Just saw this on the patch notes: Synapse Springs now increase Agility, Strength, or Intellect (whichever is highest for the character). And wonder if 480 agi every min will now put Engineering back in one of the top profession spots.

It averages out to (480*12/60) 96 agility, so yea. Don't forget its value increases if you stack other procs with it, and in fights with varying lengths its uptime can be more than 20%.

Sucks for everyone who dropped engineering.

Since if it had been 10 seconds, the value would have been 80 (like the other professions), I think it shouldn't come as a surprise if they end up nerfing the duration to that.

With the 60% crit rate of Cobra on targets above 80% and the relative little difference between CS and AS damage, should we just be spamming CS for the first 20% of bosses and ignoring focus caps? (i.e ES CS CS CS ES, not dumping with AS)

I've read on several places that these invoke a 15-20 seconds cooldown with "use: " trinkets, so it would be impossible to stack with these

I think the 15-20 sec Cooldowns are the Use Trinkets but not Proc on hit.

Saying that you think now Orcs will have a solid edge over all the other races now if you combo Rapid Fire, Blood Fury and Synapse Springs?

Edited

It's been changed to 10s already.

Does the amount of points spent in Serpent Spread have an effect on the Improved Serpent Sting damage done by Multi Shot? In other words: Does ISS always do 30% of the 15 sec-sting or does it only do 30% of 6/9 sec respectively when applied via MS?

Edit: Just tried it on a dummy: ISS is the same for normal SS and MM-SS so... why have 2 points in Serpent Spread at all? During ae-situations multishot gets cast more often than 6 sec anyway...

There is no point to it. At least not one that happens often enough for it to be valuable enough.

The point is you do not actually lose that much DPS on single target fights whereas it may help you a lot on fights like Cho'Gall or maybe some heroic encounter versions.

It will be very rare that you will allow the ISS dot to last the full duration, at least for raid content. You will either be using it to pad your meters on offtanked trash that isn't important (rather than full burn on the main raid target), or the adds need to be burnt down as quickly as possible, meaning you will be refreshing it before the third tick.

There might be some edge cases that make it worthwhile, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Maybe the emerald whelps on heroic halfus, but as I understand it, Halfus is the priority after you take down the first two drakes.

I noticed Hyenas not using Tendon Rip atm when it's on autocast. Can anyone test whether this bug persists on PTR and if so report as a bug pls?

According to Zehera's spreadsheet, it's +70 DPS for me if I drop arcane shot during the first 20% boss HP, and another +95 DPS if I don't use arcane shot at all.

There are multiple discussions about specing 1/2 or 2/2 Wild Hunt depending on Ferocity/Cunning pets and MM vs. SV specs.

I'd like to confirm my spec by looking at Wild Hunt uptime during a fight, but I can't manage to find the buff in WoLogs (e.g. World of Logs - Real Time Raid Analysis).

How do you track it on your side? Or is there an expression to use to show its uptime?
Thanks

Wild Hunt doesn't show up in logs because it isn't a buff. It just happens when your pet is high enough on focus to benefit. The only real way I know of to check for it in logs is to look at the damage done by each pet attack and see if it's significantly higher than the others, accounting for crits of course. When people talk about Wild Hunt uptime it's generally based on the reported numbers from femaledwarf.com, which are estimates based on simulated pet attacks, not from the logs in game.

I couldn't find anything in the logs either that tracks WH uptime. However, you can look at some of the items that impact its uptime. These include:

- The number of Sic'Em procs. Since Sic'Em makes your next pet basic attack be free it helps to increase WH uptime.
- The amount of focus gained from GftT.

From the log you listed and using Yukizz for the 7:16 Nefarian fight, it shows the following:
- 99 Sic'Ems. That means that in the 436 s of the fight, you pet at most could have done 145 basic attacks. So up to 99 (68.3%) of those basic attacks were free. Now the number is actually somewhat less since he was bound to sometimes have multiple Sic'Em procs between pet basics. How many? I can't tell from the log.
- 710 pet focus gained from GftT. That is equivalent to 1.63 pet fps from GftT, assuming that none of it capped the pet's focus.

The only item missing here is the pet's actual basic focus regen rate, which depends on your haste, whether you are talented into BD, and whether it's a Cunning pet with Owl's Focus.

So after all that I cannot give you a definitive answer of how to track WH's uptime in logs but can only point you to a couple of inperfect indicators (#Sic'Ems and GftT regen) that correlate with WH uptime.

The Female Dwarf simulation does a really good job of simulating WH uptime. You just need to realize that the value can fluctuate in both the sim and actual game playing by several % points. This is because of the timing of Sic'Em and GftT procs relative to your pet's current focus. If a Sic'Em proc occurs while one is active, it is redundant and provides no additional effect. If a Sic'Em proc is used by a basic attack not affected by WH (pet focus is below 50), the Sic'Em proc saves less focus usage than if the pet was affected by WH. If GftT procs when your pet is near focus cap, part of the focus gain is lost.

Now to answer why different pets with different WH amounts are better for different specs. Here are some of the factors assuming standard rotations.

- GftT slightly favors MMs the most since MMs usually have around the fastest autoshot rate amongst hunters with equal gear (although our slight preferrence for slower weapons affects that a little). For equally geared hunters (with proper haste for each spec) in a 5 min fight, MM did 151, BM 143, and SV 128 autos. MM and BM have the same crit rates, so MM wins out by 8 * 34.46% crit * 10 = 27 pet focus. Even with the higher crit rate that SV has (which will be not as high after 4.0.6), SV has 3.6 less procs than MM, so 36 less focus regen.

- Sic'Em slightly favors SV in the number of procs theoretically. In the sim, SV did 69 ES and AS for 26.1 procs. MM did 67 AS and AI for 23.1 procs. BM did 65 AS for 22.4 procs. Although SV has a little more Sic'Em procs, they generally do not get as much benefit from them since as will be shown later, they can have lower SH uptimes.

- BD makes the differences. Pretty much all three specs should have GftT and Sic'Em, but not all may have capped BD. The currently best BM and MM specs have 3/3 BD, while many SV hunters have 0. Because BD is so important in increasing WH uptime for Ferocity and Cunning pets is the reason many top SV hunters are giving up CA for BD.

- Fervor helps BM pet focus even more with 3 uses in a 5 mins fight for up to 150 pet focus.

- Your crit rate. Obviously, the higher your crit rate is the more focus benefits for your pet from GftT and Sic'Em. Players with low crit rates will have lower WH uptimes over a same specced character with a higher crit rate. The data I provide below is for a hunter with a mix of 346 and 359 ilevel gear with 34.46% crit for MM and BM and 37.82% for SV.

Let's look at the WH uptime of different specs with different pet types in various scenarios with all buffs active (so pet buff is not a factor):

MM with a Frenzy spec with 3/3 BD

Ferocity Pet:
- 2/2 SA and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case)
- 1/2 SA and 1/2 WH: 96% WH uptime and +518 DPS
- 0/2 SA and 2/2 WH: 82% WH uptime and +313 more DPS (+831 over 0/2 WH)

Although WH uptime is lower with 2/2 WH, it is still high with your pet doing so much more damage.

Cunning Pet:
- 0/2 OF and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime -376 DPS from base case
- 2/2 OF and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime -376 DPS
- 0/2 OF and 1/2 WH: 96% WH uptime and +150 DPS from base case
- 0/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 86% WH uptime and +566 DPS from base case
- 1/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 93% WH uptime and +643 DPS from base case
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 90% WH uptime and +610 DPS from base case (-221 from a 2/2 WH Ferocity pet)

Without WH, the pet has plenty of focus for its basic attacks without Owl's Focus. In fact, the pet has enough focus to support 1/2 WH without OF. It even has enough focus to support 2/2 WH sufficiently with OF; however, adding OF helps more. Plus, there is really no better place to put the OF points. Note that the 2/2 OF, 2/2 WH case actually showed a drop in WH uptime and DPS in FD. This is purely a timing issue of the random procs in regards to current focus levels. Adding the second point in OF is actually beneficial. However, the Cunning pet is clearly inferior DPS for a MM than a ferocity pet, but if the Cunning pet provides a missing raid buff it is better for the raid to use a Cunning pet.

The full set of cases above are shown here to illustrate the interaction of OF and WH for a Cunning pet and will not be shown in all examples.

MM with a RiF and Term spec with 0/3 BD

Ferocity Pet:
- 2/2 SA and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case for this spec)
- 1/2 SA and 1/2 WH: 85% WH uptime and +459 DPS
- 0/2 SA and 2/2 WH: 65% WH uptime and +187 more DPS (+646 over 0/2 WH)

Dropping BD reduces the benefit of WH, but it is still better to spec 2/2 WH at this crit rate.

Cunning Pet:
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 82% WH uptime and +603 DPS from base case (-43 DPS from Ferocity pet)

The Ferocity pet and Cunning pet are roughly equal in this case.

SV spec with no points in BD

Ferocity Pet:
- 2/2 SA and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case for this spec)
- 1/2 SA and 1/2 WH: 49% WH uptime and +269 DPS from base case
- 0/2 SA and 2/2 WH: 23% WH uptime and +157 DPS from base case

As can be seen, without BD, SV hunters have trouble supporting more than one point in WH at this crit rate. 1 SA and 1 WH is optimal.

Cunning Pet:
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 50% WH uptime and +401 DPS from base case (+135 DPS better than Ferocity pet)

For SVs, the Cunning pet has trouble with WH uptime as well even with OF; however, the Cunning pet does out perform the Ferocity pet.

SV spec with last point in BD (as many SVs do)

Ferocity Pet:
- 2/2 SA and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case for this spec)
- 1/2 SA and 1/2 WH: 69% WH uptime and +412 DPS from base case
- 0/2 SA and 2/2 WH: 32% WH uptime and +283 DPS from base case

Note that for the 2/2 SA case that moving the point in BD has no DPS impacts since your pet already has enough focus to support its basic attacks without WH. The 1 point in BD increased WH uptime by 20% in the 1/2 WH case and 9% in the 2/2 WH case. 1/2 WH case is still the best option for SV for a Ferocity pet.

Cunning Pet:
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 67% WH uptime and +618 DPS from base case (+206 DPS better than Ferocity pet)

The point in BD increase WH uptime by 17% and DPS by +217. In this case, the Cunning is much better than the Ferocity pet.

SV spec with 3/3 BD (instead of CA)

Ferocity Pet:
- 2/2 SA and 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case for this spec - this base is -539 DPS from 1/3 BD case)
- 1/2 SA and 1/2 WH: 98% WH uptime and +618 DPS from base case
- 0/2 SA and 2/2 WH: 57% WH uptime and +628 DPS from base case

The additional points in BD make both WH cases better and the 2/2 WH case actually a little better than the 1/2 WH case. However, this case is about -323 DPS from the 1 BD case due to the loss of CA. You lose a heck of a lot of DPS in the CA phase, but you a little more DPS in the rest of the 80% of boss health.

Cunning Pet:
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 79% WH uptime and +646 DPS from base case (about the same as a Ferocity pet)

BM spec

Ferocity Pet:
- 0/2 WH: 0% WH uptime (base case for this spec)
- 1/2 WH: 88% WH uptime and +835 DPS from base case
- 2/2 WH: 50% WH uptime and +949 DPS from base case

For BM, although WH uptime is lower with 2/2 WH, it still does more DPS than 1/2 WH, especially considering that there are no other DPS options for that last pet talent point.

Cunning Pet:
- 2/2 OF and 2/2 WH: 72% WH uptime and +451 DPS from base case (-498 from Ferocity pet)

A Ferocity pet is clearly better for a BM hunter in this gear.

Does the /petattack command not work in a macro with shots? I seem to be able to use it by itself or just type it out, but using it with shots doesn't work.

Short question, is it just me being stupid or does Deterrence not work on Nefarian's crackle?

No it doesn't, but a glyphed Raptor Strike is extremely useful for that encounter.

For me playing as a SV Goblin Hunter, the "hastecap" would be 629. Is it suggestive to aim for that rating? How good is the build-in lag tolerance? Or should i get some extra haste to compensate my latency?
Thanks for any advice

I have personally had no problems getting 3 cobras in with ES coming off cooldown exactly as my 3rd cobra is finishing with a 1.67 cast time. I play with the lag setting (whatever it's called) @ 150 ms and I also use the Quartz cast bar addon.

If you're having problems, get Quartz. What it does is show a cast bar that has a red area at the end. This red area is your MS at the time of casting the shot. If you press your next shot while the bar goes into the red zone, it will fire off with no delay between shots. I've been using this addon since TBC and it's the best at what it does. It also gives you an autoshot timer (and 2h swing timer for your other classes).

I've been following the patch notes with the wave of nerfs and buffs we have recieved and I've got to say that I'm confused. Hopefully someone can quickly clear things up for me.

Wowhead.com tooltip says Black Arrows current damage is 2395. The PTR notes say "Black Arrow now deals 2035 Shadow damage over 15 sec, up from 1800." Does this mean that the live dmg of 2395 was nerfed 25% and then increased 13% for the new total of 2395?

Final question: I'm not good with math and percents and all that; however, does this mean those two shots saw an overall nerf of only 12% or does a 13% buff on a 25% nerf math out a little more complicated then 25 - 13 ?