I tamed one on the PTR and the scaling was the normal magic damage scaling (~4.3%). It does two lots of damage (initial, then the DoT) but neither can crit. Also, there is something wrong with Spirit Beasts not getting the Ferocity damage increase so all up, I highly dount it would beat most other pet types.

Hello,

SV: 6/14/51 338 haste, 4330 AP, hit capped, 30.70% crit, Nerubian conqueror with hyjal's bullets. Steady shot, serpent sting and BW glyphs. Cat pet used.

Wow Web Stats 2306 DPS messin' with the stings and traps.



BM: 52/14/5 same gear, same glyphs, same pet.

Wow Web Stats 1989 DPS again missing some AS cooldowns and messin with some sting refresh.



MM: 13/51/7 again same gear/pet/glyphs.

2083 DPS, forgot WWS -_- sorry.




Nothing really scientific but peoples asked for feedback and numbers, here are mine





So actually i think i'm going to give SV a try after patch goes live, but i'm wondering if once raid buffed the top specs will remain the same... BM gain major benefit from raid buffing their pets since others spec don't have that much profit, and also BM demands less attention/skill to achieve high DPS where other specs leads you into monitoring fast CD that you don't want to miss.

Interesting results, and you may be right about BM and their pets.

You left some dps on the table, in my opinion, by having 3 points in improved hunters mark and none rapid killing for rapid fire every 3 minutes (in your case it would be 4 rapid fires in 3:17).

Efficiency is nice, but wild quiver would be best, I think, 2% to 3% extra dps, no ammo, no mana, no thinking.

I am not saying SV would not be tops, just pointing out some MM details.

Question for everyone, do you guys think that survival instincts is still a desirable talent to get since steady is doing less than auto? I can not decide on it .

Shandara's spreadsheet has virtually all the PTR changes implemented and as such is a solid tool for comparing specs.

I get top dps builds for each spec as:

BM (53/15/3) is ~5900 dps with a scorpid (still top pet by about 250 dps). Funny enough, Imp Arcane doesn't seem to be more dps than the 3/5 in Imp Tracking.

MM (16/51/4) is ~6200 dps. Imp Arcane works properly; it's just that the tooltip was incorrect which led people who didn't do conclusive testing to assume it was broken. And Ferocity is still worth maxing out even post-nerf. Wild Quiver also becomes better than ISS when one starts using arcane and aimed shot on cooldown.

SV (1/15/55) is ~6900 dps. If one adds the roughly 450 dps given for theoretical trap dancing, it's ~7350. The spec also has ST for the fights where trap dancing is not viable.

So what does your rotation look like as SV with aimed shot?
SS ES AS Steady steady ES and so on? Or is the aimed shot only used when running to lay a trap so as to loose minimal dps?

Have you tried 5/15/51 for SV? I see some variant of that (perhaps Focused Fire instead of Aimed if mana is a problem; 3 points in Hawk Eye could go wherever) as beating your spec in the spreadsheet with my gear. As discussed in the SV thread, there is a major debate between trap dancing and Sniper Training, but Sniper Training seems to be the least optimal way to go due to buff range, so I never take it.

I would agree that Scorpids need to be "fixed" if they didn't demolish BM's base scaling so much, but BM now needs a Scorpid to remain "competitive" with other primary DPS classes (your definition of competitive may vary, of course). This is aside from the PvP impact of nerfing specific pets when Cats and Scorpids seem to be mainstays of arenas. Especially when/if drain teams become big again, nerfing the Scorpid might have a disproportional impact on PvP.

1k DPS difference is pretty heavy. I wonder which end is the 'wrong' one. I assume the gear isn't the same when you say best-in-slot?

It is going to be hard to justify being BM any more. For while this is a pure setup, the raidnumbers can't be that much different. Had it been a couple hundred DPS difference I think we could safely call the class balanced (within).
I guess I will have a go at MM, then slowly regear and regem to Surv. It is funny how MM is a sort of steppingstone. It scales well with BM gear, but it scales pretty well with Surv gear too, while BM and Surv scales less well with each other's gear.

As far as I know the spreadsheet can't account for trap-dancing at all, so the rotation is as you described.

That spec comes in about 25 dps higher for my best-in-slot gear setup. In reality it might be more or less dps than that depending on how beneficial trap dancing actually is. Trap dancing is going to have to be very good for me to consider using it personally though. Not every encounter is Patchwerk. The majority of raid encounters require a lot of movement, and I would be surprised if trap dancing is optimal in practice.

I don't think BM needs the Scorpid to remain competitive. 5400-5500ish dps in best-in-slot gear is about where I bet Blizzard wants BM, and every other hunter spec, to be at. BM without a Scorpid only really looks bad compared to SV. MM is also slightly higher than BM, but it also has a much more complex and mana-intensive rotation so in practice I think they'll be very close.

The gear between each spec actually is the same amazingly enough. The only thing that changes is the gems/enchants. I should also mention that I used a "reasonable" best-in-slot setup. i.e. no leather, nothing silly like the shoulders from Hyjal, etc.

I believe SV is at the wrong end right now. BM and MM are about where Blizzard wants us to be. SV is just overpowered currently. This is just my opinion/best guess, though.

ok So with the Hunter spreadsheet Live and PTR Version I have some interseting numbers of my Current spec. 50/21 BM. THis doesnt quite make sense in my head.

BM 50/21 Live Spreadsheet DPS: Total DPS- 3346.28
Hunter- 1853.33
Pet(Cat)-1492.95




BM 50/21 PTR Spreadsheet DPS: Total DPS- 5357.44
Hunter- 3216.80
Pet(Cat)-2140.64


As you can see the DPS went up for my pet and myself. This doesn't make sense in my head due to the Steady Shot, Pet, and Readiness Nerf. Can someone Clarify? Thanks

Either there is an error with your version of the spreadsheet or you must be inputting something incorrectly. You should definitely be coming out with over 5k dps in your gear. Check your talents, buffs, shot rotation, and pet rotation to make sure it's all accurate.

Excuse my ignorance, what kind of rotation is being used here? Serp -> Explosive -> Aimed -> SS -> SS repeat as necessary?