Always at the bottom of the DPS pile... - Builds, Talents and Class Mechanics - Hunter Forums
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7:30 am
Hey all, long-time lurker, first-time poster here. I just hit 
with my huntress and have her geared pretty well, I think, considering I've yet to raid.
http://www.wowarmory.com/chara…..n=Ryvertam
The problem is that when anyone shows a recount of DPS/damage thus far I'm always at the bottom, just one above the healer. My shot rotation goes something like:
Hunter's Mark -> Serpent Sting -> Kill Command -> Arcane x2 -> Steady Shot -> Kill Command -> Serpent Sting -> etc.
I'm wondering if Recount isn't counting my pet's damage or if I'm just missing something very obvious about my build. I throw in Kill Shot whenever possible, but honestly it's more likely my pet will crit for equal-to-greater damage than my Kill Shot does, so lately I've been spamming that.
Let me know what you think/if you need more info about my toon! It's my first and I got accepted into a raiding guild recently, so I want to prove I'm worth having along in Cata. Thanks, all!
8:40 am
Officer
September 8, 2010
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My first suggestion would be to not get so frustrated yet, it sounds and looks like you're just getting into the lvl stuff, so your dps will increase before long I promise. I would suggest upgrading your gear, either by running randoms and just looting as much as you can from the drops, or really I hesitate to even say because Cata is coming out really soon, but just grabbing a couple of pieces from the Hunter tier 9 or 10 set will really improve what you have now. Two pieces from the tier 9 alone will help your serpent sting damage, which will increase your overall damage. Around what dps are you charting in at now? A problem I've run into, is letting recount tell me I'm not doing a good job, because if you look at the others in your group, most of them have probably been not only running randoms, but all out raiding for a long time and have all epic level gear that is way better than what you or I are running around in right now.
I say just keep at the randoms, Pit of Saron drops a really nice crossbow that is best I've found just doing randoms, until you start doing 10 mans and such, the Felglacier Bolter is a really nice piece and fairly easy one to get your hands on too. Keep your head up!!
2:06 pm
Drach: thanks for the response! I didn't mean to sound frustrated (I'm not), just more confused than anything. I am working on getting attuned for Pit of Saron currently, so I'll keep my eyes peeled for that crossbow.
I don't happen to know offhand what DPS I'm currently charting. I did some quick testing this morning on 77-78 mobs and was getting something like 2000dps. I'm gonna do some more realistic testing this evening/tomorrow night, and will post those results as well.
Thanks again 
2:39 pm
Officer
September 8, 2010
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Sweet! I look forward to hearing about your results!
2:40 am
Proprietor
June 21, 2008
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Hi cap,
I was going to suggest installing Recount for yourself, but it sounds like you have it already. There is a setting in there to Merge Pets with Owners, but as long as you don't see Fido having his own bar, then pets DPS is likely merged with yours.
Our strength right now is single-target, as it always has been. Although we did have our AoE heyday throughout WotLK, that's a bygone era now. We can still do alright, but other classes can wax us now in the AoE dept. The only true way to measure a hunter's effectiveness now is by measuring damage during boss encounters. Blowing up level 78 mobs is not going to give you an accurate measurement.
At any rate… here are a few issues I see…
Your gear is pretty weak compared to most other players' at this stage of the game, but that's to be expected – you're a fresh . I wouldn't sweat this too much, as you'll be replacing it soon enough. Just keep running randoms and scarfing up w/e upgrades you can in the meantime.
You're wearing feral tanking boots. Those need replacing. They're not itemized all that well for a hunter, plus you're forsaking the delicious mail bonus.
You're well under the hit cap. This is a glaring problem, especially for hunters, and extra-especially for BM hunters. If you're not hit-capped, your pet isn't either. With a good portion of your DPS coming from ol' ClearEyes, you want to make sure all those swats are landing.
Speaking of your cat… your losing a lot of DPS by not speccing into Culling the Herd, as well as Wild Hunt. I suggest you drop Natural Armor, Lionhearted and 1 point in Bloodthirsty, then max out CtH and WH. Do this posthaste.
All in all though… try to grab some upgrades if possible, but don't get too hung up on your DPS. We're all going to be finding our way for the next several weeks (months?), so just continue to have fun and enjoy playing your hunter. Once you hit 85, then we can take a hard look at what you've got going on. But who knows… by that time you may be coming back here offering advice to others. 
Welcome to the forums btw.
3:23 am
Veteran
October 29, 2010
Offline
Hi Cap, I just wanted to second what Gar said about your pet. You're giving up a lot of dps, if your pet is taking a lot of damage in randoms, make sure growl is off as I'm sure you do, but also make sure you and your pet are hitting what the tank is hitting. Your pet won't take enough damage to need natural armor, and you really need Culling the Herd and Wild Hunt. There are a couple of staves in PoS and FoR I think that will be really good too with the crossbow. Goodluck!
10:33 pm
Hey Gar and Crimson, thanks for the advice!
I respec'd my pet tonight, and then went to the Pit and got that crossbow (Felglacier Bolter). Went to the Hall of Reflection after that and was 2nd overall DPS at ~2700 (non-heroic). Then did a Heroic Utgarde Keep and was 3rd with ~2100 DPS (would've been 2nd, except I got ganked by a dragon and left for dead for a couple skirmishes). Not 100% where I want to be, but MUCH better already!
Just gonna keep running random heroics, get my item levels up and try to get set for Cata. Might even hop into my guild's last ICC run pre-Cata this weekend.
Thanks again to everyone for the help!
11:10 pm
Proprietor
June 21, 2008
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Nice going cap. Sounds like you're already well on your way.
Grats on those upgrades too.
11:56 pm
Lodge Muse
September 12, 2010
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Looks like the boys have you covered.. Welcome to the boards!
1:03 pm
Officer
September 8, 2010
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That's awesome Cap! Keep it up
6:03 pm
Update:
I'm Ryvertam, and that was a heroic dungeon. Also, went on a 10-man pug to Ony the other night and dominated DPS until I died (at which point a couple of those still conscious got ahead). It's not quite the 4000-6000dps I've seen come off other toons in other heroics, but I'm doing much better. Thanks to all of you for the advice and help! Still working on replacing a few pieces of gear to really maximize damage
9:37 pm
Veteran
September 26, 2010
Offline
Forgive me if I'm preaching to the converted…
I recently added a little bit of code to my Hunter's Mark macro that has had an instant improvement in my own DPS. Perhaps it may help you, unless you are already using something similar…
/cast [target=focustarget,harm,nodead] Hunter's Mark;Hunter's Mark
Of course, first thing I do in an instance is set my Focus (tank) and this line ensures that unless I select my own target, I'll always be targeting what the tank is.
I get a great big signal via Power Auras that I need to renew my 'Mark and presto, the shots fall onto the tank's target.
It's not an adventure unless your life is in peril!
7:07 am
That sounds like it'd be super helpful. But would I have to keep targeting the tank first before marking?
8:04 am
Officer
September 8, 2010
Offline
Nope, once you've set your tank as your focus, they will always be your focus until you change it. So once you have your focus set and use the macro, or anyone like it, you'll start attacking your tanks target automatically. It's really handy. I always set my tank as focus right at the beginning of a run, and then bring the pain!
I use this macro, it's a bit rougher than the one suggested, but gets the job done. It attacks what my focus (the tank) is attacking, puts up H-Mark, starts my auto attack, and sends in my pet to attack as well.
/assist Focus
/cast Hunter’s Mark
/petattack
/startattack
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