◊ Boethius

Welcome to the Hunter Simple Questions thread. This thread is for all your simple questions which you expect to have simple answers and thus do not require their own thread.

Note that all forum rules still apply: we said simple questions, not stupid questions (which have no place on these forums). You're still expected to make a reasonable effort to find the answer yourself by searching and reading the threads and making use of spreadsheets and any other tools that may be available. If, however, you're fairly confident that your question is not easily answered with available information, but don't think it will generate sufficient discussion to require it's own thread, this is the place to ask.

 

Skim

Are there plans to copy over the more crucial current exisiting threads from the larger Class Mechanics forum? Threads like the Beast Mastery 3.0 thread or the larger WotLK Hunter thread? Or are those going to stay there and only NEW post are going to be created in here?

 

• Eliirion

I believe the point of the new sub forums is to allow a more specific approach to different mechanics rather than grouping everything into 3 or 4 massive mega threads.

ie: No more massive BM hunter/Shot Rotation/Survival threads, but more threads which focus on different specific elements (like the thread comparing DPS gains of Stormstrike for Windserpents vs. Elemental Shaman).

In other words, start over with new specific threads for questions/discussions!

 

Flouyd

How does Intervene and Taunt for my pet work? I have those spells on autocast but my gortilla doesnt use them / I cant figure out why it used them

 

Kavor

Hi. I'm a french hunter and i am going to start leveling in wotlk.
I would like to know what is the best template and the best pet in order to lvl up ?

Thks for answers.

Have a nice day.

 

Enova

Well, that depends a bit on what you want to do, really. If you're going to solo it a lot, probably a gorilla pet, and either a BM or MM build. Of course, the key talents would be up to 2/2 Rapid killing in Marksmanship either way, and everything else is pretty much at leisure.

If you fancy just joining groups for dungeons, survival might be good, because of the added crowd control (Scatter, Wyvern Sting).

Personally, I'd go for This BM spec, because I think it has the lowest downtime, but as long as you stay away from the really useless stuff (Deflection, Wild Quiver, Concussive barrage, and so forth), there's really no problem in choosing what you like.

Guilty as charged ^

 

Sabyn

A few questions:
1) Anyone have a good MM or Survival leveling build? I know the common BM specs but I want to try something else. Either one would be appreciated. I haven't seen any example specs of those posted, and there doesn't seem to be a totally clear path.
2) What pet and spec to go along with those? This I am totally clueless on.

 

Kisai

you have to manually use them, (click or macro), they cant be on autocast since that would have no sense.

for the build I refer to Enova, and for the second question I recommend a Tenacity pet with extra agro, maybe a Gorilla or Warp Stalker (+dodge and extra talent thx to warp).

 

Enova

Well, if you're dead set on not going the BM route, I guess THIS MM Spec might be more to your liking. The only real must have talents are Rapid Killing and Rapid Recuperation, though, so feel free to fiddle with it, until you get something you like.

As for the pet, I said it before, I'll say it again. A gorilla is probably the best option, although boars, bears and warp stalkers are also really good. Just don't forget to tame something else for raids

Guilty as charged ^

 

Suspiria

Very simple request: hit cap for hunters with Focused Aim?
And, after firsts 80 in some realms, and firsts raid, exotic pet will really overall normal (cat) pet? I've not see any wws about this: cookie spec, exotic or not?

 

Aerynlore

According to this EJ post, the conversion rate at level 80 is 32.78998947 hit rating to 1% to hit.
Level 83 boss mobs require 9% hit for us to not miss.

0/3 Focused Aim: 296 (295.1099)
1/3 Focused Aim: 263 (262.3199)
2/3 Focused Aim: 229 (228.5299)
3/3 Focused Aim: 197 (196.7399)

 

Serf

I've been a diehard SV hunter for a long, long time, and I ended up having to leave the game prior to the WotLK talent tree patches. However, when I came back, a LOT of stuff had changed, and I'm no longer sure of my feelings regarding being survival... I love it to bits, and the mana regeneration is always nice, but... It feels subpar even more than before. I played around with a MM build where my crits from Aimed and Chimaera were in the 4K range, while I'm lucky if my explosive can crit for 900-ish. >.o And whenit comes to BM, I've never been able to stomach it due to huntards... however, it really is looking like it's the best spec, nowadays. Can someone tell me in what main ways, play-wise, the trees have changed, and how an old-school SV hunter would best spec to feel useful while not doing entirely poor damage like that again?

 

Namless

I have a question, but not sure if it belongs here, so move it if need be My spec is BM/MM (went to Readiness so I can pop BW a couple of times). That being said, I've seen a lot of haste trinket/neck items from quests. I was wondering if Hunters should be stacking haste now?

 

werdna

Does anyone have some good idea of how much aggro the Rhino knockback generates?

I'm guessing not much. one multi-shot and i'm out aggroing mine.

... and for anyone considering the Rhino, be prepared for a really annoying loud thumping sound the whole time you are playing, and a very big pet who is frequently in my line of sight (especially for a Dwarf).

Actually, despite his special status, I'm wondering if there is any really big advantage to the Rhino over my Scorpid, or even better yet a Bear.

He has tanked some elites, in group quests, and done fine there.

I'm also happy with having the extra 4 points to put in pet talents.

Any thoughts out there?

 

Aerynlore

Haste grants the most DPS per Rating when it is still decreasing the casting time of Steady Shot down to 1.5s (equal to the global cooldown). At this point, you cannot fire SS any faster, so the value of haste lowers.
What is that inflection point?
Well, a 2.0s SS fires in 1.739s with the 15% haste of your quiver/ammo pouch.
Add in there the 5/5 Serpent's Swiftness for another 20% haste, and your 2.0s SS now fires at 1.45s, which is below our 1.5 threshold.

This means that for Beast Mastery with 5/5 S'sS, you don't need any additional haste to get your Steady Shot down. Thus, people will say that haste is a worthless stat, though this is incorrect. Haste will always* increase Hunter DPS, because more haste means firing more Auto-shots. The Haste:DPS increase ratio, however, sharply declines once SS casts faster than the GCD.

For those not of the Beast Mastery persuasion:
To get Steady Shot down from 1.739s to 1.5, you need another 15.94203%, which (at 32.78998947 rating to 1%) means you need 523 Haste Rating

I hope that helps.

*This assumes that Auto-shot does not have a floor value by which it cannot fire faster.

I agree that the knockback doesn't generate much aggro. I usually send my Rhino (FourTonnes) to one mob, and Misdirection a second mob to him, then DPS the first. I also find that sitting in (and it pains me to say this) Aspect of the Beast helps his aggro quite a bit.
In terms of AE tanking/grinding: get a Gorilla. They generate far better AE aggro; however, the fun of the Rhino far outstripped the benefits of the Gorilla. Combine Charge and Stampede, and you have mobs flying all over the place. Add in Disengage, and you have hunter and mobs going all over. For leveling, I went with fun over min-max.

In terms of Camera view, the Rhino is, indeed, massive, especially when you have Big Red Rhino. But the first time an member of the opposite faction sees a giant horned beast barreling down on it... priceless.

 

Mattaos

Your scorpid will perform just the same as your Rhino or any other Tenacity pet. The tree is not enhanced by the "exotic pet" tag. The Knockback does not have any type of threat modifier like the Gorilla and is on a long CD, so naturally if you start to unload Multi-Shots on mobs after one Stampede you are more and likely going to pull aggro. Your Scorpid will tank just as well as the Rhino, if not better, since the Scorpid is much higher in DPS. If you are wanting a better tank pet for multiple mob pulls....get a Gorilla or Bear.

 

Namless

Aerynlore Thanks for the info, thats great! I don't know if its a WoW thing but when I had put on my haste equipment my Steady Shot didn't show a decrease in cast time (when I scroll over it). My auto shot cast time showed it decreased tho =\

 

Kanandi

As a recent DING 70, I am playing around with Misdirection.
My main concern is does Volley work the way I am thinking Misdirection works?
If I pull an extra mob which runs at me, I've noticed I can Misdirect on my pet and shoot an Arcane Shot, which means the add that was racing towards my cowering Hunter turns it's attention on the pet immediately. This is a good thing.

However, a bit of experimenting with Volley seems to be either working slightly differently, or else I'm using (or thinking about it) wrong.
Sometimes, I send in my pet with the classic /cast Hunter's Mark + /petattack macro, and cast Misdirection on my pet. Then I unleash a Volley, assuming that the rain of arrows will keep threat on my pet. Sometimes, one will come screaming at me, before the channel is finished (which means that I hadn't shot any other Auto/Arcane/Sting arrows at the mobs yet.)

Since Volley seems to effectively count as multiple hits (all mobs are taking damage like a DoT over the channel time), does this mean that the Misdirection effect is only taking the first "tick" of Volley, and the rest of them are enough to? pull aggro with an unlucky crit? If there are 4 mobs, is it only counting the first three ticks/hits? Or am I jsut that much of a newbie hunter.

 

Aerynlore

Tooltips (and Buffs) don't update with talents, modifiers, etc. Take a look at Ret Aura next time you have it one you from a Retadin. He will have Sanctified Retribution, Swift Retribution and sometimes Improved Retribution Aura, but all your buff will say is what the vanilla Ret Aura says.

Quartz is a great mod to show you a cast bar with the casting time on it, and also has an auto-shot timer bar, so you can time when to move to squeak out one last auto-shot before you need to run.

The bolded section is correct. The first three to get hit, get the MD'd threat. The rest come for your face. Or at least that's how it was in WoW 2.0, and I haven't found anything different in 3.0.

Typically, Misdirect + Multi-shot is your best bet when pulling multiple mobs.

 

◊ Sarutobi

If you are using volley on 3+ mobs, only the threat from the first wave of arrows will be transferred to your pet (all charges consumed) and the remaining 5 waves will all count towards your threat.

 

Kanandi

Thanks! I was not sure since I was not pulling aggro for every 4-pull (using a wolf or a carrion Bird) so was not quite sure why sometimes my pet held, and sometimes I grabbed the extra mob myself. Much appreciated!

 

smurph98gt

It's strange to me that the Steady Shot tooltip doesn't update it's cast time with Haste. All of my Warlocks spells show updated cast times when taking Haste into account.

Anyway, I'm looking through the list of Bows, Crossbows, and Guns, and I'm not seeing a real clear upgrade over the Badge bow. [Hemet's Trophy Gun] seems like really the only upgrade, even if it's minor, and that's at level 77. The bow speed doesn't matter much anymore since they unlinked autoshot, right?

 

werdna

By the time i read the replies, I was already back to my Scorpid and like it much better.

I wonder if there is ANY min/max reason to get a Rhino, or if it is just the "Fun Factor" that was mentioned in another answer.

For me, the Scorpid is back to being my tanky pet until I can get a Gorilla in another couple of levels. Then I'll still keep the Scorpid for raid situations which require good pet survivability.

If someone else has another opinion, it would be good to hear it. For now I think the Rhino is novelty use only.

 

Serf

What's the best non-BM pet these days? Raptor?

 

ElginRoko

Weapon speed still has an effect for aimed, multi, chimera and I think kill shot (haven't tested), with slower being better for these, but it's much less of a concern than it used to be. Unless you're MM you probably don't need to worry about it too much.

For insurance reasons. Yes. That, and for freedom.