Inara,
Sorry it's taken me more than a few days to get back to you. Just been busy again is all...
Alrighty, so here's my advice for you...
If you like BM but switched to SV for the damage boost, I recommend going to higher DPS BM build and enjoying yourself. The "best spec" is the one that suits you, not the one that's best on paper or... errr... the internets.
Survival is a complicated spec to play and I find that most Hunters don't know how best to utilize it to benefit from the added DPS potential. If you like exotics, and you like the Beast Mastery tree, then I say go with a BM DPS build like this:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#ctbMzxgRfu0estce0oZx00o:Vib
I guarantee that if you follow that build to a tee, you will see massive gains in DPS as a Beast Master.
Also, you're still wearing a few pieces of gear that are not itemized properly for Hunters. Dump the strength and defense items and throw on something with useful stats like agility & attack power. Even if you swap them out for green items you'll still benefit more from them that what you're currently wearing.
A Stained Glass Shard ring can be picked up off of the auction house for pretty cheap. I'd suggest buying one right away. If you can afford one, a Titanium Impact Band would be great for your other hand.
When you get an upgrade to your ranged wep, throw a 40 crit scope on it. You'll be a lot better off than with a 40 haste scope.
Lastly, look for trinkets that give you attack power as opposed to crit. Crit is nice, but it doesn't translate to your pet like AP does.
Well, those are a few tidbits of advice to chew on.
Garwulf said:
The "best spec" is the one that suits you, not the one that's best on paper or… errr… the internets
Truth, And nothing but it. Beautifully said :3
…*Edit*…I fail…at quoteing. lol
Heya guys
As this topic states "Gearing For A noob" I hope this helps.
Before WOTLK I would never dream of "Pugging" instances or raids but times have changed. I'm in a great Guild and have the chance to raid in the TOC & Ulduar 25's every week. But thats about it. All the rest I pug.
The "LFG" button on your interface is your best tool in the game.
Goto your Armory link and use the the "Find Upgrade" button next to all of your items and make a list of what you want and where it comes from. Dont set your sights on items that are way out of your reach. Focus initially of Normal Dungeons, then Heroic Dungeons, then maybe a 10man Naxramas. You can pug 10man Nax, VoA (wintergrasp), Sartharion & Twighlight Drakes. These are all relitively easy encounters that you can get nice gear from.
Heroics are the easiest way to get started. Grab your daily quest, sign up in LFG and then head out and do whatever it is you do until you are invited.
By doing the "Daily Heroic" every day you earn badges from the run itself and "Triumph Badges" from the quest reward, that you can use to purchase epic gear. Off memory I think the cheapest Armor piece is 30 Triumph Badges. 2 weeks work.
When my Guild first started raiding in Nax, i had my sheet of paper next to me with all the items I wanted and knew which boss dropped what. The only downside in a Pug is you basically have to win the roll to get your prize. Most Pug raid leaders are fair and try to make sure that 1 person doesn't get all the loot.
After a few weeks of Daily heroics and maybe the odd raid, you will find that your gear will look after itself. Dont go over board on Gems and Enchants because your probably going to change that item fairly quickly.
If you do get a nice item and know that the next upgrade maybe a fair way off then go for a good enchant and Gems. You can make several hundred gold a day just from dailies.
(I highly recommend Sons of Hodir daily's be top priority for the best Shoulder enchant available @ exalted)
Also Kirin Tor have a nice Head enchant @ exalted so wear your Tabard everywhere.
Other than that its really up to you to do your homework and read sites like this and use the links that are available.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Great advice Striyka. Since I finally managed to level my 2nd 80, I'll be doing precisely this.
I think you were referring to the Arcanum of Torment from Knights of the Ebon Blade when you mentioned Kirin Tor. Other than that, spot on advice.
I just hope I can find some groups who are still running Naxx. 😐
Hey Everybody!
First off, big props to Garwulf for keeping this site up, running, updated, and so freaking full of valuable info! I've been playing WoW for a little over 5 months I think and I just dinged 80 last Sunday....I guess you can say I'm a noob! I've been lurking here for a couple of months, basically reading what I can and trying to follow everything that Garwulf says to a T. Now that I've hit 80, and I've started the arduous task of upgrading all of my gear I've run in to a question.
First things first
I'm a BM hunter and I'm very concerned about my dps. I know my gear needs to be updated and I'm currently rep grinding and running dailies to get it up to par as quick a s possible.
I saw in some earlier posts the link that Gar shows detailing beastly BM dps, so I re-spec'd. I'm just curious if this is still accurate for my build? I think whats throwing me off is the absence of aimed shot. I thought that I had read before somewhere else on this site that he stood strongly behind that talent.....maybe I'm wrong.
PS - please feel free to critique everything about me....I welcome any and all comments if it makes me a better player
Hi Stamp,
Your build looks great. You don't need Aimed Shot for PvE, only for PvP.
Your shot priority is this: Kill Shot > Arcane Shot > Multi Shot > Serpent Sting > Steady Shot
Basically, all you need to worry about is keeping Serpent Sting on your target and spamming Steadies. Throw Arcane and Multi in when their CDs are up. If you're going through your mana pool too quickly, or in multi-mob situations, just drop Multi from the rotation.
Of course, use Bestial Wrath every time it's up as well. Use this macro if you aren't already:
/petattack
/cast Bestial Wrath
/use 13
/cast Kill Command
/cast Call of the Wild
/cast Rabid
You'll also want to time your Rapid Fire with Bestial Wrath.
For your Glyphs: Bestial Wrath (which you already have), Steady Shot, and either Glyph of the Hawk or Serpent Sting
I'd probably go with Serpent Sting because it'll make your rotation easier, plus the extra 6 seconds per application will make you more mana efficient.
Your gear looks alright apart from the 2 pcs you have with expertise on them. I understand if you have nothing better, but the expertise is taking the place of a more valuable stat.
Your hit's lacking, so I'd recommend throwing Icewalker on your boots and probably a 16 hit in your gun.
Run reg. and H ToC as much as possible, as there are some fantastic upgrades for you in there. Farming rep is a bit of a waste now, as the items are so inferior to what you can get out of there. Just focus on Ebon Blade and Sons of Hodir for the enchants.
Here's the pet spec you'll want:
Put the last point in either Greater Stam, Charge, Bloodthirsty or Cower. Whatever your preference.
That should be enough to get you going. ;D
Hello all been lurking and saw the close knit family you have here and had to sign up ASAP. I just transferred to a new server to play with some RL friends with my hunter alt now main. I'm specced BM yet thinking of duel speccing into MM yet need some gearing advice for both if any are up to the challenge? Diff took in all the information provided by Garwulf and snagged me a Stained Shard ring for 68g continue the great work and advice!!!
Any advice and critique will be welcomed!!!
Ohh armory link for those intrested http://www.wowarmory.com/character-sheet.xml?r=Sen%27jin&n=Foxian
Welcome to the forums greyfoxx. 
My first questions are...
Which build for what? MM for PvE? BM for soloing & PvP? I need to know what you'll be focusing on with the different builds.
If you're going for PvE DPS, the first order of business would be to get yourself hit capped. You're fine for PvP, but you'll need a little over 2% more hit than you have now to reach the cap. Your gear looks PvE, but your build looks PvPish in nature, so I'm not sure what you're going for.
My advice would be to try MM out for raiding and use BM for dailies, PvP, soloing, questing, etc.
Apart from that, two glaring gear problems I see....
You're using a Feral Druid tanking staff & you're eqipping two trinkets with an identical proc. Get a stat stick that's better itemized for a Hunter (ie: no expertise & less stam). Marrowstrike from H ToC would be ideal. Fairly easy to get & monster stats.
Although your trinkets have different names, they are identical. By equipping both of them you're shooting yourself in the foot, as you still only get the one proc. They both share the same internal ~40 second cooldown, so all you gain by equipping the second one is the 84 crit.
I suggest farming Regular ToC until you can get your hands on Banner of Victory. That proc provides 1008 AP and uses a different name than MoT, so you can not only enjoy double the procs, but sometimes they stack!
Anyway, let me know what you want to do with your specs and we'll go from there.
Hey Gar,
Thanks for the advice on the gems and enchants. I was able to make some small changes to my hunter homeboy before running OS 10 and H UP on Sunday. Unfortunately I was hacked as I was playing and my account wasn't re-opened until late yesterday. I did see a decent increase in my dps, so thats a good thing! Plus the turd that hacked me didn't get any of my stuff.....they must've realized when the saw my character that their hack was fail....I'm broke fool!
Anyway, your response to Greyfoxx got me thinking.....would you care to explain hit cap? I know there is a theory behind this, and I could probably google, but I would rather hear it from the king of Hunters. You're like my messiah now man!
Probably gonna farm the heck out of reg ToC for the next couple of days as I continue to work on my koteb rep....baby steps, baby steps. Thanks dude!
Hi Stamp,
Hit cap works like this...
You have a 5% chance of missing mobs that are your level. To counter this, you need to increase your "hit rating" by 5% in order to not miss targets that are level 80. This is generally considered the hit cap for PvP, as you'll always be fighting players your level or below.
For heroic and raid bosses however, you need an 8% increased chance to hit because they are level 83 (1% increased chance to miss for each level above you).
32.875 hit rating = 1% increased chance to hit
Therefore, it takes 263 hit rating to reach the desired hit cap for PvE. This can be reduced by taking points in Focused Aim (1pt = 1% hit), or if you happen to be a Draenei, since they have an inherent + 1% hit racial ability.
Hit is extremely important for a variety of reasons...
Obviously, missing your target equals less damage done. Also, missing your target at a key point can be catastrophic, such as not landing a Silencing Shot or Tranq Shot at a key point in a fight.
In addition to that... pets inherit hit rating from the Hunter, so if you're not hit capped, your pet won't be either.
In summary, you need 5% hit for PvP (or 165 hit rating w/out talent and racials) and 8% for PvE (263 hit).
Hit is the first stat you should concern yourself with once you reach 80.
Hopefully that clears things up a bit. 
Alrighty i'll give MM a try in raiding and give BM a nice run for grinding and soloing. So a spec for MM dps and BM destruction if you please? Yeah ran a H-toc and got the pally instead of confessor will run that place into the ground until i snag my marrowstrike if not grind out badges and snag another piece if possible. Thanks for the suggestions!!!
Thanks Gar! That cleared up a bunch of confusion.
greyfoxx,
Here's your Marksman build:
This BM build should work well for PvP, etc:
If you mostly do BGs, then you might want to pick up Improved Revive Pet. Drop 2 points from Thick Hide to pick it up.
Stamp,
Glad I could help.
Thanks for the specs and finally got marrowstrike after 20 plus runs ^_^ now to figure out what to gem and enchant it with any suggestions?
I'd go with 85AP and depending upon your need for hit, either: 20hit, 10Agil/10Hit, or 10Agil/10Crit.
3.3 is supposed to hit next week, so you may want to hold off on Massacre unless you can afford it. Chances are you may be replacing Marrowstrike with an ilvl 232 2H within a few weeks.