Dear God I Can't Decide On A Spec...Follow

So yea, that's about it. I can't decide on a spec. I have tried numerous combinations and I am just not happy. Fifty gold per re-spec too, I've spent over 500 gold of my mount money now this week. So far I've tried:

41/20/0
Full BM, with some nice talents from MM. The cookie-cutter raid spec as I have read and have been told, but eh, idk, something was missing.

6/52/3
I liked this one for a little while, lot of neat MM talents for crowd control like scattershot, imp. concussive shot, and silencing shot for mages. However that 41 point talent just didn't impress me and at the time I thought having the Trueshot Aura would be redundant when I do my 2v2 arena matches with another hunter who is mostly MM.

0/5/56
Don't ask me why I even did this one LOL. I've never ever played Survival before so I really had no idea how to utilize it best. Plus all my gear is BM and MM based so I'd have to re-gear completely to make the most of SV. Perhaps in the future.

31/30/0
Liked this one too, had a stronger pet, Intimidation and Scattershot for slowing my targets down, but again it just didn't sit well with me.

And now, as we speak, I am sitting at 0/21/40. No idea when I will re-spec again, but I bet it will be soon. Through all this I am really just trying to find a good combination that offers good dps output with good crowd control at the same time. So far I am liking SV's Wyvern Sting, since it lasts longer than Silence shot and isn't just applicable against MP users, but everything I shoot at. I have reduced trap resists and cooldowns, scattershot for slowing targets down some more and a reasonable high critical strike percentage.

Yea, I'll probably get rated down for mentioning any of this. I'm not really asking for advice, as everyone has their own personal preferences and I'm sure, after being close-minded and just being BM/SV for so long this experience and all this lost gold will be a good lesson for me.

But you know, if anyone "does" have suggestions, go for it. I need to stop this madness before I go broke.

Edited, Dec 22nd 2007 4:28am by Tavarde

My apologies, I guess I did sort of skip what I actually want to do. Ultimately I would like to be 41/41/41 lol, but that will never happen.

I want to top damage meters. But at the same time, I want to be able to perform good crowd control in PvP and PvE settings. At the same time though, I don't want my pet to be so frail. Is there a way to achieve all of this?

I find myself further torn because, when I was in the various MM specs I could get to about 310 DPS and 1243 AP with Imp. Hawk/Trueshot up. Yet now, in my current half/half MM/SV build, I am sitting at nearly 25% crit but like 300 less AP and 60 DPS less which, previously, I could "almost" make 20% crit with the higher DPS and AP. So I don't really know which would be better, 20% crit with 1200 AP or 25% crit with 900 AP?

For some reason, I can't put an armory link because it says I haven't been active and armory can only track active players. Could having been doing almost exclusively BGs have something to do with that?

To compensate, I will simply list my gear. For some slots I have multiple pieces because I've been mixing and matching for PvP vs PvE.

head: Stalker's Helmet of Second Sight
neck: Necklace of the Deep; Thick Felsteel Necklace
shoulders: Gladiator's Chain Spaulders
back: Striderhide Cloak of the Bandit
body: Thick Netherscale Breastplate
wrist: Felstalker's Bracers; Talhide Lined Bracers of the Bandit
hands: Crystalhide Handwraps; Netherstorm Gauntlets of the Bandit
waist: Girdle of Gale Force; Marksman's Belt
legs: Scales of the Beast; Marksman's Legguards
feet: Boots of the Outlander
rings: Pathfinder's Band; Truestrike Ring; Heavy Felsteel Ring; Ring of Umbral Doom
trinkets: Royal Seal of Eldre'Thalas; Uniting Charm; Devilsaur Tooth; Insignia of the Alliance
weapon: Crystalforged Waraxe; Terokk's Quill
ranged: Valanos' Longbow
ammo: Warden's Arrow

I am really sorry I couldn't link armory, later on if I it ends up refreshing and is available I will erase all this and put a link for a much clearer look.

Also I feel it must absolutely be noted that some of those items, if you know the stats, aren't conventional hunter items. Like the Felsteel Ring, yes I know it has Strength and that does nothing for hunters, I got it mainly for the resilience. Some of the lesser items I don't even use anymore, as my priorities have changed (for the worse maybe). Originally I thought I should only go with STA and RES for PvPing, but the last few days I've been focusing on critical strike over anything else. God I really have no idea WTF I'm doing here.

To conclude, I will try to answer more of those questions. I don't really solo much anymore since hitting 70, except the occasional fight when I am doing daily quests. I enjoy 5-man instances and I am sure I would enjoy larger raids, but I haven't done anything over 5-man instances as of yet. If/when I do end up doing those larger group raids I would be more than happy to spec accordingly so as not to overlap with any other hunters in the raid. There really isn't anything I "don't" do, it's all fun and I try to do a little bit of it all. And I fear no one spec really can cover everything and still be #1 for them all.

Edited, Dec 22nd 2007 5:23am by Tavarde

I put that comment out sounding a little silly, I will admit. I couldn't think of any way to really express the notion of "wanting to deal the most damage possible" without sounding like that fool who justifies his uberness in BGs because he's done the most damage but not one ounce of defending or node capping or anything useful to the goal of the game. I apologize for that.

And thanks for the advice Skribs, I think I may end up doing just that.

Hmm, weird, I wonder why it didn't work for me. I had never had problems with Armory before. Thanks for linking it :)

On a side note, is my gear ok? Is it Kara-worthy yet or do I need to work on it some more?

Sounds about where my DPS was as BM/SV and BM/MM, though the crit was a little less, 13% and 18% respectively. I should consider switching back.

And yes, I don't run many instances. Not every day anyway. Once a week at most due to time constraints.

Thanks everyone for your advice, it has helped me a great deal.

Glyph of Ferocity, Cenarion Expedition.

Thank you all once again for the extra input, it is most appreciated. To respond to a few things:

Yes, I figured my agility was too low for SV. It was fun for a bit in BGs popping Wyvern Sting and having great mana regeneration from Thrill of the Hunt, but until I can afford to get hundreds more AGI, I shall remain as BM/MM which I switched to once I got home earlier.

I actually thought my trinkets weren't that bad. Both grant +48 AP which seemed adequate. But since Mulgrin overtly suggested there's far better out there, I shall be on the hunt for them.

As for the re-gemming for maximum efficiency that doesn't allow for socket bonuses, sounds good to me. Once I have more gold to throw around I'll consider tossing up AP gems.

In conclusion, I appreciate everyone's legitimate input and lack of flaming. Rock on and Merry Xmas!

First thing i'd replace is your helm with either the Beastlord helm or the Steamvaults quest helm.
Simply because Stalker's doesnt have a meta-socket and the +12 agi/3%critdmg is so good.
Also, replacing your boots with the sethekk halls boots and the cloak with a random one from the p[re-raid list will improve you.


Oh, and enchant a couple more things like bracers, shoulders and gloves.
And then you'll be ready for retty much all of karazhan.

5/5 effeciency or 5/5 imp. HM, depending on other hunters and raid composition.

NOOOOOOOOO!! animal handler is +4% hit for your pet, and the only way your pet can ever get +hit. jup, 5/5 IAotH and 1/5 Endurance
almost

Edited, Dec 24th 2007 2:54pm by Aethien

Avoidance + half a brain + mend pet HoT

I mean, rogues survive too dont they?
just pull pet back when melee has to get back, and pets have a good 5-6k life so they can take some damage.

And not to forget that imp. revive pet is only a 4 second cast and not to expensive.

Dear god, no. Spirit Bond is the most useless talent in a raid, period. Regenerating life is was healers and bandages are for. It's actually a HUGE pet-peeve of mine (no pun intended) to see the spirit bond buff on hunters in Raids. Since Pets don't share your hit rating, that 4% extra hit from Animal Handler is SEXY.




There are still times when a pet can be a burden on the whole group, especially since there are pathing issues with pets on inclines like stairs and ramps. But if you're raiding, you're expected to be able to take care of your pet.

From what I was always told, MM was THE raiding spec because a lot of times, pets weren't allowed. Nowadays, BM hunters do ZOMGINSANE dps, so as long as the pet isn't wiping the group, it should be allowed. Just turn off growl. If you have a raid leader that is still stuck in 2006, just tell him that pets can easily do 25%+ of your overall DPS.

And if a pet gets a direct hit in a raid, you're doing something wrong. Even though a lot of monsters in raids have random aggro wipes, you should be pulling your pet out when the melee has to get out. You should also train your pet in Avoidance to reduce the amount of damage that it takes from AoE attacks. When it does take damage, you have a HoT for it. If there is a monster that you know does a particularly natsy AoE that kills your pet, just don't send it in. Keep it alive so you can pop Bestial Wrath.

Edited, Dec 24th 2007 4:50pm by ProjectMidnight

Wanting to top the damage meters is not a bad goal. Wanting to top the damage meters in content that requires you to also exercise your CC abilities on a regular basis means you have to grossly outgear and/or outskill classes like Warlocks, Mages (esp. Fire Mages -.-), Rogues, and even A/F Warriors. Those classes either have no mid-combat CC roles, or have CC options that are much faster than managing traps. The time you're spending shuffling around keeping your mob trapped is time the other dps classes are climbing up the damage meter.

I've only been to Gruul's once and the guild I'm in is currently progressing through Kara (up to Shade/Prince now), and I'm often called upon to trap mobs. From my experience in Gruul's, there's nothing to trap, so our role is dps and nothing but dps.

If you're not yet keyed for Kara, it means that you're going to be spending a fair bit of time in 5-mans. In those cases, it's almost inevitable that you're going to be called upon to trap. I'd rather see a Hunter come in second or third on the damage meter in a 5-man as long as their trapping is consistant and reliable than see them rocket to the top spot amidst one wipe after another.

I know a well geared and well played Hunter can contribute significant dps to any group, but the general guideline I support for up-and-coming Hunters in the guild I'm in is that as long as you're somewhere above the tank on the damage meter, you're doing OK.

Edited, Dec 25th 2007 1:29am by AureliusSir