I’d never actually seen him alive before. I’d found him dead 5 or 6 times, a couple of them when I was 51 point BM before rolling in raids a 50/21/0. I watched him path back and forth 5 or 6 minutes. Then I did a /who. I whispered all 6 of the hunters in the zone. None of the were BM anymore. NONE! I whispered a buddy back in Dal, but none of his guildies were on. I did a general shout in Sholazar, but no one responded.
So I left him. Went off on my route, but swung back by about ten minutes later. He was still up. I seriously thought about going back to respec, taming him, and sticking him in the stable until some fuutre date. but that would have been two 50g respecs. Back to dalaran to IF back to Dal if I could find an mage, and a flight here. Just seemed too inconvenient. And I had to log off pretty soon.
So I killed him. Don’t know why. The achievement? Scoff, I don’t give a crud abotu that. Part of it was that I was sleep starved. Part of it was so I could watch spirit strike in action on my gorilladin. Part of it was the frustration that two weeks ago, when I was raiding 54/17/0 in anticipation of 3.08, I COULD have tamed him, if I had found him then. But now, there is no one was left.
I felt smaller because of it. And the karmic gods have punished me. All the herbs I gathered over the weekend – I got 23 darkmoon cards, AND NOT A ONE OF THEM WAS NOBLES. The karmic gods have kicked my butt, and I come here begging for forgiveness.
Can I blame blizz for this, too?
Indeed. That is really a hard choice to make for a lot of people. There will always be those who spec the most DPS and don’t give a damn what spec it is. Me personally, I’m currently specced marks after switching from BM a long time. I really love BM but Marks is also starting to grow on me. I haven’t been able to crawl into the top 10 for raids (I’m severely undergeared compared to the rest of my guild) but I still feel like I’m contributing, especially with TSA. Come dual-specs, one will be marks, the other BM.
If a month ago someone would have predicted that after the patch BRK would bail on Beast Mastery for Survival and wouldn’t even be able to make a Big Red Hobbes anymore, and hunter “I found Loq’ !” stories would be about killing it because no BM hunters were around anymore, i would have called exponential BS.
We need a “Last of the Beast Masters” T-shirt, but I’m a little dubious about the demand now.
I would so buy a “Last of the Beast Masters” shirt.
I raid, but not hardcore, and my guild is still quite happy with my contribution, so BM I will stay.
At least until/if dual-spec is introduced, then I’ll be BM most of the time
I would buy that T-shirt or any T-shirt that said something like it.
BM4ever!
^ is kunukia on my daughter’s computer…
Bravo WB , at least you had to kindness to search out for a hunter to tame him out in Sholazar …others would have been like ..HOO a rare / Dead spiritbeast
I wish some one would do that on My Server , Camping the bloody thing ( off and on ) for over a month ARRGHHHH!!!!!
Shagrat , i love TSA …..we really need that in raids ….
/cheer , you stick to what you like even tho you are not at the top …
Give it some time and blizzard will fix this mess ….as well as the stupid cower bug they shoulda fixed with the patch
http://almostevil.blogspot.com/2009/01/loquenahak-died.html
@ Kinzlayer – I must know more of this 15 minute Doomguard you speak of. I’ve had the Ritual of Doom since they added the questline (old school player FTW), but I’ve never heard of the enslave lasting 15 minutes. Or 3 minutes, for that matter.
“We need a “Last of the Beast Masters” T-shirt, but I’m a little dubious about the demand now.”
I would totally buy that shirt.
I’m willing to try (TRY) SV in a raiding situation; my Exotics could use the time off. Poor Ricochet the Devilsaur and Serac the Spirit Beast have been hauled hither and yon on drafty wyverns for weeks. I guess I still have a few concerns about the SV playstyle, though.
1. How hard is it to manage constant re-trapping for the LandL proc? Specifically considering the emphasis SV places on maximizing range?
2. SV seems much more reactive than BM (again, LandL comes into play). In your opinion, which requires more micromanagement?
3. Will SV be able to match the visceral thrill I get when my devilsaur wades into melee and starts expanding like a roll of angry scaly bread dough? Or the joy I feel when my Spirit Beast calls down arcane energies to burn my enemies, and then descends upon them with a gaping blue-flamed maw?
“We need a “Last of the Beast Masters” T-shirt, but I’m a little dubious about the demand now.”
You may nerf our DPS, but you’ll never take OUR FREEDOM!!!
@everyone who is bagging on BRK for switching to SV
I recently switched to SV. I spent a couple hours plugging away at the heroic dummy with 9c arrows. After a little rotation tweaking and and moving to Exodar to get rid of the lag spikes i hit 4796.8 dps. No, I didnt misplace the decimal. That’s in a whole other league than my pre-patch, BM numbers. ~3k give or take 200.
These numbers + replenishment (no retadins or spriests… in the entire guild? wtf!?) are too good for me to deny my guild. For those of you in casual guilds that are still clearing naxx 10, BM is fun and enjoy it. But for those of you who are expected to bring it and bring it hard, and are working on Maly please consider SV. Yes, it’s more difficult, but with a little practice and a few heroics you’ll be back at your BM levels and you’ll only go up from there.
From MM to BM and now SV
Oh and you wont have to deal with a giant red dinosaur all over your screen. (my MT loves me now) Really Blizz? That f’ing big? What were you thinking?
Happy Hunting
PS BRK you better be using all that loan shark money you’re reeling in to respec and give us constant updates with BM, SV and even MM love
1. I prefer to think of trapping as something to do when it’s convenient, otherwise you stay at range. For example, on a shift with Thaddius, I always drop a trap on the way by him. Also, right after vortex on Malygos, drop a trap when you land, becuase that’s where Maly will land. Also, four horse in Naxx is a great place for traps. And dropping a trap on the dias right after safety dance will get you procs. But you don’t have to, and proabbly shouldn’t trapdance if you feel uncomforatble with it.
2. a little more, maybe, but only because you need to watch for LnL procs. ANd you can get a mod to notify you of this.
3. If you really love the Big Red, then no. Sending your pet is an afterthought. However, the burst damage of an explosive shot crit is really cool.
/hug BRK
Locke the Kittycat and I understand you. Much <3
Thanks for the fast response WB! I may have to give SV a try. If I dig it, I’ll stay with it; if I hate and detest it, it’s, what, 50 G max now to respec? Big whoop. The pets will still be there when I come back.
And re: number 3: it’s not quite the same as a big red dino. But I DO like making things explode.
I am a BM hunter, and I will remain so.. even if my guild were to stop inviting me. It’s why I PLAY a hunter.
We have 3 SV hunters in our raid, 2 of them were BM and switched, and now blow me out of the water. The other still falls below me in DPS/Damage even if I afk. Some of it is nerf-bat, some gear, some of it is skill. Ghostcrapper SAYS they will redo the nerfage if they get enough proof. I guess he doesn’t read BRKs blog.
On a side note, BRK, if you see this… you said “we’ve moved our MikScrollingBattleText areas around,” – If you get time, I’d love to know the positions and such you set it to, as it looks much cleaner in your trap dancing video.
Was hilarious! Good going BRK.
Shouldn’t take Sniper Training if you are going to be a trap dancer. Not sure which of the two you were. I think trap dancing is btter for dps, and better overall since some enemies you cant get over 30yds away from Sniper training. But it is riskier since you will remain near the target.
has no one noticed that this is a TJ post
@Sedna
(ate dinner when I was halfway through this, but came back and figured I may as well finish)
1. Depending on the fight i find it better in general to sit at 30+ yards and let SpS proc LnL (Does anyone know if the 2s tick of explosive shot can proc it? Please say yes /crossfingers)
2. With my shot macros I was hitting 3 buttons as BM. 1 to Mark and send in pet. 1 to SpS (refresh as needed). And 1 to bring the rain. In short SV will have a huge learning curve, that means PRACTICE.
3. No and no, but a chill runs up my spine every time my little bell dings telling me its time to lay down the law with 3 explosive shots with a multi mixed in. And I do feel better being able to bring Wyvar out of the stables and toss that annoying Devilsaur in his place.
[...] now, even your avatar has abandoned your cause, if only for a little [...]
Yeah BRK I tester your last BM Spec and it did suck I lost 15% dps when I swapped Focused Aim for Imp Arcane And I’m a Draenei FA lets you get rid of all the crap Hit gems for DPS/Crit . Your Lack of hit let you down Not BM.
I still have not seen a Hunter out DPS me as BM. In 10 man and 25 man Nax.
Wait…BRK spec’s for logic, not love? Hmmm….interesting…
I’ve been wondering about gear/stats when considering the jump to SV. Should our gear as a survival specced hunter look any different than what we are wielding now as BM hunters? Just as an example, MM folks liked to take a bit more haste than we did. Aside from maintaining balance, are there any little differences in the core hunter stats when playing as SV versus BM?
Hell yea Jeanos
Fight For Beastmastery , we are not dead …….just on Vacation ,
look on the bight side ….less BM hunters out there , gives us a better chance to tame the Spirit Beast
And he is right , if you dont have the Hit …then your DPS will suck no matter what spec you are ( guilty of being a Crit and AP whore )
From your Lord and Master
Zalenna
I find when Hit caped I get a higher Avg Damage to my hits and crits too it’s not just hit and Miss. BM for 2 years and all ways top the Hunter DPS. if you are not hit caped you fail!
And with my Spirit Beast Skudi by my side I am unstoppable.
@ieatkittens
You might want to push more Agility gems and Crit gear. Once you have respected you’ll notice that your Attack Power will go up. Once Hit Capped, your next goal should be to get a 40% Crit rating. When you can crit with with a procing Explosive shot each at over 2k damage which lock and load will give you three extra Explosive shots back to back and an Aimed shot, you can easily but out over 8K+ damage in less that 30 Sec (Give or take a few seconds). Great part about it is that once your cool down is up for another trap, its drop and proc again. hehe.
Did over 3.5K dps on the Dance Dance boss on 25 man Nax. Reason being is that I wasn’t pet dependent and you can shoot explosive and aimed shot while on the run. While keeping up Serpent Sting, I would get a lock and load proc and could keep explosive shot up on the boss while dancing my twinkly little feet.
When entering most fights, I usually start of with MD, Explosive shot, Aimed Shot, and Serpent sting (All while running toward the boss). Drop a trap, hit disengage, and open up with 3 explosive shots followed by another Aimed shot. Then I feign death cause if I haven’t already pulled agroe, I sure am about to. :O
Leaving a long life of BM, fighting this style is so much fun and keeps me busy aside from the old BM style of mashing my 2 botton for three strokes then 1, rinse and repeat. Good for you, BRK, on choosing to leave something you were used to and adapting to your environment to keep your performance level up and striving for greatness.To bad about your name though…
Big….
Red….
Kitty….
More like
Explosive….
Dancing….
Raptor…
“A Bunneh perhaps?”
“YOU’RE. SO. FIRED!”
I laughed out loud. My roommate is making fun of me. But it’s so true…
However, I’m sticking with BM. I did 25 OS today, topped the chart clearing trash and the 3 drakes. Edit: clearing trash WITHOUT using volley. (Obviously, my deavilsaur died 57 times on Sarth, and I spent my time traq shotting adds, so my DPS was sorely lacking there…). Is the nerf real? Obviously. Can BM still be viable? Absolutely. Arcane EVERY time cd is up. My Arcane crits for over 3k, where my steady crits for 1200-1300.
In the end, I love topping the chart, but I love seeing my devilsaur shred faces, too. Survival *will* top charts, if played correctly. BM *can* top charts, if played perfectly. I like a challenge.
To quote Lonestar of Spaceballs fame…
[QUOTE]We’re not just doing it for money, we’re doing it for a sht load of money![/QUOTE]
Personally, I’d love to see a competitive BM spec in which the pet does 75% of hunter+pet damage, as that would be most fun for me.
But that does not exist. A competitive (arguably OP) BM spec in which the pet does 40-50% of the damage used to exist. But it does not anymore.
Lacking a 75% pet spec, the next most fun thing for me is killing bosses while providing a solid contribution to my team (primarily through delivering damage).
So I can (A) pout because of the patch, or (B) make changes that help my team kill bosses.
Post 3.0.8, the choice between BM and SV is not even close. For me personally, my damage output went down 40% the day 3.0.8 hit (as measured by Patch-25 results week by week, going from 5.3K dps down to 3.3K dps). I might be able to tweak a BM setup to bring this to a 25% decrease, but why do that when SV will bring me back pretty close to where I was pre-3.0.8?
A player choosing to spec SV is betraying no one, except his stable-bound Spirit Beast. But as it would turn out, that’s a virtual inanimate object as compared to the living breathing teammates on the other end of vent.
[QUOTE]We’re not just doing it for DPS, we’re doing it for a sht load of DPS![/QUOTE]
@Those saying that dps meeters are bad, etc.
This is a game played in a team environment. It is the responsible to bring your best to the table. We play an MMO and raid so we can team up with others, work together, and accomplish great things. Expecting other people to pick up the slack because we want to do it a way that brings us more personal enjoyment is not part of the team spirit (and if we are doing less damage than we could, someone is picking up the slack). If personal enjoyment is more important to you that team spirit, then play a solo game where the focus is on you, not your contribution to the team.
I am reminded of several PvP specced rogues who showed up on Kara runs because that was the play style they were comfortable with, yet did terrible damage. I did not invite them back, and I feel good about that decision. But I can’t apply a different standard to myself now just because blizzard has changed our class up.
And yeah- if you are raiding as BM over SV, the damage is enough that SOMEONE is picking up the slack. Maybe your individual contribution doesn’t make that much of a difference- but if everyone you counted started raiding at 20% less effectiveness, instances would take longer and their would be more wipes. Not fun.
If you are BM and you are slacking then dont even be in the raid. If there carring you thru you got one messed up guild. My guild only lets one BM hunter into raids i think that they shouldnt because i put out way more dmg than that hunter. If your going to go to naxx 10,25,mal, you really shouldnt be BM i was BM before now i hate it. In like the kel fight or maygos you need alot of dps on him or your going to fail.
@ Amava and Elwynnia – Right on!
Switching from BM to SV was a bucket of cold water right in the face. I never considered it to be an easy spec but compared to SV, it most certainly is. I hope Ghostcrawler stays true to his word that he will reward those who choose to play the more difficult specs with greater DPS potential.
Oh, and for those naysayers, just read the post again then ask yourself if you EVER have to work this hard playing BM and spamming SS and Kill Command with the occasional BW.