Patch 3.2 – new gear for hunters

Patch 3.2 is a pretty large patch, with additional content, gear tiers, and changes to the badge system.   I have attempted to summarize the current proposed changes to the badge system, below with some thoughts.  And to make it easier for you to pour over the hunter loot, I have tried to pull out most of the new hunter related loot I could find from MMO champion lists of loot and elsewhere.  Let me know if I have missed anything.

Changes to token system

• Emblems of Heroism and Valor will no longer drop.
• 5 man heroics, VOA 10 & 25, OS 10 & 25, Naxx 10 & 25, Ulduar 10 & 25 will all drop Emblems of Conquest.
• The new 10 & 25 man Coliseum raid will drop the new Emblems of Triumph.
• Daily normal and heroic quests will reward Emblems of Triumph (1 for normal, 2 for heroic).
• Emblems of Conquest can be exchanged for Emblems of Heroism and Valor in order to purchase gear from vendors.
• Emblems of Conquest are likely to purchase Tier 7, Tier 7.5 and Tier 8 gear (item level 200-226), plus heirloom bind on account items.
• Emblems of Triumph are likely to purchase Tier 9 (item level 232+ gear)

What do you think about these emblem changes?

The emblem changes are causing a lot of controversy and conflicting views.  Many top end raiders are angry that beginning raiders will be able to get their hands on the new badges, and eventually (after lots of heroic dailies) some T9 gear.  This to me is a rather self-centered and irrelevant argument.  Beginning raiders are not going to be able to buy everything they need to rival a top end raider for gear or access top end content without going through the progression, they still need BOP drops from instances to complete their gear.  Some people are arguing that it will be harder to judge whether someone has cleared content when inviting them to a PUG.  But with achievements now on the armory, it is possible to check out someone’s achievements as well as their BOP armor.

What this will do is help gear up alts, and help raiders who are struggling to see the new content, like Ulduar, access that content.  I am one of the top geared people in a relatively small, non-hardcore raiding guild.  We can only raid 10 man content currently, and then often have to taken under-geared and inexperienced raiders with us to make up the numbers.  This will help us gear everyone up, and give those of us running Naxx and other low level content with our less well geared guildies something to run it for.

T9 armor

The picture about shows the horde T9 set.

There will be three sets of T9 armor reflecting different levels of difficulty (item levels 232, 245, 258).  MMO champion has screenshots of the stats, although they say the models are only placeholders at the moment, so the armor will probably look different from the picture, and the three sets will look different from each other:

Hunter (232)
Hunter (245)
Hunter (258)

New badge gear

New gear available with the new badges dropped in 3.2 includes:

Helm of the Brooding Dragon

Horde Coliseum 25 Badge Loot Hunter Helm

Horde Coliseum 25 Badge Loot Hunter Shoulders

Dexterous Brightstone Ring

Coliseum 25 Badge Loot Melee DPS Trinket

Other Epic gear added in patch 3.2 (datamined and published on MMO champion)

Crusaders Dragonscale Bracers

Crusaders Dragonscale Breastplate

Windrunner’s Hands of Conquests 232 T9

Windrunner’s Hands of Triunph 245 T9

Windrunner’s Hands of Triumph 258 T9

Windrunners Headpiece of Conquests 232 T9

Windrunner’s Headpiece of Triumph 245 T9

Windrunner’s Headpiece of Triumph 258 T9

Windrunner’s Legguards of Conquest 232 T9

Windrunner’s Legguards of Triumph 245 T9

Windrunner’s Legguards of Triumph 258 T9

Windrunner’s Spaulders of Conquests 232 T9

Windrunner’s Spaulders of Triumph 245 T9

Windrunner’s Spaulders of Triumph 258 T9

Windrunner’s Tunic of Conquest 232 T9

Windrunner’s Tunic of Triumph 245 T9

Windrunner’s Tunic of Triumph 258 T9

*Note the Windrunner are the Alliance versions – horde get very similar statted items titled ‘Thrall’s”

Epaulets of the Devourer

Etched Band of the Kirin Tor

Titan forged band of triumph (item 226 pvp gear)

Ttitan forged chain leggings of triumph (item 232 pvp gear)

Power Auras for Hunters

I’ve been meaning to write an article on the Power Aura addon for a while, sharing my setup to help others with this useful but somewhat complicated addon.  I will start with the hunter setup, and then share my boomkin setup, as I know Anelf and our friend Eyecandy were wanting to use the addon for their boomkins.  

What is power auras?

Power auras is a highly modifiable addon available here from curse gaming.  It allows you to set up visual indicators (auras) alerting you to buffs and debuffs.  You can show things like:

• When a buff on yourself is active or is not active, and so needs renewing
• When a buff on a mob is active or not active, and needs renewing
• When a spell or ability is off cooldown
• When a procced ability becomes available for use
• When health/mana etc. are above or below certain thresholds
• When you are inflicted by a harmful spell, poison, etc.

There are probably lots of other uses too, but these are some of the main ones I have put it to.

Two things I have tried and failed to get it to show is, firstly which kind of arrows I have equipped, and secondly, that I am tracking something useful, which counts towards the tracking buff from my Improved Tracking talents.  I haven’t seemed to be able to get it to show these. If anyone knows how, please let me know.

How do I configure power auras?

Once you have installed power auras type /powa in the chat window to bring up the power aura configuration window.

At first this can be a bit confusing.  It is actually easier to start with someone else’s power auras and alter them to fit.  There is an easy import/export function.  I have exported the text from my power auras for Tinuviel.  To import it, copy the text below.  Open power auras ingame via /powa and click the import button.  Paste the text you have copied in the window that appears and click Accept.  You may have to exit and reopen Power Auras for it to appear properly.  My power auras should now work for your character.  You can now use or adjust them to suit.  You can use the test button to see what each will look like.

Screenshots

 The power auras window looks like this:

The power auras I have set up for Tinuviel, which you can use by coping and importing the text below, look like this:

 

They are not all active all the time.  The big eagle over my char, shows when Aspect of the Viper is on. Its meant to be obtrusive to make me remember to turn it off.  I have most of them active only when in combat, so I don’t run around with symbols on my screen all the time.

Hunter power auras

Mine are for a survival hunter.  However the availability of Black Arrow can easily be changed to Chimera shot for a MM, for instance.

1.  Lock and Load Proc

Flashes up every time Lock and Load is triggered.  Copy the following text, when you open up power auras, press the import button, paste the text into the window that appears, and press accept.  You may have to exit and reopen power auras for it to show up properly.  You can click the Test Button to see how it will look when active.

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:nu0.94509803921569;

anim1:nu4;duration:nu0;g:nu0.98039215686275;

thresholdinvert:bofalse;ignoremaj:botrue;opt2:nu0;

speed:nu2;finish:nu2;icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_LockAndLoad;size:nu0.29999998211861;

torsion:nu1;multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;

sound:nu0;optunitn:bofalse;off:bofalse;symetrie:nu0;

begin:nu1;x:nu0;texmode:nu2;textaura:bofalse;

timer:bofalse;target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;

groupany:bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu0;y:nu193;

randomcolor:bofalse;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu1;r:nu1;aurastextfont:nu1;

party:bofalse;opt1:nu0;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;

raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu13;anim2:nu0;

buffname:stLock and Load;customtex:bofalse;stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;

exact:botrue;alpha:nu1;

aurastext:st;customname:stLock and Load;isdebuff:bofalse;

inverse:bofalse;ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;

mine:bofalse;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

2.  Black Arrow 

Appears when Black Arrow is off cooldown and available for casting:

anim1:nu4;duration:nu0;mine:bofalse;optunitn:bofalse;

multiids:st;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu2;anim2:nu0;

size:nu0.19999998807907;torsion:nu1;r:nu1;

stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;ignoremaj:botrue;

y:nu-131;x:nu-88;symetrie:nu0;begin:nu1

;off:bofalse;texmode:nu2;icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Shadow_PainSpike;textaura:bofalse;

target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;

wowtex:bofalse;groupany:bofalse;customsound:st;

combat:nu1;inverse:bofalse;buffname:stBlack Arrow;

unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu7;exact:botrue;aurastextfont:nu1;

stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;

raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu1;

thresholdinvert:bofalse;sound:nu0;customtex:bofalse;

party:bofalse;g:nu1;

customname:st;alpha:nu0.75000005960464;aurastext:st;

timer:bofalse;isdebuff:bofalse;randomcolor:bofalse;

ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;opt1:nu2;isinraid:bofalse;

stance:nu10

 

3.  Explosive Shot

Explosive Shot is Available:

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:nu1;anim1:nu4;

duration:nu0;g:nu1;thresholdinvert:bofalse;

ignoremaj:botrue;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu2;

icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_ExplosiveShot;size:nu0.19999998807907;

torsion:nu1;multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;

sound:nu0;optunitn:bofalse;off:bofalse;symetrie:nu0;

begin:nu1;x:nu-30;texmode:nu2;textaura:bofalse;

timer:bofalse;target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;

groupany:bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu1;y:nu-131;

randomcolor:bofalse;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu7;r:nu1;aurastextfont:nu1;

party:bofalse;opt1:nu3;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;

raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;

texture:nu1;anim2:nu0;buffname:stExplosive Shot;customtex:bofalse;stacks:nu0;

threshold:nu50;exact:botrue;

alpha:nu0.75000005960464;

aurastext:st;customname:st;isdebuff:bofalse;

inverse:bofalse;ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;

mine:bofalse;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

4.  Aimed Shot

Aimed Shot is available:

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:nu1;anim1:nu4;

duration:nu0;g:nu1;thresholdinvert:bofalse;

ignoremaj:botrue;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu2

;icon:stInterface\Icons\INV_Spear_07;size:nu0.19999998807907;torsion:nu1;

multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;sound:nu0;

optunitn:bofalse;off:bofalse;symetrie:nu0;

begin:nu1;x:nu32;texmode:nu2;textaura:bofalse;timer:bofalse;

target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;groupany:

bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu1;y:nu-131;

randomcolor:bofalse;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu7;r:nu1;aurastextfont:nu1;party:

bofalse;opt1:nu6;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;raid:

bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu1;anim2:nu0;buffname:stAimed Shot;customtex:

bofalse;stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;exact:botrue;

alpha:nu0.75000005960464;aurastext:st;customname:

st;isdebuff:bofalse;inverse:bofalse;ismounted:bofalse;

targetfriend:bofalse;mine:bofalse;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

5.  Aspect of the Dragonhawk

Aspect of the Dragonhawk is active

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:

nu0.9843137254902;anim1:nu1;duration:nu0;mine:bofalse;

optunitn:bofalse;multiids:st;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:

nu1;anim2:nu0;size:nu0.12000000476837;torsion:

nu1;r:nu1;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;ignoremaj:

botrue;y:nu52;x:nu180;symetrie:nu0;begin:nu0;off:

bofalse;texmode:nu2;icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_Pet_DragonHawk;

textaura:bofalse;

target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;

groupany:bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu1;inverse:

botrue;buffname:stAspect of the Dragonhawk;unitn:

stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu1;exact:bofalse;

aurastextfont:nu1;

stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;

raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu1;thresholdinvert:

bofalse;sound:nu0;customtex:bofalse;party:bofalse;g:nu1;

customname:st;alpha:nu1;aurastext:st;timer:

bofalse;isdebuff:bofalse;randomcolor:bofalse;i

smounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;opt1:nu0;

isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

6.  Hunter’s Mark

Hunters Mark is up on the target (this can be placed by you or another player)

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:nu1;anim1:nu1;

duration:nu0;g:nu1;thresholdinvert:bofalse;ignoremaj:

botrue;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu1;icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_SniperShot;size:nu0.12000000476837;

torsion:nu1;multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;

sound:nu0;optunitn:bofalse;off:bofalse;symetrie:nu0;begin:

nu0;x:nu180;texmode:nu2;textaura:bofalse;timer:bofalse;

target:botrue;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;groupany:

bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu0;y:nu15;randomcolor:

bofalse;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu2;r:nu1;aurastextfont:nu1;party:

bofalse;opt1:nu0;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;raid:

bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu1;anim2:nu0;

buffname:stHunter’s Mark;customtex:bofalse;stacks:nu0;

threshold:nu50;

exact:botrue;alpha:nu0.75000005960464;

aurastext:st;customname:st;isdebuff:bofalse;

inverse:botrue;ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:

bofalse;mine:bofalse;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

7.  Serpent Sting

Serpent Sting (cast by you) is active on the target

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;

b:nu0.87843137254902;anim1:nu1;duration:

nu0;g:nu0.87843137254902;thresholdinvert:bofalse;

ignoremaj:botrue;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu1;icon:

stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_Quickshot;size:

nu0.12000000476837;

torsion:nu1;multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;

realaura:nu1;sound:nu0;optunitn:bofalse;off:

bofalse;symetrie:nu0;begin:nu0;x:nu180;texmode:nu2;t

extaura:bofalse;timer:bofalse;target:botrue;

timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;groupany:

bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu0;y:nu-25;

randomcolor:bofalse;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu2;r:nu0.87843137254902;

aurastextfont:nu1;party:bofalse;opt1:nu0;focus:

bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:

bofalse;texture:nu1;anim2:nu0;buffname:stSerpent Sting;customtex:bofalse;stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;

exact:botrue;alpha:nu1;aurastext:st;customname:st;

isdebuff:bofalse;inverse:botrue;ismounted:bofalse;

targetfriend:bofalse;mine:botrue;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

8.  Sniper Training

You have the Sniper Training buff on you (survival hunter talented)

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:botrue;b:

nu0.9843137254902;anim1:nu1;duration:nu0;mine:

bofalse;optunitn:bofalse;multiids:st;opt2:nu0;

speed:nu1;finish:nu1;anim2:nu0;size:nu0.12000000476837;torsion:nu1;r:nu0.94117647058824;

stacksOperator:st=

;realaura:nu1;ignoremaj:botrue;y:nu-67;x:nu180;

symetrie:nu0;begin:nu0;off:bofalse;texmode:nu2;

icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_LongShots;

textaura:bofalse;

target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;wowtex:bofalse;groupany:

bofalse;customsound:st;combat:nu1;inverse:bofalse;

buffname:stSniper Training;unitn:stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu1;exact:

bofalse;aurastextfont:nu1;

stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;focus:bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;

raid:bofalse;isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu1;thresholdinvert:

bofalse;sound:nu0;customtex:bofalse;

party:bofalse;g:nu1;customname:st;alpha:nu1;aurastext:st;

timer:bofalse;isdebuff:bofalse;randomcolor:bofalse;

ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;opt1:nu0;isinraid:bofalse;

stance:nu10

 

9.  Aspect of the Viper

You have Aspect of the Viper active.  Take it off, take it off now!  (as soon as you have some mana back).  I tried different things with this one, but finally settled with a big icon right over my char where I couldn’t miss it.

 

gcd:bofalse;soundfile:st;owntex:bofalse;b:nu1;anim1:nu1;

duration:nu0;g:nu0.79607843137255;thresholdinvert:

bofalse;ignoremaj:botrue;opt2:nu0;speed:nu1;finish:nu1;

icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Hunter_AspectoftheViper;size:nu0.34000000357628;

torsion:nu1;multiids:st;stacksOperator:st=;realaura:nu1;

sound:nu0;optunitn:bofalse;off:bofalse;symetrie:nu0;

begin:nu0;x:nu0;texmode:nu1;textaura:bofalse;

timer:bofalse;target:bofalse;timerduration:nu0;

wowtex:botrue;groupany:bofalse;customsound:st;

combat:nu1;y:nu-30;randomcolor:bofalse;unitn:

stOnly for raid/group.;bufftype:nu1;r:nu0.61960784313725;

aurastextfont:nu1;party:bofalse;opt1:nu0;focus:

bofalse;isenchant:bofalse;raid:bofalse;

isdebufftype:bofalse;texture:nu32;anim2:nu0;

buffname:stAspect of the Viper;customtex:bofalse;stacks:nu0;threshold:nu50;

exact:bofalse;alpha:nu1;aurastext:st;

customname:st;isdebuff:bofalse;

inverse:bofalse;ismounted:bofalse;targetfriend:bofalse;

mine:bofalse;isinraid:bofalse;stance:nu10

 

Give these a try and let me know of any useful auras you come up with. I’ll be posting Druid auras soon.

Where in the WOW is Tin?

Apologies for not posting for a while, I’ve been sick with bronchitis and asthma, spaced out on drugs, and not been able to string anything sensible together.  I’ve been playing WOW, of course, from my sick bed, but all I’ve been able to cope with is leveling up a new little alt.  And here’s a surprise, this committed night elf hunter, and occasional night elf druid, has fallen in love with…wait for it… a gnome mage!  I created her on a whim, I’ve never been able to get a mage, or a gnome past the doldrums of the mid 20s before, but this time I am flying ahead and loving every minute of it.

Here’s Verty at 45 (I know, not the sexiest gear ever, she looks like an Outland wannabe – it’s chosen for stats, not style).  Her main spec is frost for leveling, but I splashed out about purchased dual-spec at 40.  I got heckled by a guildie wondering why the hell I wanted to waste my money doing it, but here’s the thing;  I like to learn how to play.  I like to try different talent specs, experiment with the different trees and do the research.  I know that if Verty gets to 80 and runs heroics and raids she won’t be a frost mage, so I want to understand the other trees before I get there.  If you can afford to buy the dual-spec, its a great way to do it.  It allows you keep a main spec and experiment with the other, or run two specs side by side and test the difference.  My off spec is fire.  I originally off-specced in arcane, but realized that was a mistake before level 60, as you do not have your major arcane nukes in your arsenal before then, and so the rotation is nothing like your end game play style.

The’ boom boom mob is dead’ of fire is great.  I use that when duoing with Anelf’s shaman, Shambolic, or when soloing non-fire resistant mobs, where one can be pretty confident of pulling one at a time.  I can usually 2 of 3 shot mobs of my level, with my decent gear, which includes a number of bind on account hereditary items.  Frost, though, is great for survivability, for handling multiple mobs and for kiting.  Ice barrier is awesome sauce, and cold snap allows for a rinse and repeat of frost nova and blizzard when you get adds.  With frost nova, cone of cold, blink, and the slowing affect of your frostbolts you can kite mobs to your hearts content.

For someone who likes pure damage dealing from range, the mage has an awful lot going for it.  Watch out Tin, you might have competition from a little green haired gnome

500,000 Hits!!!!

A very big thank you to all our great readers who keep coming back to Steady Shot, you are the reason we write.  Together we reached 500,000 hits on the blog today!

Readers primarily come here for the factual guides on hunter specs, macros, gear, tips and patch changes, etc. We will keep that coming, but please let us know if there is anything else you would like to see more of.  You can either comment on this post or send an email to shakyshot-at-gmail-dot-com.  We do have other alts too, so if you would like more on druids or other classes we might be able to post on those too.

Do the happy murloc dance!

Argent Tournament grinding tips

Ok. So this isn’t exactly hot off the press, but it always takes Anelf a while to try new stuff after content patches hit. I like to let other people find the bugs for me .

The Argent Tournament is a great place to grind for gold and rep. Here are a few simple hints for people even later to start the tournament than me:

Rep

Don’t hand in a faction’s Valiant quest until you hit Exalted. If you want the Ambassador title, but can’t be bothered going back and doing all those starting area Dwarf quests, then don’t hand in your 25 Valiant tokens for a race until you’ve completed enough quests to get to exalted with that race. You’re getting 250 rep per quest, so it shouldn’t take very long (unless you’re a Death Knight – but then you deserve the longer grind ).

Gold

Don’t hand in your last faction’s Valiant quest if you’re grinding for gold. Once you’ve completed your Valiant’s quests for all factions, you don’t get anything to replace them. As long as you don’t hand over your 25 tokens, you can keep doing all the Valiant quests and all the Champion quests. And since some of the quests overlap, that’s a lot of easy cash. (Thanks to WoWInsider as was for that tip).

Sell your Argent Tournament pets. If you care more about money than pets. The 40 Champion token pets are BoE, and are selling on my server for 2-4000 gold each. I’m not yet sure if the price is just bouncing around a lot, or if some pets are more sought after. Some players are even transferring pets between factions – these fetch the highest prices. Watch out as well for people selling their pets below the going rate, snap them up and resell them.

Obviously, if you’re a pet collector, you’ll want to use the pets you grind for. But prices will go down as demand starts to wane, so you can always sell your first pets and buy new ones off the AH later when prices are lower.

Finish the Black Knight quest chain. This adds another Champion’s daily for you, so its worth completing the chain as soon as you become a Champion.

General

Grouping. Grouping for the dailies makes them a lot easier. Particularly the quests where you have to kill the scourge troops outside their citadel. Get one person to melee the Commanders or Lieutenants and the other to throw spears and charge.

Bring a tank. Even for the jousting at the tournament, you can ’sort of’ group. You don’t get credit for your partner’s victories, but you can beat your opponent a lot quicker if your partner pulls aggro on him and leads him away from you so you can charge. Entrigan, our guild leader, tanks the opponent while his wife jousts. Then they switch, and she DPSs while he jousts.

Jousting for beginners. If you’re having trouble beating your jousting opponents on your own when you first start, try this technique: 

Keeping your shields at maximum, melee your opponent (spam the ‘1′ key); when he walks off to get to range for his charge, throw your spear at him (’2′ key); then quickly close to melee range so he can’t charge or spear you; rinse and repeat.

As you get better, you’ll be able to charge him instead. On the Valiant quests, charge your opponent as soon as the fight starts (as he’s walking away). The valiant opponents don’t start the fight with full shields, so you can charge  him with 2 shields up, and throw a spear as you turn to melee him again. This brings him to zero shields, after which you have to work really hard to lose the fight.

Start early. Not everyone realizes you can start the Tournament quests at 77, so this is a good place to grind faction rep and gold. Some of the tournament rep rewards are nice gear to have when you hit 80.

Those are the simple tips. Feel free to add comments with some more advanced suggestions.

Hunter Bag of Tricks – No. 3 – Feign Death

The most effective aggro dump in the game, and when used correctly, one of the hunters most useful skills.

Incorrect use of feign death in an instance situation:

1.  Tank has the mob – hunter is wailing on the mob and rising rapidly up the aggro table.

2.  Hunter overtakes the tank on the threat meter, but continues to wail on the mob.

3.  Hunter pulls aggro from the tank, the mob runs over and swipes at the hunter.

4.  The hunter stands there for a second or two, or even takes a melee swipe at the mob, before remembering that nifty feign death button and hitting the dirt.

5.  In the meantime, the priest is desperately throwing a shield and some heals on the hunter.

6.  As the hunter hits the ground, completely wiping his aggro, the mob turns around, and swipes the priest (who was standing next to the hunter) and had built up additional aggro trying to save him, one-shotting the priest.

7.  Now the group has no healer, the mob takes them apart and it’s a wipe.  Welcome to the Feign Death wipe.

Admittedly, this wasn’t just the hunters fault.  The tank needed to be quicker at grabbing aggro back, the priest should have resisted his instincts to heal the stupid hunter.  But, it was largely due to the hunter that the group wiped, since it need never have happened.

Correct use of feign death in an instance:

Pre-requisite:  You have a threat meter like Omen installed.  I have my warning set to 90%.  I get a loud noise when I hit 90% of the tanks aggro.  (You actually pull aggro went your threat exceeds 130% of the tanks, or 110% of the tanks if you are standing within 10yards.)

1.  Tank has the mob – hunter is wailing on the mob and rising rapidly up the aggro table.

2.  Hunter gets to 90% of the tanks aggro, either by listening for the noise or watching the threat meter, the hunter can see this.  NOW they hit Feign Death.  Feign Death wipes the hunter’s aggro, taking him/her to the bottom of the aggro table.

3.  Hunter jumps up and continues to wail on the mob.  In a long fight, s/he may have to repeat step 2 again.  

4.  Mob dies

(Other members of your group need to be aware of the hunter’s ability to do this.  I have played with mages who ride the aggro table, secure, they think, because I am ahead of them on the chart.  Then I dump aggro, and they continue to blast away, hitting a couple of bit crits and pulling aggro.  I have also played with mages who don’t know that they can use invisibility in the way I use feign death – i.e. before pulling aggro – or that their best aggro dump combination if they do pull aggro is ice block followed by invisibility – and that ice block by itself is a barrier not an aggro dump.  But I know I have it good in comparison – invisibility has a 3 min cooldown – feign death is 25secs with the glyph.)

Use when the group calls a wipe:

Don’t be the jerk who feigns death before the raid leader calls a wipe, just because its going badly.  But when the leader does call a wipe, try to get somewhere safe and feign, it can often save your armor bill and a run from the graveyard.  If you are an Engineer with an army knife or jumper cables you may even be able to rez your companions after you get out of combat. (Anelf says – Rememebr to rez your healer first ).

Use of feign death when soloing:

Use it in exactly the same way as in an instance with your pet, in order to refrain from pulling aggro from you pet.  

You can also use it to ping pong aggro between you and your pet, if you need to give you pet some breathing space to heal up when he is low on health.   Throw on a mend pet, hit distracting shot, mob runs for you, slow him or kite him if you like, maybe even take a hit, when your pet is ready to retake aggro, hit feign death.

I also use feign death when attacked by something big I can’t handle, and let my poor pet die.  I used to fish up by Skettis before I could take out the elite trees that wandered past (or before I realized how easy they were to take down).  When a tree would sneak up on me (have you noticed how sneaky giant elites are in WoW), I would feign death and let my poor pet die.  The tree would wander off, and I would jump up, rez my pet, throw him a treat, and continue fishing.

You can also use it when trying to sneak past patrols or into areas.

Use of feign death in pvp:

It has some use in pvp.  It will remove you as someone’s target, or as a pet/minions target.  The enemy has to retarget you.  It is easy for them to do, especially if they have a /targetlasttarget macro, but often they will turn to someone else, it will buy you a couple of seconds, or it will get a pesky pet off you.  Occasionally, if you were really low on health when you pull it (and do not have a DOT on your which finishes you off, which kinda defeats the object), it will fool the unobservant pvper into thinking you really are dead. But not very often, this trick is too well known.

If you are monitoring a long channelled spell and can time it right, in pve or pvp, you can hit feign death just before it is cast, canceling the spell.  But in reality, it’s pretty hard to get the timing right for this.

Improving feign death:

The minor glyph of feign death reduced the cooldown by 5 secs.  There aren’t many super useful minor hunter glyphs, so I usually use this one.

Survival Tactics in the Survival talent tree, reduces the chance your feign death will be resisted by 4% (2/2).  For pve most people do not take this talent, even though it is quite a nice one, there are too many other nice talents to take.  For a pvp build it is more useful for the reduction to the disengage cooldown.

Feign death cannot be resisted by players, but it can be resisted by mobs.  A mob of your own level has a 4% chance of resisting your feign death.  A mob 3 levels higher has a 17% chance of resisting, and a mob 6 level higher has a 50% chance of resisting.  This chance to resist can be reduced by hit rating.  If you are hit capped against a mob, it should not resist your feign death.   Just another reason to make sure you are hit capped when you go raiding.

A note on shadowmeld:

A Night Elf’s shadowmeld acts almost like a second feign death, although it is not a complete aggro wipe like feign death, rather it now acts as a temporary aggro freeze.

For shadowmeld, the tank, or another party member, has to do something to re-establish aggro above that of the the hunter (or other Night Elf class - rogues, shadowpriests, fury warriors, etc. can also use this one), during the period in which the hunter (or elf) is shadowmelded, otherwise when the hunter/elf steps out of shadowmeld they just return to where they were at the top of the aggro table.

Having said this, shadowmeld is useful, if you absolutely need a feign death and its on cooldown.  It is also useful when trying to sneak past something, or in pvp, and for those classes of elf, who do not have the uber aggro dump that is feign death.

Shadowmeld is also very useful in PvP for setting up an ambush. Picture the scene … You’re shadowmelded by a graveyard you’re protecting in AV. A lone Hordie rides past on his way to the main battle and sees an undefended graveyard flag. His hands trembling in excitement at finally being able to cap a graveyard, he runs up to the flag, and right clicks on it … ‘Where did that Night Elf come from?’ he wonders as he releases his spirit from his rapidly cooling corpse. Anelf finds this almost as much fun as throwing Entangling Roots on players trying to run away from the fight .

How to be Eye of Eternity Geared and hit 3k DPS within a day of hitting 80.

My Druid Bluebear hit 80 a couple of days ago.  Within a day of hitting 80 WOW heroes recorded her as being geared for Naxx 10 and 25 man and Eye of Eternity 10 man.  The day after hitting 80 I went to Obsidian Sanctum 10 man with my guild where I was dealing over 3k damage on the trash (AOE) and 2.7k damage on the boss.  I am not writing this to boast, I am just writing it to say it’s possible, especially with an alt, and here’s how.

1.  Plan ahead.  I researched a pre-naxx gear list and a raiding gear list well in advance of hitting 80.  For druids, Grey Matter does a great job on both.

2.  Make money and gather mats with your main.  Most of Bluebear’s gear on stepping into OS was crafted or BOE blues and purples, either made by myself or friends with mats I had gathered, or bought from the ah.

4.  Follow the prices of your gear list on the ah and buy low.  I started looking for, and buying up, Bluebear’s gear from the time she was about 73.  This gave me time to find good low deals, and to spread my purchases, rather than having to spend all my cash at once.

5.  Get the appropriate gems, enchants and armor kits.  Too many people go into raids not appropriately enchanted.  Enchants make a huge difference to your gear.  I sent nearly every green I got when levelling to Anelf for disenchanting to stock up mats for my enchants.

6.  Learn to play your class.  Err, this sounds obvious.  Do some research on blogs like this one and Elitist Jerks etc.  about the best spec, stats, shot rotations, etc. for raiding.  Playstyle for raiding is often very different from that for soloing and grinding or even from 5-mans.  I respecced to my raiding spec at 78 and practiced it both when soloing (even though it wasn’t optimum for that) and on the target dummies.  Don’t forget practice on the target dummies with recount or a damage meter allowing you to measure your shot rotations.

7.  Get the appropriate raiding addons for your class.  For Bluebear, Squawk and Awe a boomkin addon allowing me to measure Eclipse cooldowns helps enormously, as does PowerAuras.

8.  When you raid ensure you have the right buffs, flasks, food, etc.

Now OK this might be a bit easier with some classes than others, there is an excellent range of BOE caster leather and cloth out there (BB is wearing a lot of cloth), but there are crafted epics and BOE pieces for most classes if you do your homework.

Hunter Bag of Tricks No. 2 – Tranquilizing Shot

Tranquilizing Shot, you say, I don’t even have that one on my toolbar.  It’s useless, right?  For most fights yes, but there are one or two situations where it can be very helpful.

As the tooltip shows Tranquilizing Shot now ‘attempts’ to remove 1 engrage and 1 magic effect.  In BC it was restricted to enrage effects, although it still had its situational uses.

In pve it removes enrage effects from a number of mobs, notably:

Gluth – Naxx – level 80 raid – I use tranquilizing shot constantly during this fight.

Fire elemental adds - Obsidian Sanctum – level 80 raid – I use it occasionally here – I am usually more concerned with either dpsing the boss, or MD and volley the adds to stick them to the tank, as some are running loose.

Kersistrasza – The Nexus – WOTLK instance/heroic

Aeonus – The Black Morass (Opening the Black Portal) – BC instance – I used to use it whenever he enraged in this fight

Anub’Ar Skirmishers – Azjol-Nerub – WOTLK instance/heroic (when they drop aggro and focus on the healer or a squishy, it’s actually an engage that can be dispelled.)

There are a number of others too, so try it on anything that enrages, and add a comment to this post, if you think there is a really helpful one I have missed.

Enrage attacks are temporary buffs and are those which tranq shot has always dispelled.  There are obviously a couple of boss fights where enrage is a central part of the encounter, these bosses are immune to tranquilizing shot.  Whereas it can be used on Gluth, whose enrage is a side show, it cannot be used on Grand Widow Faerlina, whose enrage is the main part of her encounter.

Tranq shot does not dispel frenzy buffs, which are triggered by low health or other conditions (e.g. timers), and cannot be dispelled.  It also does not dispel Berserk buffs – these are usually “the boss goes mad if you don’t kill him in ‘10′ mins and wipes the raid” buffs – and cannot be dispelled.

In pve it also remove magic effect from mobs, however, I have found this less useful

I haven’t found any instance where I have tried this and found it useful.  When researching it, I also haven’t found anyone mention using it to remove a magic effect in pve.  Tell us your thoughts, do you have any good examples?  I will try it out on some mobs if I get the chance and report back, but as I don’t do many heroics on Tin any more, it may be a while before I find a use.

In pvp it removes enrages and all magic effects (buffs that show up as magic on the players character icon).

At one time the hunters offensive dispel was arcane shot, this was changed to Tranquilzing Shot.  Making the latter more useful, but making the hunter have to choose to use it, rather than getting a free dispel with their DPS.

Each time it is used it attempts to remove one random buff from the player (which is why people will go into arena with ‘trash’ buffs on them).  But it will also remove major buffs, such as all shields, e.g. Priests Power Word Shield, Ice Block, and Paladin Hands (e.g. Hand of Protection), fear ward, druid HOTs.  Sadly it will not remove the infamous Pally bubble.

Offensive dispels have been watered down a bit, they no longer remove some player spells such as mage armor or pally seals.  Blizzard felt that they were too powerful in previous seasons, upsetting the balancing of the classes, which was done on the basis that classes had certain spells available to them – spells which were being dispelled.  Classes who rely on a lot of magic buffs also now have 30% dispel resist.

I don’t arena or pvp much, and admit I haven’t really thought to try it when I have (I am too busy dying), but I might next time I BG.  I would be interested to hear from someone who does run arena regarding how useful they find it.  With an 8 second cooldown, you could potentially strip a lot of the buffs from your opponents, the problem is each shot takes 8% of your base mana, and how quickly would that contribute to a drained mana bar, if you spammed it every time it was available?  Researching it, there seems very mixed views on its usefulness (and the usefulness of dispells in arena generally), given the number of trash buffs, the RNG and randomness in which buff you will dispel, the high mana cost of dispels, and their global cooldowns.  Some people find them extremely useful, some are qqing about them (but what’s new there, huh?)

In conclusion:

Tranquilize Here

Currently, I mainly use this shot on Gluth and sometimes on the fire elementals in Obsidian Sanctum.  When I was of level for Black Morass, I used to use it will great success on Aeonus.  Next time I go into a BG with Tin, I will pay more attention to it, and try it out on a few pesky pallys and squishies.

Patch 3.1.2 live on US

A small patch dropped today.  You can find the patch notes to Patch 3.1.2 here.

Ghostcrawler also made an interesting announcement for hunters able to access the higher level end game content.  In order to balance hunter DPS in Ulduar, which has apparently been too low, and becuase they are scaling back their planned ammo changes, they are buffing the damage of ranged weapons with ilevels 226 or higher.  Ranged weapons with item levels under 226 are not mentioned, and therefore unaffected, so don’t expect your Nesingwary 4000 to be buffed.

You can read Ghostcrawler’s blue post here.  And a brief summary article on WoWinsider here.

Hunter changes:

• Disengage cooldown reduced to 5secs – presumably mainly for arena and pvp, but useful for kiting in pve too.
• Bug fix – explosive shots’ critical strikes now trigger go for the throat
• Bug fix – lock and load tooltip
• bug fix – Rabid tooltip

General changes of note:

• Equipment manager implemented
• Increased health and mana restored from Northrend food and drinks.
• Most scopes now have an item level requirement, and will bind item to which they are applied.

Looking for an upgrade? – BOE Hunter Epics ilevel >200

If like me, you are in a small guild focussed on 10-man content, or a guild not yet in Ulduar, you may be interested to know that there are a number of BOE epics out there, which should offer you upgrades.  Many of these drop from Ulduar or 25man content, or, in the case of braces, can be purchases with Emblems of valor.  A couple of them are created by Leatherworkers from new recipes added in Patch 3.1, which also drop in Ulduar.  These recipes are also BOE, so may very occasionally be seen on the ah.  The items will appear on your server’s auction house, and will not be cheap.  You will need to make money to buy them, but that is not so hard to do when you can net several hundred gold a day just doing the Argent Tournament dailies.

Note:  It maybe sometime before you see some of these on an ah near you.  Only a small number of guilds on your server may currently be regularly downing the harder Ulduar bosses, and then any BOE drops are also likely to be upgrades for someone in the raid.  However, some items are a bit more common, and keep watching the others may start to appear and prices may start to fall as they become more common.

I have also included leather pieces in this list.  However, remember that these are not optimized for hunters, will not have intellect on, and that mana will become an issue if you stack too many leather pieces.  A couple of them do have gem slots though, and it might be worth considering whether they would be a significant upgrade if you added Intellect gems to the gem slots.  Choose leather upgrades with care, sometimes they may prove a lasting upgrade for you, but often it might be better saving your money and waiting for the right mail piece.

As I am writing this for people like me, who may be stuck at the end of T7 10-man content, I am going to add in a common piece of gear in each slot just for easy comparison (in most cases this will be Tin’s own gear – OK so I admit this is mostly for my own quick comparison ).

Head

None

Neck

Nymph Heart Charm – Freya’s Gift – Ulduar (H)

Compare:  Pendant of the Outcast Hero

Shoulders

Spaulders of Egotism (L) – Instructor Razuvious – Naxx (H)

Compare:  Heroes’ Crypstalker Spaulders

Chest

None

Back

Shawl of the Shattered Giant (Cloth) - Cache of the Living Stone – Ulduar (N)

Compare:  Cloak of Mastery

Belt

Belt of Dragons – created by Pattern:  Belt of Dragons – Ulduar (H) zone drop – the pattern also appears to be BOE

Torn Web Wrapping – Maexxna Naxx (H)

Death-Warmed Belt (L) -  created by Pattern:  Death-Warmed Belt – Ulduar (H) zone drop BOE

Nimble Climbers Belt (L) – Auriaya Ulduar (N)

Compare: Veresa’s Silver Chain Belt

Bracers

Armguard of the Tower Archer – BOE – bought with 60 Emblems of Valor – these sell for around 1,500G on my server.

Bracers of the Smoldering Inferno – Razorscale – Ulduar (N)

Slime Steam Bands – Globbulus – Naxx (H)

Wristwraps of the Cutthroat (L) – BOE – bought with 60 Emblems of Valor – buy the Armguards of the Tower Archer instead if you can.

Compare:  Bands of Anxiety.  (I purchased the Armguards of the Tower Archer as I had three pairs of bracers, none of which were much good.)

Gloves

Gloves of Fast Reactions (L) – Sapphiron Naxx (H)

Rust-Link Spiked Gauntlets (ilevel 200) - I have added these to the list as there are no mail BOE gloves >ilevel 200 that I can find, and these babies are a little bit better than the T7 gloves imo.  Tin wears these currently.

Leggings

Darkcore Leggings – General Vezax Ulduar (H)

Proto-Hide Leggings (L) - Razorscale Ulduar (H) – note again no Int and has Expertise which is no use to a hunter.  However, does have a gem slot and bags of agility.

Compare:  Heroes’ Cryptstalker Legguards

Boots

Boots of Living Scale - created from Pattern:  Boots of Living Scale – dropped in Ulduar – pattern is also BOE

Footpads of Silence (L) – created from Pattern: Footpads of Silence – dropped in Ulduar (H)  - BOE

Compare:  Dragon Slayer’s Sabatons (my blue boots, better imo than anything epic I can get through pve or 10 mans).

Rings

Surge Needle Ring – The Eye of Eternity (N)

The 5 Ring - Tiny Titanium Lockbox – Daily Fishing Quest – no AP, Agi or Int but bags of Hit if you are not hit capped.

Band of the Kirin Tor – ilevel 200 – but worth including in a gear ‘rich list’

Compare:  Seal Ring of Grobbulus; Titanium Impact Band.

Trinkets

None

Weapons

No BOE Weapons above item level 200 available

Finally, a short side note (rant) on buying gold:  If you could find every item on this list the would set you back 1000’s of gold. Make the gold yourself.  Do not buy gold.  I have nothing but contempt for people who buy gold.  I don’t care what justifications you make for doing so, or whether it is ‘cheating’ or ‘not cheating’ the game.  What I do care about, is that much of the bought gold in the system comes from hacked accounts.  If you buy gold, you are buying gold stolen from other players.  You are contributing to the misery of other players and are the reason the whole parasitic industry, of spam gold adverts and computer viruses looking for ways to steal your account, exists.  Just think how devastated you would be if your account was hacked and you logged on to find your characters naked, all your epic armor and unique pieces vendored, your bank empty, and your hard earned gold stolen.  Here endeth the rant.