Some new specs

So on logging in earlier, I spent my first respec in an admittedly silly manner.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cZ0xVZcfoio0Ghtuhhst

The point of this was purely to try out Explosive Shot, with Lock and Load along with it.

After using this for probably half a dozen matches, (probably around four hours) I rapidly reached the conclusion that for Arathi Basin at least, comparitively speaking anyway, Explosive Shot is more or less entirely worthless, as is Lock and Load; especially given the way the latter procs. Given that, it's extremely unlikely that I will be putting points in either of those two talents for any purpose any time soon. ~300 damage + 8% RAP is frankly terrible for a burst shot.

I can't see ES replacing Arcane Shot for raiding either. The two main 10 man possibilities for Surv that come to mind, would either be a Serpent Sting build, (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cZcxVbRhzhxRZjf0io0chxu0h Imp Stings + Noxious, for +33% total to Serpent) or ToTH/Hunting Party. (http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cZcgVbohZjf0io0cheuhhox)

Although my current live build is a little uneven, for AB I'm likely to stick with something like http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=cZceVbohzhxsZjf0io0ch
for the time being. Nothing flashy, but 3/3 Careful Aim, 4/5 Imp Tracking, 3/3 Hunter Vs. Wild, 3/3 Imp Stings, both Barrages, and 5/5 RWS for some solid DPS. For levelling to 80 and endgame farming once I get there, my own preference is likely to be something along the lines of the Serpent build linked above.

Apparently Kill Shot is the new Aimed, and considering that I can't get that until 71, I'm likely to struggle in AB until then, as well.

Staples for me now are likely to be:-

- Hunter Vs. Wild. As far as damage is concerned, IMHO this talent is the single major improvement Survival will see from the release of WoTLK. We badly needed more base RAP, and because it's a buff to RAP rather than %crit, it doesn't interfere as much when I'm trying to keep my threat low when soloing as well.

- Surefooted. Blizz might have moved the 3% hit to Marks, but 30% resist to movement impairing effects is nothing to sneeze at, and in PvP, without BW it's our only saving grace.

- Focused Aim. Blizz obviously moved the 3% hit here because they wanted BM people to be able to get it as well, and although not quite as good, the pushback reduction only sweetens the deal. There's no real reason not to get this.

- Go For The Throat. Given that Survival doesn't get any other buff to pet Focus regen, for us it's essential, but my temporary BM respecs will most likely include this as well.

- Imp Stings. +30% extra damage to Serpent Sting, which means more damage over time. This means more gradual, threat-managed damage for solo PvE, and more help/chance of overcoming Resilience while kiting in PvP. What's not to love? If you're going Surv, get it.

- Readiness. Considering how weird our shot cooldowns are now, Readiness is likely to see a lot more use by me than it used to, mainly so that I can use Aimed and Multi Shot in rapid succession. Of course, that was something I could do pre-WoTLK anywayz without needing Readiness, but come on now...have we ever expected rationality from Blizzard? ;-)

- Trueshot Aura. The age of EW is over, sadly.

Things I consider junk:-

- Lock and Load. The proc triggers are silly, I'd only use it for Arcane anyway, and then only in PvP.

- T.N.T. Another stun, with less duration and a lower proc rate than Entrapment, but more talent points required. +9% crit to ES might be good if you're getting it, but you're unlikely to crit with ES for more than 800 or so anywayz. The dev team can have a free tarring and feathering each from me for this one. ;-)

- Sniper Training. PvP only, since the only shot that would use it for me outside PvP would be Steady.

- Point of No Escape. The only place I can see this being used is the Arena. In battlegrounds I generally use Immolation Trap for kiting before Frost, and in solo PvE, more crit is not something I want, due to threat issues. This talent is also in a bad position on the tree, for what it does.

- Expose Weakness. TSA + both Barrages + 5/5 RWS is nearly always going to do more damage than the self-buffing EW, and that goes double for anyone below 600 base Agility. Rest in peace, EW. It was great fun while it lasted.

- Explosive Shot. As mentioned above, this shot's damage is simply terrible, and it being a 51 pointer just makes it worse. Buff this shot's damage, Blizz, and I might consider using it...but before then, no thanks. This was a real disappointment as well, since I was looking forward to destroying people in AB with ES.

EDIT:- I've been reading some numbers on the forum which are causing me to think that with better gear, ES is likely to be a lot better than it is now; especially at 80.

The end, or a new beginning?

So today is the last day with the old talent trees. Tomorrow patch 3.0.2 is installed, and we will be getting the new ones.

Oddly, when I was in the game a few minutes ago, I felt numb. I was originally going to log in and play some AB, but for some reason I just logged in, looked around for a few moments, and then logged out again.

We will see how things are then.

One good link deserves another

I just discovered I had a blogroll link from Boozsha, although truthfully I have already visited his blog before, as well. So I've given him a link in my own blogroll, as well.

Boozsha is a fellow Hunter who often writes thoughtful postings about his activities in WoW, from what I have seen. He has expressed a fair degree of humility regarding his level of ability within the game as well, which is always welcome, and will give you a positive change from my own usual narcissistic bluster. ;-)

So if you're not already reading his blog as well, go and check it out.

WotLK spec: The Bare Necessities

So on looking at Pike's post where she mentioned temporarily respeccing Survival, I hit the link to the spec she'd put together and did some playing around with it.

This is what I came up with, for somewhat general use. Nothing too flashy, but a couple of good solid damage buffs, and all the usual essential stuff which I tend to want.

The Lair's Wordle

So after reading about Rilgon punching his blog address into Wordle, I decided to go and do the same.

http://wordle.net/gallery/wrdl/239417/Mirshalak%27s_Lair was the result. Not exactly what I was expecting. ;-)

Arathi Basin becoming frustrating

I logged in last night for only the third time in nearly two weeks, and played some Arathi Basin. The Horde didn't win a single game.

Sometimes I wonder why the majority of people in Horde teams in my battlegroup even bother going in there, although to be fair, they did put up a very good effort in at least one game. The Alliance in Bloodlust can be very, very difficult, and AB seems to be the weakest battleground for the Horde at the best of times.



Although as it turns out, we can still do ok every now and then. This was from another match earlier in the last fortnight. Deep Marks is definitely the spec for me until 3.0 though, I think.

The Conqueror title is also still a way off, yet...but I'll get there. Even if I never raid again anywhere, Conq is probably the single main thing I want to accomplish with this character now, so I'm going to hope that the title will still be available in WoTLK.

Some semblance of sanity

http://talent.mmo-champion.com/?hunter=000000000000000000000000001323302500200330533100301000005305201230013030000000000

After doing some thinking, this is what I would tentatively use as a farming spec with the current trees (if they stay as-is) for WoTLK. My earlier pessimism aside, at 80 this would actually be a fairly major improvement over the existing usual 0/21/40 Surv build.

Although I haven't gone into that here, it'd also be possible to put together a very nice burst PvP spec with Sniper Training/Explosive Trap, as well, and HvW would be even more of a boon for us there than it will be for PvE.

- For one thing, the damage is going to be substantially higher. 3/3 Careful Aim, 3/3 Hunter vs. Wild, 3/3 Imp Stings, 3/3 Noxious Stings, (+33% to Serpent total) 3/3 Barrage, 3/5 RWS. Sacrificing Barrage and RWS would be necessary for a Hunting Party build, however I'd generally only be using HP in groups; however, considering that it has been nerfed into the ground, I'm not sure I'd bother with it even then at this point.

- Hunter vs. Wild is also probably the single most impressive addition to the tree that we've got. +30% of Stamina as AP means we finally have a real incentive to stack Stamina. Contrary to what some were claiming, 10% Stamina rather than Health from Survivalist is also a buff, not a nerf, because it synergises with this.

- For another thing, for me anyway, Scatter and Readiness are both now standard, rather than being optional extras which I formerly needed to sacrifice something else important in order to get. Double Scatter traps, double Wyvern Sting.

- In a rare flash of common sense, one of the retarded chimpanzees among the current dev team apparently decided to re-add the 30% duration buff to Freezing Trap, in Trap Mastery, hence removing one of my major sources of depression where WoTLK was concerned. I would be grateful, and I suppose I should be because at least it means I haven't lost it permanently, but I'm still somewhat angry about the fact that it was ever even temporarily removed in the first place.

Now, the downsides:-

- Lock and Load. Hmmm...an extra burst threat generator. Appealing...NOT! This talent is an aggro generating abomination which should not be in the Survival tree at all. For groups it might be fine, assuming the tank has already got good threat of course, but for soloing it's beyond bad. Blizzard, put this talent in Marksmanship where it belongs, or better yet, delete it entirely. Even with Marks, poor Rilgon still needs to pay some attention to his threat. ;-)

- TNT. Nice idea, but at 9%, the proc rate is somewhere between the proverbial infinitesimal and, "forget it." Entrapment is still at 25%, so it gets the points.

- Surefooted's hit reduction has been removed. You really do love letting the nerf bat swing, don't you, Blizzard?

- With Trap Mastery at 41 points, pre-60 levelling with Survival is officially dead. Dumb move, Blizzard. Trap Mastery is needed far more during levelling than it is at end game. You should make it a 5 point talent, not 41 point.

- Point of No Escape; No thanks. Another aggro generator which sounds good in theory, but isn't. When I'm frost kiting groups on my own, I need to keep burst threat at an absolute bare minimum.

- Explosive Shot; Nerfed to hell, but I still don't want that for soloing. I might get it for a 5 man, but even there, with Survival's customary level of base crit, keeping my threat below the tank's is generally hard enough as it is.