I haven’t been able to do a whole heck of a lot, but here’s what’s gone on…
As mentioned in the previous post, I’ve decided to focus on Beast Mastery at the moment; wrapping my head around it, then focusing on MM & SV once I feel comfortable with BM.
The PvP spec I’m going to try looks like this: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cfhfckGdRRoZh
I’m not saying this is a recommended BM PvP spec, but it’s what made sense to me – for BM anyway. As for glyphs, I haven’t gotten that far yet.
The PvE spec I went with looks like this: http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cfhfckGzRRobZc:zsVcVsMz0
The only talent I’m on the fence about is Pathing. With Focus Fire up, I’ve got an already well-hasted 1.5 second Steady Shot cast time. Toss in the occasional proc from Needle Encrusted Scorpion (1.27 sec w/ buff), Potion of Speed, Ancient Hysteria or Rapid Fire (1.1 sec w/ buff), and I’m fast approaching a 1 second cast time – self buffed. Add a Windfury Totem to that and/or some stacking haste procs, and I’ll be reaching below the 1 sec global cooldown threshold.
This is also after reforging all of my haste in favor of Mastery. The image at right gives some examples of my Steady Shot cast times at my haste level, while self-buffed, and using no stacking haste or attack speed buffs. Even without Serpent’s Swiftness, BM hunters are still hasty. 😉
As you can see, I’m already pretty well hasted, so I’m thinking I may steal some points from Pathing and dump them into Improved Serpent Sting. I’m also not seeing focus regen being a problem as a Beast Master. We are well hasted by default, plus we have a plethora of talents to help prevent us from becoming focus-starved.
But isn’t haste the bees knees..? Doesn’t it help us regenerate focus at a faster rate..?
Yes, but it’s still only slightly better than it was pre-4.0.1. I’ll talk about stat weights in a moment…
As far as the glyphs I went with… they are a combination of ones I’d already known, and ones that weren’t requiring me to take out a loan to purchase them from the auction house. Scribes are making a killing right now, I’m sure.
I may swap out one or two in due time – we’ll see.
Hunter Stats in 4.0.1
Hit Rating is still the number one stat we must concern ourselves with. However, once we hit the hit rating cap of 8% (i.e., 246 hit rating w/out buffs of any sort), we can move on to the fun stuff…
Right now agility reigns supreme over all other DPS stats. Agility is now giving us 2 attack power per point of agility instead of 1 AP, as well as some crit.
After agility, Mastery is the next stat to focus on. Since Reforging is the only way to obtain Mastery at the moment, it is recommended that you reforge your secondary stats like haste and crit, in favor of more Mastery.
Crit is still a good stat, but it doesn’t shine as brightly as Mastery – especially as far as Beast Masters are concerned. We have far fewer crit-based talents, which in turn leaves crits looking somewhat less lustrous these days. A double damage attack is still nice, but crits are not as synergistic as before. A flat percentage-based increase to pet damage is better than crit, so don’t hesitate to trade some crit for Mastery.
Haste is slightly more desirable than it was pre-4.0.1, but it’s still at the bottom of the heap in terms of importance. Haste only affects two of our shots (auto and steady), and it still suffers from diminishing returns. Once the 1 sec Steady Shot cast time has been met (i.e., haste soft cap), the only benefits beyond that are more frequent auto shots and an ever-so-slightly increased focus regen rate.
Haste is a good stat, but it’s not as good as Mastery and not quite as good as crit. Beast Masters especially, should not worry about haste too much, since we already have a nice near-passive 15% haste buff with Focus Fire. I think it’s safe to say that you should reforge any haste on your gear, and shift those stats towards Mastery. BM hunters have a lot of talents to boost pet damage, which makes a percentage-based pet damage modifier quite attractive.
BM Shot Priority in 4.0.1
Obviously, one of the things I’ve been working on is the new shot priority for Beast Masters. I’ve not had a great deal of time to practice it yet, but from what I can tell….
Kill Command is our number one damage dealer, and top-priority attack, apart from Kill Shot. After KC, it’s Arcane Shot, then Steady Shot – all the while making sure that Serpent Sting is active.
So basically…
- Hit Kill Command as soon as it’s off cooldown
- Apply Serpent Sting when it falls off
- Arcane Shot when KC is on cooldown
- Steady Shot to regen focus
While under the effect of TBW, we can pretty much spam Arcane Shot like nobody’s business, weaving in Kill Command when it’s ready. This is also seems like a good time to use Fervor, as it allows for maximum Arcane spammage while under TBW. You shouldn’t need to use Steady Shot at all while in big red.
Focus Fire is the new Kill Command
…for beast Masters anyway. Although I’m sure it could benefit from micro-management, the easiest way to go about things right now seems to be having Focus Fire macro’d in with all shots, much as KC was pre-4.0.1.
I have Arcane, Steady, KC and Serpent Sting set up like this:
#showtooltip Arcane Shot
/cast !Auto Shot
/cast Focus Fire
/cast Arcane Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()
Since Focus Fire is not on the GCD, this macro enables it to fire off every time it’s available, ensuring that I’m always properly hasted. Manual activation of FF would probably be ideal, but c’mon… getting used to the new shot priority and resource system is enough of a chore.
Anyway, try the macro and see if you like it. 🙂
Alright, so those are a few of my early impressions, thoughts, tips, etc… This info is subject to change in the weeks ahead, considering Blizz will no doubt be tweaking things, as well as me doing more work out in the field. I still have yet to enter a BG or complete a heroic. I tried to run a heroic last night, but DC’d just after entering. Maybe tonight I’ll have better luck.
I’ll try my best to stay on top of things and keep all youse updated with new findings and revelations…
Now for the important news!
I added some beasties to the collection… 😀
Only 17 more to go. 😀
Are all of you having as much fun as I am in the Pre-Cataclysm era..?
more later…
Hey Garwulf , any chance you could let me know the name of your mini map addon ?? :)….also , do you know of any addons that we can use to make the chat frame box fade out on command ?…..it’s annoying having to look past it while in a battle for WG….hope you can help ….Cheers & Thank’s In Advance !!
Bam.
I use Chinchilla for my minimap.
I used to have my chat frame fade out when it was not active, but I couldn’t configure that option this time. I can’t remember why exactly, but I’ll be looking for a way to do it whilst I work at updating my whole UI comp.
Thanks Garwulf on the REFORGING and macro’s.It really beefed my stats up.
You’re welcome Bullranger. 🙂
Not sure if you saw my post in your “Bah” article, but I’m still struggling to keep my pet within range of a target to use Kill Command when in a BG. I’ve invested a lot of talent points in speed and mobility for the pets, which helps some, but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. For now I’ve put AS and KC hotkeys right next to each other, and I just spam them both while in a BG: KC followed a split second later by AS. That helps a lot, since AS fires if KC couldn’t for some reason, but it’s a pain.
I still LOVE have a Spirit Beast as my personal pocket healer. I can’t seem to make any good use of the new Chimera ability, as the pet almost never has enough focus for that. Silithid’s will be good once my skills are up, but right now my rotation requires too much concentration for me to also micro-manage the web ability. Corehounds are great once every 10 minutes… no so great in between. I still need to test out worms in a PVP context.
Playing a hunter is WAY harder than it was before. You have more abilities to manage, the shot rotation is unpredictable and reactionary, but perhaps most importantly the entire shot rotation must be done 50% faster since the GCD is now 1.0 sec instead of 1.5 sec. I think it may take me quite a while to really play well.
Pets are really buggy right now, which sucks for Beast Masters. Having slow pets in BGs is a real disadvantage for sure. I expect this stuff will get ironed out soon, however.
I agree… Spirit Beasts are awesome now. 🙂 I’ve tried the Core Hound and Devilsaur – both are great, but have yet to try any other exotics. I’m not sure about Chimaeras either… they may be more for situational use in certain BGs. Silithids will be fun to play around with.
I feel a bit broken right now. I am maybe 60% of the hunter I was before the patch. A big part of that is my tackling of the learning curve, the other part is we’re just not as powerful as some of the other classes – period. Let’s just keep our chins up and see how Blizzard adjusts things in the coming weeks.
Also note that we will probably feel a little weak until we get Aspect of the Fox. I think (hope) we start to shine more once we hit level 81. We shall see…
i like the new setup !!…though , i’m still taking baby steps setting up macros, roatation what have you….my first encounter with it was in WG where i ran into a Night Elf Hunter…hehehe….i sent my Spirit Wolf after him in stealth…kicked in Kill Command once he was on him followed by Intimidation , Bestial Wrath….fired off 2 Arcane Shots , Kill Shot…and he dropped like a rock !….I’m still getting used to having to use Steady Shot for Focus Regen …but it’s coming together !!…perhaps a trip to the Bg’s is in order soon !. i also need to reforge to Mastery…and resocket some of my gems to reach Hit Cap….so much to do !!….Great site !!! Keep up the fantastic work !! .
Bam… 80 Orc Hunter.
I like that macro! It works nicely for me in my rotation. 🙂
I have a question for PVP gemming. We’re still gonna want the 75 spell pen, yeah? That didn’t change? Just wanted to make sure.
And if recount’s not working, maybe try Skada? I like that meter a lot.
As far as I know, Spell Pen is still needed. If I see some info contrary to that, I’ll post it.
My Recount seems to be working fine, but I have been a stickler about trying to get all the most recent updates.
Sense arc shot is used so much with bm now , spammed whenever KC is on CD. i wonder if SPen is worth it for bm now. Good idea to test it on someone w/ kings or MotW. compare crit and non crit w/ SP and w/o after several shots.
I tamed the same silithid! Nice choice 😉
Looking forward to trying out the macro, thanks for that. Before I scrolled down that far I was thinking, “I need to ask some folks for post-patch macros,” but you beat me to it. I’ve only done moderate testing, and I did most of mine “live” in some random Heroics but found BM to be slightly out-dpsing SV, *especially* after I reforged ALL the +Haste on my gear to +Mastery. That’s a “must” I think and I would guess it’s the same for MM.
Thanks again for the great site and insight, Gar.
I like that bug myself. 🙂 I had him for awhile, but ended up having to dump him for a MM PvP pet. I’m so glad we’re not limited to the 5 slots anymore. It’s liberating..!
Glad you enjoy the site. 🙂
Hey Gar, and anyone else for that matter, it came to my attention that if you are using recount as your damage meter that it is not updating correctly, my recount showed me doing a measly 3.2k DPS in the first wing of ICC 25, however when someone linked the dps meter I was running second place with a whopping 14k!!!! not sure exactly what is going on with Recount but you may want to update it directly from their site or something and not use the Curse,com client like I did,
Hope this Helps and Happy Hunting!!!!!
So far my Recount has been pretty accurate – at least I think so. I’ve noticed a DPS loss, but it hasn’t been atrocious.
I did notice a new update late last night, so as with all other addons, my advice would be for everyone to check the addon sites often. Updates are coming multiple times daily for certain addons.
Find me in-game Gar, I got any glyph you need. 😉
You’re mah boy Blaqy. 😀 I will look for you.
I haven’t been back in a heroic yet as I’ve been running around taming rare-spawns and pets out of dungeons ( I am sooooo in love with 20+ stable slots!!), but has our damge really been nerfed that hard? Prior to patch, my BM hunter could pull 5k in a heroic and my MM hunter could pull upwards of 7k. To hear people talking about doing 2-3k and still pulling off the tank makes me fear for going back into heroics. =(
Hey Gar, how long did you have to wait for the white monkey? I’ve currently got my Poke-hunter logged out in the cave by his spawn point and the wait is KILLING me!
BTW, I don’t know about you guys, but taming T-Rexes is addicting. =) As I was flying into Un-Goro to go tame said white monkey, I flew over the white T-Rex. As I was riding to where he would be in his pathing, I came across the orange T-Rex and figured “I just want any T-Rex, till I hunt Krush so I’ll tame this guy.” Well as I’m riding towards the monkey cave, I DO come across the white one, so I tame him too. Now tonight I’m going to go to Netherstorm and tame the black one. Then it will just leave the elusive green giant. DAMN I love being a hunter!!!!
I went into the cave the night of the patch and he wasn’t there. The following day I was flying through Sholazar looking for Aotona, then decided to take the portal to Un’Goro for another attempt at Uhk’loc.
I ran in and saw him back there as I was running up the path to his little den area. No waiting at all really… I got fairly lucky I suppose.
My hunter (pre-4.0.1) was doing 8K, almost 9K DPS on bosses (heroic bosses, more than that on ICC raids due to the buff) as Marksman. After 4.0.1? I am doing around 5-6k. I think I had a bit more of a grip on the rotation yesterday (or they stealth-buffed us).
For BM I was under 5k, but close to it, with a pet that was level 77/78. I likely would have been more because I wasn’t making liberal use of TBW/Bestial Wrath and didn’t have Kill Command as high up on priority (derp).
I don’t think it’s as bad as people think, but it’s definitely not the same as before. The resource management is a little more tricky and your rotation has more reaction required in it.
(Oh – I forgot I wanted to grab a T-Rex. It’s pretty much a Wolf with an extra ability)
Our priority has a lot more going on now. Without a predictable resource system, we’re left having to make split second decisions on a continual basis. I imagine once we get used to it, a natural rhythm will start to set in, but until then…
I know I’m humbled. :-\
I don’t think the main issue is that everyone’s having to find their way again. Playing a hunter is a bit more frenzied now and many players (including myself) have just not gotten up to speed with it yet.
However, I do know that our best-possible is still a ways behind where many of the caster classes are. In that sense, we have been nerfed somewhat, but I expect it will even out in the next week or two.
Boy you can say that again regarding the casters. I went into AV on patch night to tame a sweet white wolf and I was one-shotted by a mage that crit me for over 30k. I read, re-read and read for a third time the combat log because I was so sure that hadn’t just happened. Then I sat there and started at it for a minute or so with my mind screaming “WTF WAS THAT?!?!?!” Damn clothies. >=(
The next damage pass can’t come soon enough.
On your second trip to the cave, eh? Curse you, Gar! Not fair. =P
I have realized that I used volley for lots of thing, crowd control, saving my wifes rouge and farming(skinning), short of throwing traps it seem there is no other shot like it – Didn’t realize I would miss it so much. Other options?
Launch an Immolation Trap a few seconds before the pull, then spam Multi-Shot. You’ll need to break off the occasional steady to regen some focus, but that appears to be our new AoE. *shrugs* For beefier mobs, such as those in ICC, you could go big red for each pull, allowing for a bunch of Multi-Shots (due to the reduced focus cost). Toss in fervor and you’ll be chain-firing multis like a madman.
This of course is assuming you’re BM.
The PVP BM spec you made is pretty much exactly what I did. I still need to go reforge mastery though. Also regem. what do you think of the new resilience?
I haven’t BG’d yet, but I hear it’s crap. I read that Blizz will be buffing it though.
Once I feel confident enough to enter a BG, I’ll post my thoughts.
So do you think that for now, since it is crapish maybe on pvp gear reforge resil for mastery?
No, I say leave it. From what I know, Blizz intends to buff resilience.
You can’t reforge resilience unfortunately, it must count as a primary stat.
Hi Gar,
Thanks for the info and your thoughts. I’ll try the macro out as soon as I get the chance.
Did my first HC dungeon yesterday with my guild and as Porcia said, our tank was having trouble holding aggro at first but then through a bit of dialogue and trial and error he was better at it and we managed better. We didnt have any wipes thankfully but as Porcia said, I was also struggling to get my dps above 3k. Mainly I was around 2-2.5K which admittedly is poor, but I could swear the mobs and bosses went down a lot easier than before. So perhaps, while our dps has been nerfed, so have the mobs and bosses? Any thoughts on this anyone?
Tough to say… It may be that we’re more bursty now. I did one heroic last night and found my overall to be pretty poopy, but I was doing up near 9k on bosses, with the Lock in our group right on my heels. Single target boss fights seem pretty easy right now as BM since we have such a supply of focus during big red. The trash pulls were a little less comfortable, but I’m sure in time I’ll work it out.
I don’t think the PvE mobs have been nerfed – – I just think it’s a case of getting to terms with our new damage output.
TY! I liked the macro and the tips, keep going (:
You’re welcome Jerry. 🙂
I just wrapped up my first heroic… I’ll have more tomorrow.
Thanks for the info. I knew I could come here and get some info on BM pvp 🙂 I initially put the extra talents in Improved Stings, but I am going to respec and try the 10% extra stamina. Going to give your macro a try. BM has a lot going on right now, it is a much appreciated change.
BM has A LOT going on right now for sure. I agree… it is a much needed change. I’m still too scared to try a BG, but maybe later on this evening I’ll serve myself up a dose of humility.
Thanks Gar been pounding the target dummy’s for 2 nite’s trying to get my DPS up above 3k and pulling my hair out cause I can’t seem to get it right. Guild had a run through HoL last night and we wiped first try warrior tank could not hold agro.
Going to give your shot rotation and macro a go tonight.
Keep at it Porcia, and I hope the bits of advice help somewhat. 🙂