Dust off that Alt-Hunter

I've been playing Wrath for a while & have been level 80 for some time. It's time to work on an alt. It's time to dust off my beloved hunter.

If you're like me & haven't been playing your hunter for a while, you may be surprised. Hunter looks the same but the differences will jump out at you. The game may be easier, but suddenly you can't seem to play & eat your sammich at the same time. Fear not. Make some tweaks and you'll be back to your Pew Pew Munch Munch days soon enough.

Mana Management

The big "issue" in Wrath is the major change to mana regen & the way the Aspects work. You absolutely want to cycle between your Aspect of the Hawk (or Dragonhawk) & Aspect of the Viper quickly. You'll find yourself swapping a lot. You may also find yourself forgetting to swap.

Find an addon to flashed a notice to turn off Aspect of the Viper when you've hit 100% mana. ViperNotify does this in a very minimalistic way. Combine it with a very basic 1-button cast sequence macro like this...

/castsequence Aspect of the Hawk, Aspect of the Viper

Again, you'll need to make changes when you hit a high enough level to get fancy aspects.

Target & Pet Management

There are other changes to game-play as they relate to pets. A pet of Aggressive or Defensive will attack your target the moment you cast AutoAttack. This is both great & frustrating all at the same time. When soloing you still want to send your pet in before you attack. You also want to "stay on target" when your pet engages multiple mobs. The same is true when in a group. Fast switching to the tank or main assist target is very important. Combining these functions with Hunter's Mark (due to Mark being on the GCD) is a great idea. I use 2 macros to achieve this.

The "Pet Attack Button" is a simple point and shoot part of your cast sequence. You want to mark the target & you want your pet to engage first.

/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark
/petfollow [target=pettarget,exists]

The "Switch Targets" macro requires you to set a Focus target in group. I'm a big fan of setting a focus targets. It serves a dual purpose of keeping you on target & allowing for rapid use of Misdirect. If you aren't in a group, then this switch target button will allow you to follow your pet onto it's next target.

#showtooltip Hunter's Mark
/assist [target=focus,exists]; [target=pet, exists]
/cast Hunter's Mark

Combine this with a basic Misdirection Macro & life is easy. You'll note that I do not have the non-focus element to your standard misdirect sequence on this macro. It's a personal preference.

#showtooltip Misdirection
/cast [target=focus, exists] Misdirection; [target=pet, exists] Misdirection

Now Pew Pew

The other development in Wrath is the increased complexity in shot selection. Gone are the days of simply spamming Steady Shot.

If you are using the Glyph of Steady Shot, then you want to have Serpent Sting as part of your rotation. But finding room for it & Kill Shot (and getting Kill Shot off in time) is tricky. This macro will always allow you to cast Serpent Sting, but it will always keep Kill Shot the visible button. If your bar mod changes color when an ability is ready, then you'll always know when to cast Kill Shot.

#showtooltip Kill Shot
/cast Kill Shot
/cast Serpent Sting
/script UIErrorsFrame: Clear()

Even though we no longer have to weave Steady Shot, we still want to use that old standby macro. I've simplified it based on the current mechanics.

#showtooltip Steady Shot
/cast [exists, target=pettarget] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame: Clear()

Here's another macro I've been toying with. It's not perfect, but it does the trick. It takes advantage of things not on the GCD and combines them with Aimed Shot (something you want to cast more.) The two trinkets will not go off at once. Replace these with your own, obviously. And remove BW if you aren't spec'ed Beastmaster. (Hopefully this means you're 80 & switched Survival.)

#showtooltip Aimed Shot
/cast Bestial Wrath
/use Bloodlust Brooch
/use Empty Mug of Direbrew
/cast Aimed Shot

There's a lot more to all this of course. Mostly, it's about finding your way through the mine-field of shot selection. Remember an unused cooldown is a lost opportunity. Aspect management is just as important as shot selection. Survival hunters may be the hot new game in town, but it's still mostly about skill.

You are hunters. All mobs fear you!

Searching for Pawn Scales

Recently, I was introduced to an awesome mod called Pawn. Pawn makes gear selection easier by giving you a quantifiable item value right on your tooltip. Each character can have multiple pawn values so that you can judge an item across roles from PvP to PvE, from Tank to DPS, etc. Thus, it allows a player to determine a need roll or a quest reward based on a straight value comparison instead of having to take time to weigh each stat separately. That's great when an unexpected item drops.

Here's what it can't do. It can't simply be loaded and run. Values must be customized to get real use out of the mod. Values must also be tracked and updated when game mechanics are changed in patches. Thus, it's not for the truly casual player. It's also not for the truly hardcore player because calculator spreadsheets like Rawr still (based on my reading) provide better itemization. It also doesn't take into account the "intangibles" of an item like survivability stats for a DPSer. Finally it can't calculate the value of flavor text, use activation or set bonuses. You still have to consider these things for yourself.

That sounds like a lot of things it can't do. Trust me, it's still awesome. If your math (or someone elses math) is valid then it will protect you from the "oh that looks cool" need roll that everyone hates. It will also keep you from piecing together the wrong gear, crafting downgrades or buying junk on the Auction House. (We've all done it.)

Now, there are two ways to put together Pawn values. Option one is to do your own math and then manually enter each stat. That's great if you're a mathematician or a stat-junky. I've actually been accused of being both, but I'm too lazy. Enter option two: Find someone else to do the work for you. The great thing about option 2 is that people are nice enough to put the values in an easy cut-n-paste format. Here's some that I've found.

Hunter DPS direct from the Hunter DPS Spreadsheet v80 on Elitist Jerks.

( Pawn: v1: "Hunter": ArmorPenetration=0.323, RedSocket=9.204, CritRating=0.373, Intellect=0.937, MetaSocket=12.08, Agility=0.575, HasteRating=0.258, BlueSocket=4.045, YellowSocket=8.648, Rap=0.369, HitRating=0.506, Ap=0.369, Mp5=0.432 )

Feral Druid values compiled by Flyv.

( Pawn: v1: "Cat (Toskk)": ArmorPenetration=1.0161, RedSocket=37.312, FeralAp=1, ColorlessSocket=37.312, Strength=2.332, MetaSocket=103.21, HasteRating=0.7236, Agility=1.6992, ExpertiseRating=1.0362, BlueSocket=18.66, YellowSocket=26.92, CritRating=0.83, HitRating=1.0334, Ap=1 )

( Pawn: v1: "Bear (Toskk)": RedSocket=113.7, ExpertiseRating=1.306, DodgeRating=2.685, ColorlessSocket=172.4, MetaSocket=329, Agility=3.429, Health=0.411, BlueSocket=172.4, YellowSocket=101.3, DefenseRating=1.885, Armor=1.066, Stamina=7.185 )

Now keep in mind that Flyv & the folks over at Elitist Jerks will all say that gear ranking is an ongoing process. These numbers may not always be the best ones. Theorycraft changes. Patches get released.

I plan to keep searching for good sources for not just my characters but toons played by all my friends and post them here.

Keyboard Layout

I'm planning a more detailed post about ergonomics for gamers, but I'm really excited about this and wanted to post this for my friends. My Merc keyboard arrived yesterday. I was able to spend just enough time before the server maintenance to unbox it and try the WoW pre-made keyboard layout. I immediately hated that layout. The layout was clearly for easy access to various windows like bags, character screen & spellbook. That's completely pointless. So after some tweaking, some reading and some tests, I figured out a good configuration for me.

In conjunction to the Bartender4 mod, I'm maximizing my access to the most needed spells and abilities. I'm also planning on mimicing some of the button postions with on-screen layout. Visually, I want 1-6 & 7-11 to match the positions over the directional keys. The layout matches (almost exactly) the layout I prefer on your basic QWERTY keyboard, only button postions are easier to reach.

When the game comes back online, I'll take some screenshots for Rhus & Beroth to show you what I mean.