Dear Hunter Community,

I’ve got a dilemma and I need your advice. Lately I’ve really had the itch to spec Survival, mainly because our guild is on a roll progression-wise and I’d like to be able to contribute more DPS if possible. I’m still rocking the meters as BM, but sometimes I wish I were specced SV, especially for the pet unfriendly fights. I also want to try it out for PVP due to its bursty goodness.

The main problem right now with a SV respec for me is… I only have 2 non-exotic pets; a gorilla and a wolf. Gorilla will be nice in 3.1 for PvP with the Pummel skill, and the wolf will be among the top choices for all raiding hunters in 3.1 with the improvement to Furious Howl. However, until 3.1 both of those pets are fail for both PvP and raiding. My only other option would be to abandon one of my beloved pets and go tame another. But who would I let go and what would I get?

I will undoubtedly remain BM for one of my specs after 3.1 hits. I’ve always identified with the ultimate “Huntard” spec (a little sarcasm there… and man am I so F-ing sick of the gross overuse and misuse of that word) and will continue to do so. I guess it’s the animal lover in me.

With that said, it’s a given then that I am going to use exotic pets after the patch. Right now I feel I am too heavily invested in BM with three exotic pets in my stable. No matter what, I am probably going to release one of them after the patch anyway. So my present thinking is that I release one of my 3 exotics and go for a Cat, Raptor or Wasp.

My three exotics are: Loque’nahak, King Krush and Nuramoc. Conventional wisdom would say, this choice is easy… just get rid of either Loque or Krush because you don’t need 2 exotic Ferocity pets. My response to that is, WHAT..??!!

King Krush is my favorite pet at the moment. I love the guy, and I’ve yet to see another Hunter on Kul Tiras who has a big green Devilsaur. That right there equals major cool points for me. When I receive the almost nightly tells from other hunters who want him, it’s nice to be able to direct the young Hunterlings to YouTube or this website in order to see how I solo-tamed him.

Loque’nahak is perhaps the most attractive of all my pets, but is becoming increasingly more ordinary on my server. I feel that Loque is going to be the new Humar (in the sense that although it’s rare, every hunter will have one) as more Hunters hit 80 and become dual-specced. Since Krush has a bit higher DPS than Loque, I use Krush about 99% of the time when running raids or instances. Loque has more or less become a vanity pet along with my Grimtotem Spirit Guide. I suppose maybe I should just abandon Loque and tame a pet I’m going to use more often.

NO WAY!

I spent the better part of 2 weeks trying to catch her. Even if I did decide to abandon Loque, there’s a chance I might want her back at some point and there’s no way I’d ever want to force myself to go through that hunt again.

Yet, Although the idea of it sounds blasphemous, if Loque becomes increasingly more common and doesn’t emerge as a top DPS pet, I would consider setting her free later on down the road. But for right now, she stays. I’ll tell you what though… if Blizz introduces a black Spirit Worg, Loque’s bags are packed.

So here I sit with 2 Ferocity pets that I cannot bear to live without, at least for now anyway. Krush isn’t going anywhere and neither is Loque’nahak, so I guess that leads us to my last exotic, Nuramoc.

My Chimera is the pet I’d most likely let go. I tamed him for PvP use, but more often than not I use Krush in BGs and arena. The problem with releasing him is, Chimeras are going to get a whole lot better for PvP in the coming patch. They are also looking pretty decent for raid DPS as well with the damage normalization across the trees and the buffs that Cunning will be receiving.

Another question is which spec will I use for PvP in 3.1? Right now I’m thinking that I’ll use both. I like the idea of having a PvP focused BM build and a DPS dealing MM or SV spec. I’ll probably BG as BM, then switch it up for arena depending upon my team composition.

So if I don’t intend to raid, but mainly PvP as Beast Mastery, which pet(s) am I going to use? This raises another interesting question… why have the top two DPS pets available, Loque’nahak and King Krush, if you’re not going to raid as a BM Hunter? The answer is simple… because I like them, that’s why! I’ve always been silly like that, but I think it’s good to not take this game too seriously anyway.

Also, at some point I imagine our guild will pick up a few Hunters, especially when we’re hitting 25 man content. In situations where we have another hunter or two, I would definitely roll as BM for the raid-wide Ferocious Inspiration buff. That’s when it’ll be nice to have an ass-kicking Devilsaur by my side.

My ape is sticking around because I think that Pummel is going to rock for arena, especially for BM and MM hunters. BMs will have a silence on a 21 second cooldown, and MM will have healer shut-down mode with Pummel, Silencing Shot and Readiness.

I imagine I’ll still use Krush for PvP along with my gorilla while I’m BM. Heck, I may even break out the ghost wolf now and again to freak the Horde out. They’ll ignore it thinking it’s just some Enhance Shammy’s pet; meanwhile it’ll be tearing their face off. My Grimtotem Spirit Guide will finally emerge as a top DPS pet for all specs in 3.1. That makes me happy in the pants because so far he’s just been taking up a 5th stable slot, only to be used once in a blue moon when I feel like receiving some oooohhhs… and aaaahhhs. I’ll no longer have to feel like I only have four stable slots.

So here’s my thinking… although I probably will PvP primarily as a Beast Mastery Hunter, I think that the Chimera is going to be my expendable pet. Gorilla will be a good PvP pet with any spec, and I also like the exotic Ferocity pets for PvP too because of Heart of the Phoenix, not to mention the additional DPS.

For PvE I plan on using a wolf mainly, which is great because I already have one at level 80. Right now I’m on the fence about my PvE dual spec, but I’m definitely interested in MM at the moment.

So wait a minute… if I’m thinking of speccing MM after the patch and using a wolf, why abandon any of my pets??? I guess that’s because I’m being impatient and I want to experience 4.5K DPS right now!

Now that I’ve thoroughly given some critical thinking to this dilemma, maybe I should just hold my horses. I plan on using my wolf for PvE no matter what, so why should I bother with taming and leveling another non-exotic DPS pet only to abandon it in a few weeks after 3.1.

My Chimera would be nice to still have around when 3.1 comes out to see how effective Cunning pets are going to be after the buffs. I’d also have to re-gem and re-glyph… aw hell… I think I’ll just sit tight and wait for the patch.

However, I do have that “I need to hunt down and tame a new rare pet” itch. It’s burning feverishly too. I always get it after awhile. If only they’d allow us zookeeper type hunters to purchase additional stable slots. C’mon Blizz, please…

Oh well, must… resist… urge… to… tame… new… pet.

You guys are such good listeners. Thank you for your time and continued support.

Tagged as: beast mastery, dual spec, exotic pets, king krush, loque'nahak, marksmanship, patch 3.1, pvp, survival