I think BM's dps is not looking so good on beta because of low pet damage. From the changes to the specs it looks like Bliz will achieve what they want and that is all 3 spec's being viable in raids. My guess is that once numbers are tuned we will find BM and MM fairly close with one or the other winning out depending on the encounter. Survival being more of a utility spec, will probably be slightly behind the other two (excluding fights that involve aoe obviously).

With the WOTLK content patch coming "soon", what are peoples ideas for talent specs? With only 61 Talent points at lvl 70 and so much to choose from I'm struggling to think what I'll use for raiding at lvl70.

All three specs seem to be providing utility right now. BM with FI assuming it will eventually be raid-wide, MM with Trueshot Aura glyped to 12% ap bonus, which is 2% higher than what shamans and DKs can bring, and Survival bringing replenishment which only applies to 10 people. I don't really know how big of a contribute 12% ap is or how FI and TA compare to replenishment but replenishment definitely doesn't seem powerful enough to warrant lower dps compared to MM and BM given that they also bring significant buffs.

Survival is definitely no longer the de facto utility spec, so I would be pretty disappointed if it couldn't keep up with the other two DPS-wise. Hopefully the tuning of pet abilities does improve BM DPS, but I'd also like to see all of the pets evened out a bit more. Having Devilsaurs (for 51 pt BM) and Raptors being the pet of choice for DPS is no better a situation than we have now with Ravagers and Wind Serpents.

I'd also like to see Crocolisks have a decent special again. Bad Attitude got hit really hard, and I hope with the pet pass they realize that the change was overkill.

That said, anyone has the new new new (how many changes so far?) numbers on Wolves? I.e. how much +AP do the ranks scale with? Wowhead only has the rank 1 spell which gives +2 AP.

It does seem to last 10 seconds now (as opposed to 'on next attack'

If it says +2, then it's probably 2xLevel. So 160 at level 80 (162 if it starts with a base of 2).

Edit: Seems to be 158 at 80.

Well Blood Fury shows 6AP when the formula is 2+(Level*4), so I assume tooltips have Level as 1. That would mean you're right about 2*Level. Mania mentioned FH had a tooltip of 148AP, but didn't mention the pets level, so that would mean a 74 pet if we reverse engineer it; sounds reasonable.

In regards to wolfs, this might be far, far off and not concern anyone but a few people but...

Has the run speed on the Ghost Wolf been fixed?

I asked the same question a few weeks ago, and back then nothing had changed. On live their trippy slow-mo running is still a bit laughable.

Have they done anything about the way pets with ranged abilities act yet? IE: do they still stutter-step?

Also, this change to wolves makes me a happy hunter. I regret releasing my old Snarler even more now. At least the new worgs look pretty cool.

That wouldn't be fixed unless they redid the model, because it runs weird for lack of an animation, having never been intended for an actual pet to be following a player.

All of these changes make me think I can use my ghost wolf to raid. I do have to say being on my gfs account in beta, taming different pets with unique abilities is something I really missed. Going into MC and solo-taming a corehound was the most fun I've had in a long time, probably since taming my GW. Hooray hunters.

You can go ahead and make that 100% uptime with Longevity. Even one point would bring it to 9 seconds, which is just perfect to push out that last attack that would otherwise send it to 10.5 seconds. 100% uptime.

Wolves look to be awesome. But 158 AP compared to 9% pet damage... tough one. In solo there is no doubt, Wolves win, but in raids with all the buffs that the 9% can stack with. Of course if the encounter has a lot of waiting or you need to pull the pet back often, then the Wolf might just take the lead again as it can work it's magic even when not fighting, and the Devilsaur needs to reapply three stacks of Monstrous Bite. About MB, we don't even know how it will even out as a direct damage ability. It might become very powerful for all we know...

Is anyone else becoming increasingly perplexed by the lack of hit/crit rating on Naxx dps mail in exchange for haste? I keep expecting to see weapons, rings, trinkets, or non-set (boots/bracers) with a bunch of hit rating but thus far all I've seen is some bracers, an off-set chest, and rogue 1h weapons. (Won't they love us rolling against them.)

Heck, I saw more hit on dungeon blues than Naxx epics. This lead me to wonder if Blizzard is reversing the TBC gear progression.

In TBC we were easily hit capped by the end of T4 content (or before) but started to trade hit for haste in later content. I wonder if in WotLK we're going to be over-hasted at first but begin to see more hit/crit in later content.

Perhaps just random musing on my part, but I'm hoping someone from Blizzard sees this and decides to change their mind if that's what they are doing. I'd rather not get into a pissing contest with rogues (again) because for most slots their leather is much better itemized than 'hunter' mail (i.e. has hit.)

As far as stat distribution on gear goes, keep in mind that Naxx is entry level, and thus you're not going to start off with a full set of epic gear. More likely, you'll be wearing instance blues, some heroic epic drops, possibly a couple pvp pieces, and crafted items, if your profession(s) provide such.

A lot of these areas are not implemented/known yet, so while the isolated bubble-examination of naxx items does currently show that the items stat distribution favors haste over hit/crit, that may not be the case with other gear that would be utilized at the same content level.

I don't agree there's a lack of hit and crit rating on posted items. Loading up a MM or BM build and the best of the posted level 80 gear (Naxx 10, Naxx 25, and instance) in the spreadsheet, I'm already at 263 hit rating (99% to hit) and 37% - 39% crit. (I used a Biznick's, which is now the best scope for BM/MM by a few dps.) And I've got too much hit rating with a Survival build, and 50% crit. (All numbers are with full raid buffs.)

Additionally, mail items have int, which all hunters should use the talent to convert to rap. I'm seeing that, in most cases, the mail item contributes about the same amount of dps as the corresponding leather item (a few exceptions exist, e.g., Spaulders of Resumed Battle, due to its large hit rating.)

Isn't Misery spellhit only?

You're correct. The old moonkin FF had me thinking that both that and misery were both physical and spell hit. Post edited accordingly.

For the umpteen billionth time, only the hit/crit/haste ratings on gear are being merged. Physical and Spell stats are still going to be separate statistics, affected differently by talents, buffs, and debuffs (and AGI/INT for crit).

Edit: Beaten to it. Delete please.

So you're saying there is a chance? (love that line from "Dumb and Dumber")

Concerning when 3.0 is released, prior to the expansion: when the cap is still 70 but we get all of the new talents and things, will the new pet skills and talent trees be released at that time as well? A source would be lovely, I cannot find one.

Have the 40 crit/haste rating scopes been discovered yet or are we just spitting in the wind? I mean, I can craft Biznick's but it seems very silly a 30 hit scope would trump a 40 crit scope under any circumstances, especially with gems yielding equal hit and crit values.

Yes, this has been stated many times.

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