This blog isn’t about raiding and it certainly isn’t about theorycrafting. What it is intended for is to share news, stories and advice about about a class I am passionate about, within a game I enjoy.
However… just because I’m a freak for rare pets and choose to spend my time talking about taming Spirit Beasts as opposed to arguing about Armor Penetration vs. Attack Power, that doesn’t mean I’m a lightweight when it comes to button pushing. No siree… I can push buttons with the best of ’em.
I’m not a spreadsheet guy, nor am I a go-with-the-cookie-cutter-highest-dps-spec sort of Hunter. I have always played the spec I enjoy, placing more emphasis on having fun and being comfortable with the play-style, rather than going for the uber damage build. Coincidentally, the spec I enjoy raiding with right now also happens to be a top DPS spec as well. Bonus. 😉
I’m a Beast Mastery Hunter at heart – always have been and always will be. Presently, I raid as MM because it’s in the best interest of my guild (being that I’m usually the only Hunter in our raids), but I really would like to raid as BM again. Perhaps when our pets get buffed a bit more, or our guild secures another Hunter, I will go back to Beast Mastery for PvE.
Prior to the dual specializations, I always raided as Beast Mastery. Even though I was sometimes shown up (“owned” may be a better way to put it) by well geared and skilled SV and/or MM Hunters, I really liked the plight of the underdog. It was always fun for me to try and prove that my beloved spec was fully capable in the right hands, even though it was statistically inferior.
I really enjoy the Hunter class as a whole, but I’ve always been partial to the Beast Mastery tree, almost as if it were another class unto itself. I’ve flirted with Marksman over the years, only from a PvP standpoint, but I’ve never really been interested in the Survival tree. That may put some of you off, but I’m just keepin’ it real. I am a Hunter, but I consider myself a Beast Mastery Hunter first and foremost. I’ve always played the spec I enjoy as opposed to going with the supposed top damage spec at the time.
While I do like to make my name go higher up on the bar graph thingy… I just don’t see that as a priority in my WoW experience. The following list serves as a quick example of my in-game priorities, and/or things I find most enjoyable about WoW.
- Taming rare pets
- PvP achievements
- Raid progression
- Loots
- Topping DPS meter
- Leveling fishing
With that said, although this blog doesn’t tend to delve too deeply into DPS theorycrafting and the like, that doesn’t mean I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. If you have any questions concerning specs, shot priorities, gear, enchants, or any other BS, please fire way.
While I try to reply to each and every comment that’s posted here, provided it’s in the form of a question, the forums are the ideal place to inquire about furthering your Huntering abilities.
Anyhow… after a two month break, I’ve been pretty happy to get the opportunity to raid again. My wife and son went out of town for a week, so that’s left daddy with more time to work during the day and play at night. Since my last raid, which was about two months ago, our guild’s picked up a lot of new members. After a lengthy rebuilding period, we are just now finally able to start fielding 25 mans again. The future for Clan Destined is looking bright indeed.
I’ll end tonight’s post with a souvenir from tonight’s raid. Here’s some Marksman-Hunter-Patchwerk-Face-Melting at it’s finest. Our Death Knight always hates it when I beat him too. Especially by a c**k hair as he would put it. 😉
I don’t mean to brag (well… maybe I do), but I’m guessing that’s pretty respectable for a casual raider in ilvl 200-213s. Not to mention I forgot to blow my Rapid Fire at the end of the fight, which may have had me breeching the 5.7k mark. Not only am I a noob… I’m a rusty noob. I’ll try to do better next time. 😉
On Sunday we’re finishing up the run, with only Thaddius, Saph and KT left to down. Oh how I’d love to get my mitts on that boomstick.
I’ll keep you posted.
Alright, I know this is a little bit off topic…but —
I use bartender and that’s it for UI — I rock the blizzard UI for everything else (even when I’m healing — I just drag out those raid tabs when I’m on my druid.)
Here’s the question, Garwulf — Where’d you get the sexy UI? I’ve tried Xperl and Grid and blahblahblah but I just get frustrated with all the crazy settings. Are you running many addons at once to get your UI like that? Let me know!
Petrify — Llane
Petrify,
My UI is a result of messing with addons for a few years now. Every couple of months I try to refine it a bit more, try new addons, chuck ones that I don’t find useful anymore, etc…
I’m actually working on an updated version of this one right now. https://huntsmanslodge.com/4238/the-garwulf-ui-v-3-0.htm
I’ll post info about it as soon as I’m happy with it. 🙂
Lol at people asking “is that overall dps for the whole raid?”
No, it says it isn’t. And if it was, that would be stupid because overall damage for an entire raid means NOTHING get it through your head. No one cares how many volleys you got off on trash. It’s dps on bosses, dps that decides whether the boss dies or not, that really matters.
By the way, hunters from my guild were topping 7k on patchwerk during 3.0. This date indicates that Ulduar is out.
I reset after each boss fight for two reasons. Recount gets bogged down with data after awhile, and since I run more than a few addons I like to keep things to a minimum.
The second reason is that I find it useless to track overall data. Boss fights are where maximizing your DPS matters most. Trash pulls don’t help progression nearly as much as downing a boss. While it can be fun to glance down and see Recount hitting 7K on some trash, it’s really inconsequential Imo.
My average in Naxx is probably around 4.8K I’d guess. Most boss fights have me between 4.6k to 5k.
@ Dalaila
There’s no denying it… I’m still a Beast Mastery Hunter. I parade around as MM when I’m raiding, but the rest of the time it’s BM. While I do enjoy MM, I’d prefer to be able to spec BM again if the damage was competitive and the majority of fights were pet friendly.
However, I do like farming mammoth meat in the Storm Peaks while specced MM. That’s good times. Drop a frost trap in front of the herd, Volley and collect the goodies.
@ Sylmae
I think MM/BM is a great dual spec. I love being able to buff my raid with the extra 10% AP, while also being able to contribute a good amount of personal dps. Like you, I enjoy being able to pull my exotic pets out when I’m not raiding. Even if we didn’t have special pets I’d still spec BM just because I like it so much, but having pets unique to our spec is a bonus.
I dualspec BM/MM for basically the same reason as you. Thanks for making me feel good about it again! 🙂 I’m not pushing 5.7k (except AOEing trash at the beginning of Spider Wing rofl) but I am the only raiding hunter in my guild and am proud to be frequently tops on the DPS meter, and still able to spend quality dailies-time with my Loque’Nahak.
P.s.
Your blog title is back to “Stories, tips and musings from a Beast Mastery Hunter”.
Wy BM? 😉
Well that’s a LOT of damage indeed. Is that overall DPS or dps on Patch only? What’s your overall dps while running the raid? I generally float around 4300. More if I get good buffs (raid composition).