So although the Steady Shot nerf is still in place, Serpents' Swiftness has had its' pet damage coefficient raised back up to 20% in the latest patch, as reported by BRK and presumably other people. This should hopefully mean that BM is once more considered viable by the leaders of raids and pugs. ;-)
It also possibly means that it could be more viable again for a temp respec for Borean Tundra AoE leather farming for me, as well; in terms of hopefully increased pet threat generation. AoE farming with Volley used to be my main incentive for temp respeccing with BM, before 3.0.8.
Showing posts with label bm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bm. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Being true to yourself isn't always simple
There's been some debate in the comments in an earlier post of mine, about BRK migrating to Survival.
Some say they think he is being true to himself; others say he isn't. While I will say that the decision, ultimately, is nobody's but his own to make, I will offer some observations.
For as long as I have read his writing, BRK has emphasised a consistent belief that the Hunter, first, last, and everything in between, is a DPS class. BRK has stated that he feels that our class's only real role in a group is to provide as much raw damage as possible, and up until the last patch, for several years, Beast Mastery as a tree was certainly the most effective means for him to practically implement this belief.
So on the surface, it could appear as though, now that Survival generates more raw damage, in switching to it, BRK is following his convictions about providing his groups or raids with as much damage as he can.
However, in a recent post of his, "Locked and Loaded," where he relates a conversation with himself, he offers a very important clue about his current, true internal state.
"Are you going to keep using 'we' even though your pet is a sad, pathetic thing compared to Beastmastery-spec?"
"We are. For in our heart, we remain BM." (Emphasis mine)
As I said at the top of this post, BRK, like all of us, has to do what he has to do. Ultimately the only person any of us must satisfy is the one we see when we look into a mirror.
However, I will say this.
In the near three years that I've been Survival, I haven't raided all that much. I have some, and yeah, occasionally it's even been fun, in a superficial, transitory kind of way.
I don't have a readership the size of BRK's, either. I'm not diplomatic enough, for that. I've said a lot of things which have offended a lot of people, and BRK himself is one of them. I know he won't read this post.
I have my 100. I know many of you by name, or at least the character names which you are willing to share with me on here. You're good people; many of you restore my faith in my species on a daily basis. If I go into the forums, or the game itself, or even into the offline world, there are times when I really need that.
The point is, that being true to myself hasn't got me accolades. It sure as hell doesn't get me raid slots, a lot of the time. It doesn't get my name in lights, or me in the global top 5/10/whatever guilds.
Pike, you've gone back to being BM. That is the choice you've made, and for you, it's been the right one.
However, because of that, you're about to enter my world in another way as well. You won't get into a lot of Heroics. You probably won't get into a lot of raids, either.
There will probably be days when a lot of the other people you used to know, who used to be BM, have jumped on the "new Survival" bandwagon, and looking in the Guild window, you'll see that they're all in Naxx, while you're maybe in the Borean Tundra, Zul'Drak, or somewhere else, farming.
Alone.
Here's another quote for you.
"I didn't know that freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with Champagne. Nor yet a gift, a box of dainties designed to make you lick your chops.
Oh, no! It's a choice, on the contrary and a long-distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting.
No Champagne. No friends raising their glasses as they look at you affectionately. Alone in a forbidding room, alone in the prisoner's box before the judges, and alone to decide in face of oneself or in the face of others' judgment.
At the end of all, freedom is a court sentence; that's why freedom is too heavy to bear, especially when you're down with a fever, or are distressed, or love nobody."
-- Albert Camus
If being true to yourself, then, is so terrible, why would anyone do it? If seemingly all of the possible rewards are for compromising, for selling out, for going with the crowd, for being transitory...what is the point?
The point is simply this. If your outer surroundings are a barren desert, and you are true to yourself, you will know greater joy than if your external surroundings were the most opulent palace you could imagine, while you were not.
You could be in the top rated guild on the planet. You could play WoW for a living. You could be a billionaire. You could lead the most charmed life, in corporeal terms, that you can think of. Yet lie to yourself, and it will all be worth nothing. Surround yourself with money, and in total silence, you will hear yourself weep.
BRK, I know you won't read this post, so it almost certainly doesn't really matter. If you were going to read it hypothetically, however, I'd invite you to listen to a particular song by Michael Jackson; "Man in the Mirror."
Then go and find a mirror. Stand in front of it, and without thinking about what will get you into raids or satisfy anyone else, ask the guy looking back at you...really ask him...what spec he wants to be.
You might still make the same decision.
You might not.
Some say they think he is being true to himself; others say he isn't. While I will say that the decision, ultimately, is nobody's but his own to make, I will offer some observations.
For as long as I have read his writing, BRK has emphasised a consistent belief that the Hunter, first, last, and everything in between, is a DPS class. BRK has stated that he feels that our class's only real role in a group is to provide as much raw damage as possible, and up until the last patch, for several years, Beast Mastery as a tree was certainly the most effective means for him to practically implement this belief.
So on the surface, it could appear as though, now that Survival generates more raw damage, in switching to it, BRK is following his convictions about providing his groups or raids with as much damage as he can.
However, in a recent post of his, "Locked and Loaded," where he relates a conversation with himself, he offers a very important clue about his current, true internal state.
"Are you going to keep using 'we' even though your pet is a sad, pathetic thing compared to Beastmastery-spec?"
"We are. For in our heart, we remain BM." (Emphasis mine)
As I said at the top of this post, BRK, like all of us, has to do what he has to do. Ultimately the only person any of us must satisfy is the one we see when we look into a mirror.
However, I will say this.
In the near three years that I've been Survival, I haven't raided all that much. I have some, and yeah, occasionally it's even been fun, in a superficial, transitory kind of way.
I don't have a readership the size of BRK's, either. I'm not diplomatic enough, for that. I've said a lot of things which have offended a lot of people, and BRK himself is one of them. I know he won't read this post.
I have my 100. I know many of you by name, or at least the character names which you are willing to share with me on here. You're good people; many of you restore my faith in my species on a daily basis. If I go into the forums, or the game itself, or even into the offline world, there are times when I really need that.
The point is, that being true to myself hasn't got me accolades. It sure as hell doesn't get me raid slots, a lot of the time. It doesn't get my name in lights, or me in the global top 5/10/whatever guilds.
Pike, you've gone back to being BM. That is the choice you've made, and for you, it's been the right one.
However, because of that, you're about to enter my world in another way as well. You won't get into a lot of Heroics. You probably won't get into a lot of raids, either.
There will probably be days when a lot of the other people you used to know, who used to be BM, have jumped on the "new Survival" bandwagon, and looking in the Guild window, you'll see that they're all in Naxx, while you're maybe in the Borean Tundra, Zul'Drak, or somewhere else, farming.
Alone.
Here's another quote for you.
"I didn't know that freedom is not a reward or a decoration that is celebrated with Champagne. Nor yet a gift, a box of dainties designed to make you lick your chops.
Oh, no! It's a choice, on the contrary and a long-distance race, quite solitary and very exhausting.
No Champagne. No friends raising their glasses as they look at you affectionately. Alone in a forbidding room, alone in the prisoner's box before the judges, and alone to decide in face of oneself or in the face of others' judgment.
At the end of all, freedom is a court sentence; that's why freedom is too heavy to bear, especially when you're down with a fever, or are distressed, or love nobody."
-- Albert Camus
If being true to yourself, then, is so terrible, why would anyone do it? If seemingly all of the possible rewards are for compromising, for selling out, for going with the crowd, for being transitory...what is the point?
The point is simply this. If your outer surroundings are a barren desert, and you are true to yourself, you will know greater joy than if your external surroundings were the most opulent palace you could imagine, while you were not.
You could be in the top rated guild on the planet. You could play WoW for a living. You could be a billionaire. You could lead the most charmed life, in corporeal terms, that you can think of. Yet lie to yourself, and it will all be worth nothing. Surround yourself with money, and in total silence, you will hear yourself weep.
BRK, I know you won't read this post, so it almost certainly doesn't really matter. If you were going to read it hypothetically, however, I'd invite you to listen to a particular song by Michael Jackson; "Man in the Mirror."
Then go and find a mirror. Stand in front of it, and without thinking about what will get you into raids or satisfy anyone else, ask the guy looking back at you...really ask him...what spec he wants to be.
You might still make the same decision.
You might not.
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Lost One
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-- Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus; from the Statue of Liberty.
I was riding through northeastern Zul'Drak, in the early evening. It should rightfully have been considered a horrible place, with savage, biting cold, the mad remnants of the Drakkari, and the ever-present threat of being overrun with Scourge. Still, I found that somehow, I was able to like it.
I'd come here hunting the local raptors; their skins were more highly prized at the bazaar in Dalaran than most, and I was sorely in need of extra money, of late. However, as I was about to look for another raptor, I noticed a Tauren male who had already begun fighting one, only 30 yards or so in front of me.
He was a young bull. I could immediately tell from the speed of his movements and the lack of scars on his arms. It reminded me of old Tarukhe, and what he must have been like, at that age.
The Hunt was a thing of great wonder for the young, and they threw themselves into it with all the extra energy that came with their youth. It was, therefore, the most dangerous part of any Hunter's career, I realised ruefully, chuckling. Hunters who survived the taking of their first few beasts, generally slowed down and learned more respect for their prey.
This young one's fight began to go badly. Although he fired the rapid succession of smaller, lighter arrows that were a signature of the Beast school, for reasons that he could not understand, it was to no avail. The shots were deflected by the raptor's tough hide, and it continued its' attack.
The raptor had let much blood out of both him and his wolf, and as they panted with exhaustion, closed in for the kill. No doubt the creature thought he would be eating royally tonight, and that this prey would be the envy of the rest of his pack.
I rapidly drew one of the new black powder tipped arrows that we had recently learned to make, lit the fuse with a stone I carried for the purpose, and fired it at the raptor's feet, blowing a hole in the stone of the ruins. The beast was stunned momentarily, turned, looked at me, kicked both the Tauren and his wolf to the ground, and then ran off.
After a moment, the Tauren pulled himself up into a sitting position, but then simply sat for a long while. There was a look of confusion, shock, and great pain on his face, and as I watched, his dark eyes slowly filled with tears, and he began weeping, bellowing out his agony to the stars.
I understood, and averted my eyes, allowing him his dignity. This was not caused by the slashes which the raptor's claws had opened on his arms. This was from something far deeper.
The Hunters of Azeroth and Draenor had, over the course of many ages, discovered and refined three unique forms in which we could fight and hunt.
These were the way of the Beast, which allowed greater communion with animals, and which had traditionally been the first path of our young, as this Tauren was. They had grown to be called the Beast Masters. These had been the most numerous of the three, and their leader within the Hunters' Guild on Azeroth was a fierce and hot tempered, yet very wise and aged Dwarf, with an enormous red beard. His name was Briac.
There was also the way of the Bow, which my Draenei friend Romochka followed; they were called the Marksmen, due to their greater skill with the bow than the rest of us. The Marksmen were still great in number, but despite this, they had little formal representation within the Hunters' Guild. As such, Romochka had come to be recognised as master among them, although reluctantly, and he did not like it when others mentioned this.
Finally, there was the third path, of which I myself had been a native for many years. This was for those of us who embraced both of the above, but who, in addition, had developed a greater ability and will to avoid death. Because of this, we came to be called the Survivalists, and we had traditionally been the rarest of the three. The greatest of our elders, Arland, had simply walked away into the wilderness one day, never to be heard from again.
Followers of all three forms had various abilities which, not only kept us alive and allowed us to fight, but also literally defined who we were, and our sense of identity. When these abilities suddenly ceased to be reliable, we either died, or we experienced the kind of torment which the young Tauren before me was now. Our relationship with our animals, our prey, and the very land itself came into question.
I knew that the young Tauren's confusion and pain were due to this. He had been taught to fight in a particular way, and that if he did so, he would be successful. This had ceased to be true, and as a result, he doubted himself terribly. He had not learned anything else, but now, due to the strange curse which had recently befallen the Beast Masters, he would need to embrace another way.
As I considered what I was about to do, I was reminded of something else. I remembered the pain I had experienced, when in a meeting of the Hunters' Guild, I had finally been cast out. I remembered the Beast Masters' constant taunting and jeering of those of my form, about how we were inferior and always would be. I knew that this was partly why Arland had walked away, and another of our elders, Rakan, had gone back to his home in Desolace, to resume his life as a mystic. I also remembered how savagely yet another of us, Mekhilosio, had been attacked, when he described how he had been able to help others.
I knew that I could respond to this young Tauren now, as many of those of his form had often responded to me and mine, for years without stopping; with laughter, mockery, and insults. The time had come when I could repay cruelty for cruelty, and gloating for gloating. I could kick him when he was down, and in his current state, break his spirit such that he would no longer want to live at all. I had felt much anger towards many of his form before, and for a time, at least, I possibly could have deluded myself that to do that would have been an act of justice.
I also knew, however, that such was not the Survival way, but in fact, the direct opposite of it. That of everything else we might have known, there was ultimately nothing more important in the preservation of our own lives, and that of others, than compassion.
To be a true Survivalist was to be an outcast. It had always been that way. The Beast Masters and Marksmen carried some legitimacy, both in the eyes of each other, and in the rest of Azeroth and Draenor; but us, never. We were the dreamers, the insane; ridiculed, kicked, and spat on.
More than anything else, our path had required broad shoulders, thick skin, and a realisation that to be Survival was to be alone; but it was also to follow your conscience and your own identity. It wasn't something that was done because it was easy, or painless, or beautiful, because it was none of these. It was, however, something that was done for the love of it, despite all of the abuse we received.
And so, taking a deep breath, and closing my own eyes for a few seconds, I gathered together all of the pain that they had ever caused me...and let it go.
When the young Tauren had regained his composure, his vision was suddenly partly obscured by an open green hand. He took it, and I hauled him to his feet.
"What is your name, son of the Horde?" I asked him.
"Caurmahe," he answered. "I do not understand why it is now so much harder for me to kill my prey. They used to fall easily, but now they go from my wolf to me, and it is all we can do to avoid being eaten by them."
I offered him my shoulder, and his wolf began to limp along next to my cat as well, in the direction of the nearest settlement. The Argent Crusaders there would no doubt have a healer among them, who could take care of him for a few days.
"Well, Caurmahe," I replied, as we walked. "Did any of those who you spoke to, mention that we have traps which can produce fire, as well as frost and ice?"
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
-- Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus; from the Statue of Liberty.
I was riding through northeastern Zul'Drak, in the early evening. It should rightfully have been considered a horrible place, with savage, biting cold, the mad remnants of the Drakkari, and the ever-present threat of being overrun with Scourge. Still, I found that somehow, I was able to like it.
I'd come here hunting the local raptors; their skins were more highly prized at the bazaar in Dalaran than most, and I was sorely in need of extra money, of late. However, as I was about to look for another raptor, I noticed a Tauren male who had already begun fighting one, only 30 yards or so in front of me.
He was a young bull. I could immediately tell from the speed of his movements and the lack of scars on his arms. It reminded me of old Tarukhe, and what he must have been like, at that age.
The Hunt was a thing of great wonder for the young, and they threw themselves into it with all the extra energy that came with their youth. It was, therefore, the most dangerous part of any Hunter's career, I realised ruefully, chuckling. Hunters who survived the taking of their first few beasts, generally slowed down and learned more respect for their prey.
This young one's fight began to go badly. Although he fired the rapid succession of smaller, lighter arrows that were a signature of the Beast school, for reasons that he could not understand, it was to no avail. The shots were deflected by the raptor's tough hide, and it continued its' attack.
The raptor had let much blood out of both him and his wolf, and as they panted with exhaustion, closed in for the kill. No doubt the creature thought he would be eating royally tonight, and that this prey would be the envy of the rest of his pack.
I rapidly drew one of the new black powder tipped arrows that we had recently learned to make, lit the fuse with a stone I carried for the purpose, and fired it at the raptor's feet, blowing a hole in the stone of the ruins. The beast was stunned momentarily, turned, looked at me, kicked both the Tauren and his wolf to the ground, and then ran off.
After a moment, the Tauren pulled himself up into a sitting position, but then simply sat for a long while. There was a look of confusion, shock, and great pain on his face, and as I watched, his dark eyes slowly filled with tears, and he began weeping, bellowing out his agony to the stars.
I understood, and averted my eyes, allowing him his dignity. This was not caused by the slashes which the raptor's claws had opened on his arms. This was from something far deeper.
The Hunters of Azeroth and Draenor had, over the course of many ages, discovered and refined three unique forms in which we could fight and hunt.
These were the way of the Beast, which allowed greater communion with animals, and which had traditionally been the first path of our young, as this Tauren was. They had grown to be called the Beast Masters. These had been the most numerous of the three, and their leader within the Hunters' Guild on Azeroth was a fierce and hot tempered, yet very wise and aged Dwarf, with an enormous red beard. His name was Briac.
There was also the way of the Bow, which my Draenei friend Romochka followed; they were called the Marksmen, due to their greater skill with the bow than the rest of us. The Marksmen were still great in number, but despite this, they had little formal representation within the Hunters' Guild. As such, Romochka had come to be recognised as master among them, although reluctantly, and he did not like it when others mentioned this.
Finally, there was the third path, of which I myself had been a native for many years. This was for those of us who embraced both of the above, but who, in addition, had developed a greater ability and will to avoid death. Because of this, we came to be called the Survivalists, and we had traditionally been the rarest of the three. The greatest of our elders, Arland, had simply walked away into the wilderness one day, never to be heard from again.
Followers of all three forms had various abilities which, not only kept us alive and allowed us to fight, but also literally defined who we were, and our sense of identity. When these abilities suddenly ceased to be reliable, we either died, or we experienced the kind of torment which the young Tauren before me was now. Our relationship with our animals, our prey, and the very land itself came into question.
I knew that the young Tauren's confusion and pain were due to this. He had been taught to fight in a particular way, and that if he did so, he would be successful. This had ceased to be true, and as a result, he doubted himself terribly. He had not learned anything else, but now, due to the strange curse which had recently befallen the Beast Masters, he would need to embrace another way.
As I considered what I was about to do, I was reminded of something else. I remembered the pain I had experienced, when in a meeting of the Hunters' Guild, I had finally been cast out. I remembered the Beast Masters' constant taunting and jeering of those of my form, about how we were inferior and always would be. I knew that this was partly why Arland had walked away, and another of our elders, Rakan, had gone back to his home in Desolace, to resume his life as a mystic. I also remembered how savagely yet another of us, Mekhilosio, had been attacked, when he described how he had been able to help others.
I knew that I could respond to this young Tauren now, as many of those of his form had often responded to me and mine, for years without stopping; with laughter, mockery, and insults. The time had come when I could repay cruelty for cruelty, and gloating for gloating. I could kick him when he was down, and in his current state, break his spirit such that he would no longer want to live at all. I had felt much anger towards many of his form before, and for a time, at least, I possibly could have deluded myself that to do that would have been an act of justice.
I also knew, however, that such was not the Survival way, but in fact, the direct opposite of it. That of everything else we might have known, there was ultimately nothing more important in the preservation of our own lives, and that of others, than compassion.
To be a true Survivalist was to be an outcast. It had always been that way. The Beast Masters and Marksmen carried some legitimacy, both in the eyes of each other, and in the rest of Azeroth and Draenor; but us, never. We were the dreamers, the insane; ridiculed, kicked, and spat on.
More than anything else, our path had required broad shoulders, thick skin, and a realisation that to be Survival was to be alone; but it was also to follow your conscience and your own identity. It wasn't something that was done because it was easy, or painless, or beautiful, because it was none of these. It was, however, something that was done for the love of it, despite all of the abuse we received.
And so, taking a deep breath, and closing my own eyes for a few seconds, I gathered together all of the pain that they had ever caused me...and let it go.
When the young Tauren had regained his composure, his vision was suddenly partly obscured by an open green hand. He took it, and I hauled him to his feet.
"What is your name, son of the Horde?" I asked him.
"Caurmahe," he answered. "I do not understand why it is now so much harder for me to kill my prey. They used to fall easily, but now they go from my wolf to me, and it is all we can do to avoid being eaten by them."
I offered him my shoulder, and his wolf began to limp along next to my cat as well, in the direction of the nearest settlement. The Argent Crusaders there would no doubt have a healer among them, who could take care of him for a few days.
"Well, Caurmahe," I replied, as we walked. "Did any of those who you spoke to, mention that we have traps which can produce fire, as well as frost and ice?"
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Another BM respec
So, on logging into WoW yesterday, I felt I wanted to do something a bit different. I not only wanted to set up my talent points on a couple of pets, but since I've already used Marks (to a degree anyway) and Survival since the patch, I thought I'd try out Beast Mastery.
I didn't actually go the 51/10/0 path, since the word on the forum was that having so few points to spend in Marks, (particularly in terms of missing Go for the Throat) caused a nasty lack of damage.
This was the spec I used, and I haven't changed back from it yet, either. You will notice that I've taken Hawk Eye as the only talent from Survival. The comparitive lack of range was one of the main things that I used to miss during temporary BM respecs in the past, and the fact that I can now get Hawk Eye without sacrificing (and indeed, marginally improving with 2/3 CA) damage, was a welcome change.
I also got a Ferocity pet for the occasion; a white Ghost Saber from the cat statues in the ruins of northern Darkshore. This pet is, as has been said elsewhere, beautiful and very unique, and I will be keeping it after respeccing back.
To really try this out, I tried two different activities with it; a solo Scholo run, up to and including Rattlegore, and around half a dozen matches in Arathi Basin.
In Scholo, although my damage output seemed decent, the single main thing that stood out was the comparitive lack of mana efficiency. Although despite the patch's changes, I was sticking to the 1:1 rotation to attempt to conserve mana, I have, through long practice, learned to instinctively lean very heavily on trapping. I did here as well, even with this spec, and I definitely noticed the lack of Resourcefulness. For three mob pulls, I was generally having to drink every other pull or so, especially if I was trapping.
Bestial Wrath, however, was also wasted in Scholo; I only used it once, on Rattlegore himself, and that when he was 75% dead anyway. My usual strategy with him has been chain Snake and Immolation trapping.
I am, I will confess, exceptionally slow and methodical when farming, and I think that more than anything else is what has discouraged me from putting up any video footage of me doing so. Aside from the filesize being prohibitively large, even with editing, it would, I fear, be in danger of putting you all to sleep. Even though Beast Mastery still caused me to move slightly more quickly than usual, I tend to think that if anyone native to the tree had been watching, they probably would have commented that they had never seen it being used so slowly.
My primary rationale for this, of course, is to minimise threat, but a secondary priority is mana efficiency. There are few things I dislike more than having to kite mobs if it is avoidable, and as such, I tend to study the threat meter very attentively, and follow the pet's lead with attacking. This isn't necessarily just hollow, obsessive perfectionism, either; there are certain situations (such as multi mob tanking) where keeping mobs focused on the pet is vitally important.
Keeping a careful eye on my per-mob mana consumption is also critical; as I've stated before, with Surv anyway, running out of mana will kill me more often than running out of health will. I almost feel like posting in the Suggestion forum and asking if Blizzard could give Survival an equivalent of Spiritual Attunement, but I suspect the thread would get swamped by people telling me that I'm playing the wrong class. ;-)
Speaking of which, Omen 3.0 was released not long ago. It seems that with the new patch, Blizzard have finally released a native API for threat meters, (a wet dream come true, as far as I'm concerned ;-)) which Omen now uses, so I encourage any of you who still don't have it, to go and get it. Truly reliable, up to the second threat monitoring is a real Godsend.
My early AB games went well, but as time went on I began to notice some serious problems. Although I was able to use Bestial Wrath for some much needed vengeance upon the Priest class, (a Shadow Priest is customarily one of my few truly feared enemies with Survival, believe it or not; primarily due to the dreaded Mana Burn and Silence) I had difficulty against other classes.
For one thing, with Survival, I'm used to being able to kite melee classes to death. I hadn't realised, however, just how much apparent tanking was actually involved in said kiting, because as Beast Mastery, Warriors were killing me in 2-3 shots, whereas with Survival it usually took at least a couple more, even when kiting with a trap and Serpent Sting. I did notice that my health was down by around 1.4k as Beast Mastery; this apparently made a real difference. The Warrior is generally my easiest class to kill with Survival.
Given that I had thought BM was our anti-caster tree, the other thing that surprised me was in one particular match, where I started to get almost constantly slaughtered by Warlocks. My theory on that was again the health issue, since draining health is primarily what Warlocks do.
I'm actually torn on whether to keep trying with BM, or simply to go back to Survival. Even though I'm not planning on using BM permanently, part of me feels that in order to be truly proficient as a Hunter, I ought to be at least passably decent with all three trees. I'm wondering if respeccing for Endurance Training and Thick Hide rather than Imp Hawk and Focused Fire would help much. Thoughts?
I didn't actually go the 51/10/0 path, since the word on the forum was that having so few points to spend in Marks, (particularly in terms of missing Go for the Throat) caused a nasty lack of damage.
This was the spec I used, and I haven't changed back from it yet, either. You will notice that I've taken Hawk Eye as the only talent from Survival. The comparitive lack of range was one of the main things that I used to miss during temporary BM respecs in the past, and the fact that I can now get Hawk Eye without sacrificing (and indeed, marginally improving with 2/3 CA) damage, was a welcome change.
I also got a Ferocity pet for the occasion; a white Ghost Saber from the cat statues in the ruins of northern Darkshore. This pet is, as has been said elsewhere, beautiful and very unique, and I will be keeping it after respeccing back.
To really try this out, I tried two different activities with it; a solo Scholo run, up to and including Rattlegore, and around half a dozen matches in Arathi Basin.
In Scholo, although my damage output seemed decent, the single main thing that stood out was the comparitive lack of mana efficiency. Although despite the patch's changes, I was sticking to the 1:1 rotation to attempt to conserve mana, I have, through long practice, learned to instinctively lean very heavily on trapping. I did here as well, even with this spec, and I definitely noticed the lack of Resourcefulness. For three mob pulls, I was generally having to drink every other pull or so, especially if I was trapping.
Bestial Wrath, however, was also wasted in Scholo; I only used it once, on Rattlegore himself, and that when he was 75% dead anyway. My usual strategy with him has been chain Snake and Immolation trapping.
I am, I will confess, exceptionally slow and methodical when farming, and I think that more than anything else is what has discouraged me from putting up any video footage of me doing so. Aside from the filesize being prohibitively large, even with editing, it would, I fear, be in danger of putting you all to sleep. Even though Beast Mastery still caused me to move slightly more quickly than usual, I tend to think that if anyone native to the tree had been watching, they probably would have commented that they had never seen it being used so slowly.
My primary rationale for this, of course, is to minimise threat, but a secondary priority is mana efficiency. There are few things I dislike more than having to kite mobs if it is avoidable, and as such, I tend to study the threat meter very attentively, and follow the pet's lead with attacking. This isn't necessarily just hollow, obsessive perfectionism, either; there are certain situations (such as multi mob tanking) where keeping mobs focused on the pet is vitally important.
Keeping a careful eye on my per-mob mana consumption is also critical; as I've stated before, with Surv anyway, running out of mana will kill me more often than running out of health will. I almost feel like posting in the Suggestion forum and asking if Blizzard could give Survival an equivalent of Spiritual Attunement, but I suspect the thread would get swamped by people telling me that I'm playing the wrong class. ;-)
Speaking of which, Omen 3.0 was released not long ago. It seems that with the new patch, Blizzard have finally released a native API for threat meters, (a wet dream come true, as far as I'm concerned ;-)) which Omen now uses, so I encourage any of you who still don't have it, to go and get it. Truly reliable, up to the second threat monitoring is a real Godsend.
My early AB games went well, but as time went on I began to notice some serious problems. Although I was able to use Bestial Wrath for some much needed vengeance upon the Priest class, (a Shadow Priest is customarily one of my few truly feared enemies with Survival, believe it or not; primarily due to the dreaded Mana Burn and Silence) I had difficulty against other classes.
For one thing, with Survival, I'm used to being able to kite melee classes to death. I hadn't realised, however, just how much apparent tanking was actually involved in said kiting, because as Beast Mastery, Warriors were killing me in 2-3 shots, whereas with Survival it usually took at least a couple more, even when kiting with a trap and Serpent Sting. I did notice that my health was down by around 1.4k as Beast Mastery; this apparently made a real difference. The Warrior is generally my easiest class to kill with Survival.
Given that I had thought BM was our anti-caster tree, the other thing that surprised me was in one particular match, where I started to get almost constantly slaughtered by Warlocks. My theory on that was again the health issue, since draining health is primarily what Warlocks do.
I'm actually torn on whether to keep trying with BM, or simply to go back to Survival. Even though I'm not planning on using BM permanently, part of me feels that in order to be truly proficient as a Hunter, I ought to be at least passably decent with all three trees. I'm wondering if respeccing for Endurance Training and Thick Hide rather than Imp Hawk and Focused Fire would help much. Thoughts?
Monday, September 17, 2007
Why for me at least, a Hunter ISN'T a DPS class
I find myself wondering...can there be such a thing as a spec identity crisis? I'm fairly sure that's what I'm experiencing right now.
I did my first Shadow Labyrinth run with my guild yesterday morning. We wiped three times on Murmur before killing him. Although my trapping was solid earlier, I was dead last on the sacred damage meter.
That made me think; obviously my dps sucks, because if it didn't, I wouldn't have been at the bottom of the list, and we would have been able to drop Murmur a lot faster than we did. I'm also remembering the smug pronouncements that I've read on the forum about two Survival Hunters in any group (or even an entire guild, apparently) being a waste, due to both EW clashing and Survival's customarily abysmal damage output. My class officer and I are both Survival, and he hasn't expressed a problem with me staying Surv, despite me having spoken to him about it. I also figure that because I don't want to be a liability to the guild, I should do whatever I can to try and improve, damage wise.
So I go and respec BM again; a crap BM build as well. Completely by accident, I ended up getting a couple other things and missing BW.
Flash forward to this morning. I'm feeling extremely tentative and uncertain. Farming water motes in Nagrand was going fine, but then an RL friend with a 63 shaman msges me and suggests attempting we try and two man Ramparts. I say ok fine, although I have grave misgivings about our ability to do it. Ramps is actually one of the hardest instances I've done in some ways.
So we go in. First few pulls are tricky, but we get through. Eventually we get to a point which, despite it being a three mob pull that ordinarily (as Survival, of course) I could handle, due to having Wyvern Sting and less chance of trap resistance. I drop trap, lure one of the three mobs over to the trap, and put the pet on another. The mob that was supposed to get trapped resists, all three mobs congregate on me, they kill me, and then the shaman. We try again, trap gets resisted, same result. We try again, and exactly the same result. My repair bill by this point is nearly 10g, so we agree to leave it. I logged out, and came to write this post.
My problem is that I really don't know what to do spec wise at this point. I've spent the last close to 18 months playing Survival; it's got to the point where I feel as though to a degree the tree is instinctive, at least as far as trapping is concerned...and it is also a mirror of my own playstyle/psychology. My DPS is terrible, yes...but usually, when I'm soloing at least my CC can chunk it down enough for me to be able to cope.
People are hence going to say fine, play the way you need to, be Surv, problem solved. That isn't the solution to the problem. The single main reason being, that although in BRK's case, a Hunter might be a pure DPS class, in my own case that isn't the case.
As Survival, my DPS sucks. It's beyond horrible; I'm struggling to clear 300 in 5 mans according to the meters I run, and although I've been top a couple of times, I've been at the bottom enough to know that the only times I'm at the top are when the rest of the group are people who don't know what they're doing.
However, what I have become moderately ok at I think tho, is CC. Again you might be saying, fine and dandy, if Surv works for you, be Surv. Where this argument again fails though is that I've been reading that CC virtually isn't used in raids. In raids apparently, there is nothing other than DPS.
I want to raid, but my dilemma is, if raiding is only about pure DPS, then by playing the way I know how, the only way that I really feel that I can, I'm apparently only going to be a liability to the group I'm in.
I actually don't think I'm the only person who's experiencing this problem. According to a recent forum post I read, on the EU servers at least, the number of people speccing 35+ point Survival has risen by around 3.6% in the last few months. That means that there's going to be a lot more people who, like me, are caught in the dilemma of playing a (comparitively, at least) non-DPS spec for what is supposedly a pure DPS class. The single main reason why this is a problem is because of how difficult it then becomes for us to convince guild and raid leaders, and other Hunters, that we're both credible and necessary. It's like what Shadow Priests have undoubtedly experienced, except in reverse. Priests are socially expected to be a healing class, and so because when as Shadow they want to DPS instead, it isn't accepted because it goes against the majority's expectations. By contrast, Hunters are meant to be a DPS class, whereas Survival is largely about doing other things besides pure damage.
Something else also happened this morning that really made me think. I found myself thinking that if I didn't know how to play BM as a spec, all I'd need to do is go to BRK, read what he'd already written, and I could learn. That then brought back to my mind the comments that people have already left on this blog, that before me, for Survival, a resource like that didn't exist. At the risk of sounding horribly arrogant, (especially considering that I don't feel as though, being honest, I really have anything like the level of ability needed for this) apparently I've ended up becoming the Louis Skolnick of Survival. As someone who'd read this blog said to me on the forum last time I experimented with BM; "Mirsh, you've gone BM. That just seems...wrong, somehow."
It's caused me to realise, thinking about it now; I can't turn tail and run on this, to a spec which I don't know how to use anywayz. For a long time among the Hunter community from what I saw, a scenario existed where Marks was the dominant spec, BM was the fringe or "different" (but still tolerated) spec, and Survival wasn't something mentioned at all in polite society; it was as though the tree literally didn't exist. It was considered the domain of nerds, freaks, and the mentally unhinged, and if mentioned was again forgotten about as quickly as possible. Among WoW's social mainstream, before patch 2.1, speccing Survival simply Was Not Done. It isn't coincidental that posts on the forum where people ask about Survival are reminiscent of what it sounds like when people start realising that they might possibly be homosexual; Survival among WoW players has literally had almost a similar level of stigma attached.
Now, that is ever so slowly beginning to change. The number of people willing to look at the tree and experiment with it is rising; there are forum topics being made about it every day. Survival is, at long last, coming out of the closet. For the sake of being true to myself, and the sake of said people who are potentially going to need advice, whether I end up raiding or not, I need to stick with the tree for that.
I did my first Shadow Labyrinth run with my guild yesterday morning. We wiped three times on Murmur before killing him. Although my trapping was solid earlier, I was dead last on the sacred damage meter.
That made me think; obviously my dps sucks, because if it didn't, I wouldn't have been at the bottom of the list, and we would have been able to drop Murmur a lot faster than we did. I'm also remembering the smug pronouncements that I've read on the forum about two Survival Hunters in any group (or even an entire guild, apparently) being a waste, due to both EW clashing and Survival's customarily abysmal damage output. My class officer and I are both Survival, and he hasn't expressed a problem with me staying Surv, despite me having spoken to him about it. I also figure that because I don't want to be a liability to the guild, I should do whatever I can to try and improve, damage wise.
So I go and respec BM again; a crap BM build as well. Completely by accident, I ended up getting a couple other things and missing BW.
Flash forward to this morning. I'm feeling extremely tentative and uncertain. Farming water motes in Nagrand was going fine, but then an RL friend with a 63 shaman msges me and suggests attempting we try and two man Ramparts. I say ok fine, although I have grave misgivings about our ability to do it. Ramps is actually one of the hardest instances I've done in some ways.
So we go in. First few pulls are tricky, but we get through. Eventually we get to a point which, despite it being a three mob pull that ordinarily (as Survival, of course) I could handle, due to having Wyvern Sting and less chance of trap resistance. I drop trap, lure one of the three mobs over to the trap, and put the pet on another. The mob that was supposed to get trapped resists, all three mobs congregate on me, they kill me, and then the shaman. We try again, trap gets resisted, same result. We try again, and exactly the same result. My repair bill by this point is nearly 10g, so we agree to leave it. I logged out, and came to write this post.
My problem is that I really don't know what to do spec wise at this point. I've spent the last close to 18 months playing Survival; it's got to the point where I feel as though to a degree the tree is instinctive, at least as far as trapping is concerned...and it is also a mirror of my own playstyle/psychology. My DPS is terrible, yes...but usually, when I'm soloing at least my CC can chunk it down enough for me to be able to cope.
People are hence going to say fine, play the way you need to, be Surv, problem solved. That isn't the solution to the problem. The single main reason being, that although in BRK's case, a Hunter might be a pure DPS class, in my own case that isn't the case.
As Survival, my DPS sucks. It's beyond horrible; I'm struggling to clear 300 in 5 mans according to the meters I run, and although I've been top a couple of times, I've been at the bottom enough to know that the only times I'm at the top are when the rest of the group are people who don't know what they're doing.
However, what I have become moderately ok at I think tho, is CC. Again you might be saying, fine and dandy, if Surv works for you, be Surv. Where this argument again fails though is that I've been reading that CC virtually isn't used in raids. In raids apparently, there is nothing other than DPS.
I want to raid, but my dilemma is, if raiding is only about pure DPS, then by playing the way I know how, the only way that I really feel that I can, I'm apparently only going to be a liability to the group I'm in.
I actually don't think I'm the only person who's experiencing this problem. According to a recent forum post I read, on the EU servers at least, the number of people speccing 35+ point Survival has risen by around 3.6% in the last few months. That means that there's going to be a lot more people who, like me, are caught in the dilemma of playing a (comparitively, at least) non-DPS spec for what is supposedly a pure DPS class. The single main reason why this is a problem is because of how difficult it then becomes for us to convince guild and raid leaders, and other Hunters, that we're both credible and necessary. It's like what Shadow Priests have undoubtedly experienced, except in reverse. Priests are socially expected to be a healing class, and so because when as Shadow they want to DPS instead, it isn't accepted because it goes against the majority's expectations. By contrast, Hunters are meant to be a DPS class, whereas Survival is largely about doing other things besides pure damage.
Something else also happened this morning that really made me think. I found myself thinking that if I didn't know how to play BM as a spec, all I'd need to do is go to BRK, read what he'd already written, and I could learn. That then brought back to my mind the comments that people have already left on this blog, that before me, for Survival, a resource like that didn't exist. At the risk of sounding horribly arrogant, (especially considering that I don't feel as though, being honest, I really have anything like the level of ability needed for this) apparently I've ended up becoming the Louis Skolnick of Survival. As someone who'd read this blog said to me on the forum last time I experimented with BM; "Mirsh, you've gone BM. That just seems...wrong, somehow."
It's caused me to realise, thinking about it now; I can't turn tail and run on this, to a spec which I don't know how to use anywayz. For a long time among the Hunter community from what I saw, a scenario existed where Marks was the dominant spec, BM was the fringe or "different" (but still tolerated) spec, and Survival wasn't something mentioned at all in polite society; it was as though the tree literally didn't exist. It was considered the domain of nerds, freaks, and the mentally unhinged, and if mentioned was again forgotten about as quickly as possible. Among WoW's social mainstream, before patch 2.1, speccing Survival simply Was Not Done. It isn't coincidental that posts on the forum where people ask about Survival are reminiscent of what it sounds like when people start realising that they might possibly be homosexual; Survival among WoW players has literally had almost a similar level of stigma attached.
Now, that is ever so slowly beginning to change. The number of people willing to look at the tree and experiment with it is rising; there are forum topics being made about it every day. Survival is, at long last, coming out of the closet. For the sake of being true to myself, and the sake of said people who are potentially going to need advice, whether I end up raiding or not, I need to stick with the tree for that.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
On going back to Survival - I'm actually wavering
I respecced BM a couple days ago to get to 70 faster. At the time, I was certain that I'd use it to race up to 70, then undoubtedly want to go back to Surv.
If there is one thing, however...and only one thing...that could conceivably convince me to stay with Beast Mastery, (it actually isn't Bestial Wrath, or Serpent Swiftness) it is Intimidation.
A real, controllable, truly viable Taunt is something I've wanted for my pet for pretty much the entire time I've been playing with a Hunter. It lets me keep FD as a backup...so I have a second option in emergencies.
It just might sway me.
If there is one thing, however...and only one thing...that could conceivably convince me to stay with Beast Mastery, (it actually isn't Bestial Wrath, or Serpent Swiftness) it is Intimidation.
A real, controllable, truly viable Taunt is something I've wanted for my pet for pretty much the entire time I've been playing with a Hunter. It lets me keep FD as a backup...so I have a second option in emergencies.
It just might sway me.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Spec homesickness
(Warning:- In hindsight, I realise I've been a tad confrontational in this post. If, after reading it, you discover that your own feathers are among those that have been ruffled, then please allow me to apologise in advance. My intent is not at all to deliberately or gratuitously offend people, but this is a can of worms which I've felt needed to be opened for a while)
The title probably sounds really lame, but it describes how I'm feeling.
I really miss Surv. My overall DPS (including the pet) has gone up by around 130 according to Recount. (In the Hellfire Ramparts this morning I maxed out at 440 DPS, including pet...My highest with Survival was 310, including pet)
I also had a surreal experience yesterday morning where I took the BKP "Sparrow" Smallbore with Ironbite Shells into the Scarlet Monastery Cathedral, and experienced the use of a ranged weapon with 172 base DPS at a 1.25 sec attack speed. (0.9 sec with Imp Hawk)
The Sparrow is a level 33 weapon, and 172 is 14 DPS more than what my base was at 60 with Survival. Presumably because of the mobs' lower armour, inside the Cathedral, according to Recount I was able to still clear an overall total of more than 400 DPS with the Sparrow, as well. I used a Rapid Fire/Bestial Wrath combo on Mograine, and he literally lasted less than 3 seconds.
However, here's the problem. I'm missing this game having any real challenge for me now, even at my own character level. I'm missing the problem solving aspects of Survival. I'm missing the sense of excitement during, and satisfaction after, a scenario in which my character genuinely could die, and where I have to work in order to ensure that that doesn't happen. That has never happened with me with BM so far. If things get bad, the most I have to do is maybe swallow a potion, and hit Bestial Wrath. It gets me out of pretty much any otherwise potentially challenging situation that I might be in.
I'm aware that damage wise, Survival actually is a handicap. There; I've said it. It's something which BRK has shown in his own testing, and which I've long known to be true; Survival is the most difficult of the three specs to use effectively. Survival's inherent level of difficulty is the dinosaur in the Hunter's living room; that thing which we all know is there, but which it's not considered politically correct to talk about.
Let me say that again. If anyone who reads this blog, is, as a player of the Hunter class, looking for a free lunch, then you need to play one of the other two specs, because even more than the other two, you're not going to get it with Surv. The single main reason why no more than 7% or so of the playerbase choose it is because it genuinely is difficult to the point of being unpalatable for most. If, as BRK has said, BM Hunters can derive a sense of superiority from being the highest damage output spec, the Survival superiority complex is derived from the fact that Surv is a spec where virtually nothing is done for you by the tree itself. It therefore logically follows that a competent Survival Hunter is not merely good; they are by definition awesome at the game, because they have to be. In my experience anyway, Survival is the closest this game gets to being genuinely challenging to play.
That, however, is the one thing that I'm having a lot of trouble with. I feel that as a spec, BM does way too much of the work for me, to the point where I'm now having difficulty deriving a sense of challenge from the game. I will admit that I've worried about that possibility in the past, which is also actually the main reason why I've gone Survival. I like the comparitive degree of difficulty that is inherent in effectively playing Survival...psychologically, I need that. I need that far more than I need a spec which is going to give me an inherently larger degree of damage output than the others, purely on its' own.
That, then, is a question I would ask BRK and any other BM hunters who might read this. How could a player stay specced Beast Mastery and overcome the above problem? Given that a BM hunter is as powerful as they are, how do they still manage to find a sense of genuine challenge within the game?
The title probably sounds really lame, but it describes how I'm feeling.
I really miss Surv. My overall DPS (including the pet) has gone up by around 130 according to Recount. (In the Hellfire Ramparts this morning I maxed out at 440 DPS, including pet...My highest with Survival was 310, including pet)
I also had a surreal experience yesterday morning where I took the BKP "Sparrow" Smallbore with Ironbite Shells into the Scarlet Monastery Cathedral, and experienced the use of a ranged weapon with 172 base DPS at a 1.25 sec attack speed. (0.9 sec with Imp Hawk)
The Sparrow is a level 33 weapon, and 172 is 14 DPS more than what my base was at 60 with Survival. Presumably because of the mobs' lower armour, inside the Cathedral, according to Recount I was able to still clear an overall total of more than 400 DPS with the Sparrow, as well. I used a Rapid Fire/Bestial Wrath combo on Mograine, and he literally lasted less than 3 seconds.
However, here's the problem. I'm missing this game having any real challenge for me now, even at my own character level. I'm missing the problem solving aspects of Survival. I'm missing the sense of excitement during, and satisfaction after, a scenario in which my character genuinely could die, and where I have to work in order to ensure that that doesn't happen. That has never happened with me with BM so far. If things get bad, the most I have to do is maybe swallow a potion, and hit Bestial Wrath. It gets me out of pretty much any otherwise potentially challenging situation that I might be in.
I'm aware that damage wise, Survival actually is a handicap. There; I've said it. It's something which BRK has shown in his own testing, and which I've long known to be true; Survival is the most difficult of the three specs to use effectively. Survival's inherent level of difficulty is the dinosaur in the Hunter's living room; that thing which we all know is there, but which it's not considered politically correct to talk about.
Let me say that again. If anyone who reads this blog, is, as a player of the Hunter class, looking for a free lunch, then you need to play one of the other two specs, because even more than the other two, you're not going to get it with Surv. The single main reason why no more than 7% or so of the playerbase choose it is because it genuinely is difficult to the point of being unpalatable for most. If, as BRK has said, BM Hunters can derive a sense of superiority from being the highest damage output spec, the Survival superiority complex is derived from the fact that Surv is a spec where virtually nothing is done for you by the tree itself. It therefore logically follows that a competent Survival Hunter is not merely good; they are by definition awesome at the game, because they have to be. In my experience anyway, Survival is the closest this game gets to being genuinely challenging to play.
That, however, is the one thing that I'm having a lot of trouble with. I feel that as a spec, BM does way too much of the work for me, to the point where I'm now having difficulty deriving a sense of challenge from the game. I will admit that I've worried about that possibility in the past, which is also actually the main reason why I've gone Survival. I like the comparitive degree of difficulty that is inherent in effectively playing Survival...psychologically, I need that. I need that far more than I need a spec which is going to give me an inherently larger degree of damage output than the others, purely on its' own.
That, then, is a question I would ask BRK and any other BM hunters who might read this. How could a player stay specced Beast Mastery and overcome the above problem? Given that a BM hunter is as powerful as they are, how do they still manage to find a sense of genuine challenge within the game?
Saturday, August 25, 2007
A visit to Beast Mastery
I decided to try something a bit different this morning. I've changed temporarily to 41/17/0, not only to try it out but to also give me the necessary tailwind to get to 70 within a reasonable space of time. As much as I still love Survival, I think one of its' key mottos is, "Slow and steady wins the race." I'm entirely certain that I'm going to be respeccing back probably at 70; however for levelling, it's not entirely appropriate. I think the single main reason why I can't see myself staying BM permanently is because it's what everyone and his grandmother seems to be doing these days; if there's one thing I've discovered I need in life, it's a genuine sense of individuality. Tyler Durden might have said that we're not all beautiful and unique snowflakes; my own answer to that is that if I'm not, there genuinely isn't much point to my being alive.
I also joined a guild this morning which, from what they tell me, wishes to start raiding Karazhan in October. I'm a little worried that some people from the guild might read the above and reconsider the wisdom of having recruited me; however, they can rest assured that I have been in scenarios in game before where I have needed to follow orders, and can and will do so...the only thing which I will admit that I cannot have dictated to me is spec. That however doesn't mean that I'm going to be stupid, either. I'm well aware, for example, that Mortal Shots is entirely necessary in virtually any instance scenario; about the only time when I'd consider forsaking that now, (although I'd still get Lethal) would be for a temporary pvp scenario where I felt I needed the points for Deflection, Deterrence, and Counterattack instead. Once I start getting the daily quests, I'm going to be able to respec more or less daily as well, and I very much expect that I will be doing so. For raiding though once I start, I recognise the importance of uniform 41/20/0 or 0/21/40 builds entirely, and will not hesitate to commit to using such. 41 point Marksmanship has been largely discredited in the forums as a truly competitive raid spec these days, (at least without phenomenal gear, and a deep intimacy with the tree and what it provides) so I doubt that I would be subjected to pressure to respec in that direction anyway.
Probably the single most interesting aspect of the respec though were the entirely passive changes it made to my character sheet. Although my char sheet DPS went from 198 to 220, my Agility went from 488 to 425, my ap went down by about 100, and my crit dropped from 20% to 15%, which is purely the base 10% + Lethal Shots. I'm none too happy about this last point either, I'll admit...but I can live with it for the time being.
The message here seems to be that BM derives its' increased damage almost purely from increased attack speed, rather than from Agility or attack power as such.
This has some rather interesting implications, even for my usual Survival build. I'm thinking I might have to get into the Suggestions forum and ask if Blizzard would be willing to incorporate some 1.7-1.8 speed bows into the 65+ game as well, since I haven't seen any myself either in-game or thru Wowhead past the High Warlord's Recurve. As Survival I've had a lower level bow at that speed which I used for farming low instances, and I didn't have a problem timing shot rotations with it; so bows of that speed with scaled damage for level 65-70 would probably be really good.
To initially test BM out this morning, I decided to try soloing Zul'Farrak. I wasn't able to get through the entire instance before being disconnected, my server being what it is, but for what I was able to do it turned out that ZF was a good choice, since I was able to survive the pyramid battle, but had to use Bestial Wrath twice in order to do so. The Survival method of getting through that alive probably would have revolved around using Deterrence for the +25% dodge/parry for 10 seconds, but then using Readiness again to increase Deterrence for the full 20 sec. I also possibly would have come out of it with more health left via the Deterrence method as well, since with BW, even though I was doing more damage, I was still taking damage as well.
This however is possibly also a good comparitive illustration of the difference in approach with the two specs. Survival is, as the name implies, primarily defensively oriented, whereas Beast Mastery is apparently overwhelmingly offensive in nature. Even though I still plan to stay Survival on a more permanent basis, I suspect that a week or so with BM will still have much to teach me which, when I go back to Surv, can still be used to improve my performance with that spec.
I also joined a guild this morning which, from what they tell me, wishes to start raiding Karazhan in October. I'm a little worried that some people from the guild might read the above and reconsider the wisdom of having recruited me; however, they can rest assured that I have been in scenarios in game before where I have needed to follow orders, and can and will do so...the only thing which I will admit that I cannot have dictated to me is spec. That however doesn't mean that I'm going to be stupid, either. I'm well aware, for example, that Mortal Shots is entirely necessary in virtually any instance scenario; about the only time when I'd consider forsaking that now, (although I'd still get Lethal) would be for a temporary pvp scenario where I felt I needed the points for Deflection, Deterrence, and Counterattack instead. Once I start getting the daily quests, I'm going to be able to respec more or less daily as well, and I very much expect that I will be doing so. For raiding though once I start, I recognise the importance of uniform 41/20/0 or 0/21/40 builds entirely, and will not hesitate to commit to using such. 41 point Marksmanship has been largely discredited in the forums as a truly competitive raid spec these days, (at least without phenomenal gear, and a deep intimacy with the tree and what it provides) so I doubt that I would be subjected to pressure to respec in that direction anyway.
Probably the single most interesting aspect of the respec though were the entirely passive changes it made to my character sheet. Although my char sheet DPS went from 198 to 220, my Agility went from 488 to 425, my ap went down by about 100, and my crit dropped from 20% to 15%, which is purely the base 10% + Lethal Shots. I'm none too happy about this last point either, I'll admit...but I can live with it for the time being.
The message here seems to be that BM derives its' increased damage almost purely from increased attack speed, rather than from Agility or attack power as such.
This has some rather interesting implications, even for my usual Survival build. I'm thinking I might have to get into the Suggestions forum and ask if Blizzard would be willing to incorporate some 1.7-1.8 speed bows into the 65+ game as well, since I haven't seen any myself either in-game or thru Wowhead past the High Warlord's Recurve. As Survival I've had a lower level bow at that speed which I used for farming low instances, and I didn't have a problem timing shot rotations with it; so bows of that speed with scaled damage for level 65-70 would probably be really good.
To initially test BM out this morning, I decided to try soloing Zul'Farrak. I wasn't able to get through the entire instance before being disconnected, my server being what it is, but for what I was able to do it turned out that ZF was a good choice, since I was able to survive the pyramid battle, but had to use Bestial Wrath twice in order to do so. The Survival method of getting through that alive probably would have revolved around using Deterrence for the +25% dodge/parry for 10 seconds, but then using Readiness again to increase Deterrence for the full 20 sec. I also possibly would have come out of it with more health left via the Deterrence method as well, since with BW, even though I was doing more damage, I was still taking damage as well.
This however is possibly also a good comparitive illustration of the difference in approach with the two specs. Survival is, as the name implies, primarily defensively oriented, whereas Beast Mastery is apparently overwhelmingly offensive in nature. Even though I still plan to stay Survival on a more permanent basis, I suspect that a week or so with BM will still have much to teach me which, when I go back to Surv, can still be used to improve my performance with that spec.
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