Mastery and hunters

I took a two month break from the game...

Two months ago I read on a website that Mastery was good for MM but bad for Survival and Beast Mastery.

I read in the sticky that "Mastery is usually the least desired stat for Marksman hunters and is the stat most often reforged into Crit, Hit or Haste."

My question... is mastery the least useful stat from all hunter specs? And, is it really least desirable for MM hunters for real.
You're correct, Mastery is the least desired stat. That doesn't mean it's a bad stat, just that we'd prefer everything else to Mastery. That is, for MM hunters.

For SV hunters, Master is second only to Crit, while Haste is generally the least desirable stat. Of course, there is a Haste plateau to reach, but adding more past that point does not noticeably affect your DPS.

For BM, I have seen some back and forth about Crit builds vs. Mastery builds, but I still believe that Crit is better in a general sense. Crit affects both your damage and your pet's damage, while Mastery only affects your pet's damage.

You're correct, Mastery is the least desired stat. That doesn't mean it's a bad stat, just that we'd prefer everything else to Mastery. That is, for MM hunters.

For SV hunters, Master is second only to Crit, while Haste is generally the least desirable stat. Of course, there is a Haste plateau to reach, but adding more past that point does not noticeably affect your DPS.

For BM, I have seen some back and forth about Crit builds vs. Mastery builds, but I still believe that Crit is better in a general sense. Crit affects both your damage and your pet's damage, while Mastery only affects your pet's damage.

So survival it's really
1) hit
2) Crit
3) Haste to a certain point
4) Mastery

Beast Mastery would be
1) Hit
2) Crit
3) Mastery
4) Haste

MM Would be
1) Hit
2) Crit
3) Haste
4) Mastery
The current plan is (I hope somebody corrects me if I'm wrong)
1. Hit to 6% for heroics and 8% for raid.
2. Haste until your Cobra Shot is at (or just under) 1.66 seconds. Just under to account for lag and reaction times.
3. Crit
4. Mastery
5. Any left-over haste

BM also wants to get the 1.66 second Cobra shot cast. Kill Command has a 6 second cooldown, just like Explosive Shot, so the Haste plateaus are in the same spot for those two specs. If you check out the 4.1 SV guide that needs to get stickied, there is some conversation about going for a 1.4 second or 1.2 second Haste plateau with the 4-pc T11 bonus.
The last time I was checking my dps on female dwarf... I noticed my dps went up when I hit a 1.59 cobra shot... and when I hit 1.60+ I got a decrease in DPS.

That would be for survival.

T2 - BM Huntes

Is there any more T2, 2.2k geared BM hunter out there if so post here pls




Hunters of the Horde!!!

Concussive Shot

2 things.

1. Why does crippling poison get to be 70% slow vs my 50% slow? Yay rogue and other melee train me.

2. Why does chains of ice get to be 90% slow vs my 50% slow? Yay dk and other melee train me.
1. You can MC out of it and use Concussive Shot to limit them to 50% max
2. CoI only reduces speed by 60% now
Btw, with MC yes you can get out of it, but for how long? A half second til they apply the slow again? Tell me the reasoning behind blizzard screwing hunters out of a valid way to stop being trained by melee.
Ok, let me clarify something. This is what I see melee do, HUUUUUUUUUUUURRRRR huntard, lets train that guy. And you know what happens, I end up dying due to being stunned and slowed for 30sec.
If you're even being hit by melee, you're doing something wrong
@Jägerhund, your spec and gear for pvp makes me ): mastery= a no no.

Other thing chains of ice hasn't been 90% slow since Wrath so there you go. Glyphed MC (which you should have but you don't) is 8 seconds of freedom, you will almost always be slowed in arena. 9/10 classes have a slow so you better get used to it, hunters have 4 if you count snake slows, so please don't QQ about being slowed all the time because we have more then most other classes.
Also you are under hit capped for pvp, dual wielding is bad and you don't even have a chain on one of the weapons anyway so I see no point, and the tabard of earthen ring is ugly D:
Last time I checked, the Concussive Shot glyph does absolutely nothing.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/2489080282 check again?

Best Leveling Spec for Hunters?

I want to make a hunter alt, and almost have all the heirlooms in my bank enchanted, and the race chosen (undead, of course!). Now all that's left is advice from other hunters about the best leveling spec.

And by best I don't mean fastest, a combination of the funnest and easiest spec.

I remember pre-cata Beast Mastery was the best but that could have changed just like for rogues it went from combat to subtlety.

Edit: I'm going to be questing to level.
They all level about the same. For fun factor, I went Beast mastery, because that's the only way i can have my pet rock beat the crap out of everything.
My hunter is currently level 64 and has been one-shotting virtually every normal mob since he got aimed shot, and he doesn't even use an heirloom weapon.

Fun is subjective, but I personally find it "fun" to blow through quests so easily.
I liked lvling as survival personally. Explosive shot is fun and gets used consistently.

I've never been a fan of BM but I'm sure it makes a great lvling spec.

Aimed shot was pretty useless at the lower lvls if you ask me, especially if you plan on doing dungeons where the mobs are dead before you get an aimed shot off.

Each spec will kill your target plenty fast, so just gotta try them all out.
Marksman.

Aimed shot + white damage.

Move on to next mob.


They're all pretty close now with survival getting explosive at 10.

I'd have to give the edge to marksman once you can get deep enough in the tree to pickup the talent that gives you 50 focus for killing something though.
As previous posters have said, all the specs are viable now. Personally I think BM is easiest to level. I remember levelling most of the way in MM, then trying out BM around level 60 something. Wow, it was a lot easier to not pull aggro off the pet in BM. While you will miss out on one-shotting mobs, the pet will keep you alive more easily.
Get a tank pet for multiple mob pulls, ferocity or tenacity when pulls are single.
Since you seem to have really good gear lined up, you can probably have fun with all the specs and see what you like. At level 30 you can dual spec and switch on the fly depending on what you are facing next. Now that dual spec is like 10g LoL.
Have fun.
Bm is easiest to level and is great fun

Mm sucks wiener

Surv is by far the most fun for me but the slower leveling one and surprisingly enough, I do 7-8.4k dps (mm only gave me 4-5k)

I want to make a hunter alt, and almost have all the heirlooms in my bank enchanted, and the race chosen (undead, of course!). Now all that's left is advice from other hunters about the best leveling spec.

And by best I don't mean fastest, a combination of the funnest and easiest spec.

I remember pre-cata Beast Mastery was the best but that could have changed just like for rogues it went from combat to subtlety.

Edit: I'm going to be questing to level.

forget them, they know not what they be speaking.. go BM for faster leveling and fun, and if you get bored, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SWEET do not go MM!! Go surv at a higher level (80) for some massive fun and amazing dps if you spec right and glyph right and pick ur shots right.

MM gave me only 4-5k DPS, surv gave me 7-9ish KDPS

Go tauren btw, theyre the coolest ;)

Good luck leveling your hunter, remember it can get boring sometimes but dont give up on it, it will get better.

P.S. if you have any questions pst me in game

Marksman.

Aimed shot + white damage.

Move on to next mob.

this man does not lie tho..
SO many different responses. But I guess I'll try them all then. Most likely go to BM because I'll pull off the pet all the time.

And I have too many Tauren already lol.

Thx for the advice.
From my experience with this toon BM is rather weak until you unlock the later tiers. I'm considering changing spec's until i get beast mastery and/or Bestial wrath. You gotta understand that rite from the getgo we are left at a disadvantage because we get a stun rather than another dps spell.
I'm BM right now and I'm loving it. Mobs go down extremely easily, I can pretty much aggro as many as I want. My kill command crits are insane on mobs around my level. Granted, I haven't tried MM or surv recently since I started playing wow again, but BM has worked out quite nicely.
careful aim plus aimed shot plus that talent that restores 50 focus when you kill something = incredibly fast leveling. You will kill mobs before your pet gets halfway there.
Seeing as how my first level capped toon was a hunter, I can't say much about leveling one with heirlooms. But going on the multitude of posts I've read on the matter, I will point out that leveling as BM (with heirlooms) is probably not your best bet. I'm betting you have access to make (and enchant) all the rest of your gear as well. I know I do for all my alts on my main realm.

When throwing (fully enchanted) heirlooms into the mix, you're probably better off with MM or SV. Even though BM is about your pet doing more damage, you're still going to be doing so much more yourself (in comparison) that it's going against the whole playstyle. You may as well just play a spec that focuses on that to begin with.
The best spec is the one that keeps you sitting behind your comp while you grind, so basically any of em. You have a pet and range, you won already.

How long does it take to hit 85 from 56?

Hi guys, I was wondering. How long would it take to hit 85 with my current level. I am talking with about an average of 8 hours of game time per day. Currently I am using BM spec to level.

Could anyone please advise?

Also, is pure questing following a guide faster or constant dungeons with a little questing as dps has a longer waiting time.
Is your main in the guild u are in? cause you can buy the BOA shoulder/chest/cape/helm which would make lvling really fast.
Nope. This is my main. haha
Leveling tends to slow down at Outland quite dramatically. With the update to Old World, OL is, in my opinion, one of the slowest phases of leveling. Lots of "Go here, collect 20 of this item that drops from one bloke 3% of the time" (Credit to Zero Punctuation for that one).

Northrend tends to be more interesting, and thus passes quickly. Same for 80-85, especially on your first time.

Leveling speeds vary from person to person, and depend on class, spec, whether your leveling proffesions etc. My advice would be to chill out and enjoy the leveling experience - you only experience everything for the first time once, as confusing and sentimental as that sounds.

And level cap can be more boring than leveling, sometimes.
6 months ago 56-70 took me 60 hrs. Outland and BG weekends.

last month, 61-70 15 hrs. hellfire, 1/2 zangarmarsh, nagrand, borean..
had good gear and enchants and could solo all the 5 man quests

last week 70-80 37 hours dragonblight, zuldrak, sholozar

80+ LFD is great, good items and decent xp, runs only take 30 min

instances are slow leveling, and not worth it for gear you'll outgrow in a day but you can get nice blues from LFD and justice points later to buy BOA shoulders for xp bonus. Also, if you can just find a high level guild for xp bonus and other perks, do it.

train herb/mining (tons of xp from it, but not from skinning?) and gold or mats for your final profession, get a speed enchant on your boots, gathering on your gloves, buy the fastest mounts asap, use carbonite.
One thing that really helps, buy outland gear from AH at 67, buy cata greens at 77 2-3 levels before you need them. The gear is so much better than anything you can find in zone - you will fly thru quests.

You can prob average 4hrs per level.

Hunter Bug Fix Patch Question.

* Hunters will automatically acquire a new target if the current target dies in the middle of a cast.

That is printed in the PTR patch notes, and I'm confused as to how it works and why its being put in. If how I interpret it is correct, then if a hunter who is casting Steady shot on a target, and that target dies, the steady will just switch to a new target. How does that make sense?

It brings up a flaw in most DPS classes. People need to learn that if a target is at low health, maybe a big, long cast nuke isn't the right choice, and use a quicker spell or instant to get your DPS in. I've learned this the hard way for 5 years of getting to the end of a Fireball/Frostbolt only to have it say "Your target is Dead." And of all the classes why hunters? it would seem that they have a lot more choice in instant speed abilities.

/ignore this rant if I'm wrong in my assumptions, or if its to fix another issue, but it just doesn't seem right to put a Buff like this in. Especially if Blizz is wanting people to "Choose the right spell for the right time!"

Thanks for your time! :D
The patch notes were updated to say the following, at least the comment by Chrth said so:

“Hunters will no longer automatically acquire a new target if the current target dies in the middle of a cast.”
okay then it was a mistake on my end. Thanks!

The patch notes were updated to say the following, at least the comment by Chrth said so:

“Hunters will no longer automatically acquire a new target if the current target dies in the middle of a cast.”

Finally. What a frustrating thing that was, causing hunters to pull additional groups when they legitimately did not intend for that to happen (yes, we all know it is not always unintentional).

Camouflage vs Stealth

Will Rogues finally be able to open on a Camouflaged Hunter after 4.1, or will we have to wait longer?

Inb4 "working as intended" - Blizzard said it isn't.
This is new and interesting!

Will Rogues finally be able to open on a Camouflaged Hunter after 4.1, or will we have to wait longer?

Inb4 "working as intended" - Blizzard said it isn't.

Where in the patch notes does it say:
1. All openers are now treated as melee attacks and therefore can be blocked, dodged, and parried
OR
2. Hunters in camouflage and no longer protected from ranged attacks


You have your answer. FoK hunters.
camo on a flare = win
camo =/= stealth
camo < stealth

Inb4 "working as intended" - Blizzard said it isn't.

Source?

Also, learn to read patch notes.
There's been a few responses from tickets where a GM says it's not working as intended.
There have also been a few where they said it is.
They're somewhere on the DDF.

Who even knows anymore.
off topic... hi stalked!

Will Rogues finally be able to open on a Camouflaged Hunter after 4.1, or will we have to wait longer?

Inb4 "working as intended" - Blizzard said it isn't.

Where in the patch notes does it say:
1. All openers are now treated as melee attacks and therefore can be blocked, dodged, and parried
OR
2. Hunters in camouflage and no longer protected from ranged attacks


You have your answer. FoK hunters.

No but thats the stupid thing, why should FoK work while openers dont?
We as stealth classes NEED to have the first move so we can set up our dps, you hunters dont.
Hunters already have too many tools against stealth in the first place, a pet that will IMMEDIATELY snare you out of stealth if your even close to the hunter and a flare, did they really need camo as well against stealth classes?
Plus with 4.1 we wont be able to chain you anymore with a disarm.
Oh noes, you'll just have to rely on your winning personalities to beat us.

That and your 70% snare, teleport, stunlocks and bleeds that ignore Deterrence.

If you can't beat us without getting a Cheap Shot off, you don't deserve to win.

Where in the patch notes does it say:
1. All openers are now treated as melee attacks and therefore can be blocked, dodged, and parried
OR
2. Hunters in camouflage and no longer protected from ranged attacks


You have your answer. FoK hunters.

No but thats the stupid thing, why should FoK work while openers dont?
We as stealth classes NEED to have the first move so we can set up our dps, you hunters dont.
Hunters already have too many tools against stealth in the first place, a pet that will IMMEDIATELY snare you out of stealth if your even close to the hunter and a flare, did they really need camo as well against stealth classes?
Plus with 4.1 we wont be able to chain you anymore with a disarm.

...
Dude, another class gives you trouble. Hunters can't kill spriests and aff locks, and have trouble with frost mages.

When you can allow your openers to be dodged, blocked, and parried, you can hit hunters in camo.
Its not that openers don't work on camo, but what bugs me is that no melee attack other than auto attack does. Tested it myself and hemo didn't work, neither did backstab. Auto attacking did.

At least openers not working would make sense due to them being coded as ranged, but its quite disturbing that this ability was left in its state. And not to mention traps being resisted.

Lack of professionalism from Blizz regarding the hunter class is what I see here.

Its not that openers don't work on camo, but what bugs me is that no melee attack other than auto attack does. Tested it myself and hemo didn't work, neither did backstab. Auto attacking did.

At least openers not working would make sense due to them being coded as ranged, but its quite disturbing that this ability was left in its state. And not to mention traps being resisted.

Lack of professionalism from Blizz regarding the hunter class is what I see here.

Because those can't be parried, dodged, or blocked while in stealth...

Its not that openers don't work on camo, but what bugs me is that no melee attack other than auto attack does. Tested it myself and hemo didn't work, neither did backstab. Auto attacking did.

At least openers not working would make sense due to them being coded as ranged, but its quite disturbing that this ability was left in its state. And not to mention traps being resisted.

Lack of professionalism from Blizz regarding the hunter class is what I see here.

Because those can't be parried, dodged, or blocked while in stealth...

But I wasn't in stealth.
Actually it doesn't make sense for rogues to not have the opener on a camo'd Hunter. I completely see the logistics behind the argument here.

And for the warlock saying Hunters can't beat Sps, mages, and locks....cmon dude. I can pretty much burst any clothie (besides a disc priest) down so fast they can't do much about it. Any smart Hunter can also kite a rogue forever, so I see no reason why Rogues shouldn't get the first opener if the hunter doesn't have that flare up on top of them.

Because those can't be parried, dodged, or blocked while in stealth...

But I wasn't in stealth.

question: why are you using hemo? shouldn't you be using FoK to get them out of camo?
Positional attacks also can't be dodged, blocked, or parried by design.

Oh noes, you'll just have to rely on your winning personalities to beat us.

That and your 70% snare, teleport, stunlocks and bleeds that ignore Deterrence.

If you can't beat us without getting a Cheap Shot off, you don't deserve to win.

learn to master's call, learn to disengage after ShS is used, learn to deterrence, learn that omfg bleeds and all other existing dots that have already been applied do damage through deterrence holy *!#! it is not a bubble. Dont treat it like one

Actually it doesn't make sense for rogues to not have the opener on a camo'd Hunter. I completely see the logistics behind the argument here.

And for the warlock saying Hunters can't beat Sps, mages, and locks....cmon dude. I can pretty much burst any clothie (besides a disc priest) down so fast they can't do much about it. Any smart Hunter can also kite a rogue forever, so I see no reason why Rogues shouldn't get the first opener if the hunter doesn't have that flare up on top of them.

Considering that soul link + regular cloth armor gives more physical damage reduction than mail, you are most likely hitting low resil targets.

Oh noes, you'll just have to rely on your winning personalities to beat us.

That and your 70% snare, teleport, stunlocks and bleeds that ignore Deterrence.

If you can't beat us without getting a Cheap Shot off, you don't deserve to win.

learn to master's call, learn to disengage after ShS is used, learn to deterrence, learn that omfg bleeds and all other existing dots that have already been applied do damage through deterrence holy *!#! it is not a bubble. Dont treat it like one

group pvp is balanced.
Mages spell steal MC.
Rogues share few DR with other classes.

Also,
How does any of this help if you're feared, then polyed, then stunned with DoTs ticking all over your face? Btw, your healer is sapped, and the warrior you're running with got frozen by the damned ice.