5/6 SSC and 2 T5 for this here hunter

Okay so tonight we had another raid night. Leo two shotted. Fathom Lord downed (that pull sucks btw) and then on to Lady V. That fight is going to take some time as it's about timing etc. Leo gave up his T5 glove token. Woot for me!

Oh and look!

Yes, I caught Mr. Pinchy on Saturday. My first time was the weaksauce Furious Mr. Pinchy. Second time was the pet.

Lvl 70 Hunter 2/6 SSC, Gruuls and Mags downed

Oh yes, it's Fire and Blood's version of Wednesday night fights. Let's get ready to RUMMBBBBLLEEEEEE!!!!!!11onetwothreefour!!!11

Gruul's one shotted (bastage Gruul killed my pet early though)

Maggy one shotted

Hydross one shotted

Lurker 2 shotted. Main tank dies and we scramble to get another tank to aggro lead right before submerge. We struggle to get the adds down, got one on our side of the main island, oops sheeped right before the shot from our bow hits him. Dead hunter. Raid wipes due to a couple folks disconnecting at during the fight.

Both fights I actually got the fishing pole to axe swap done. Still need to work on the timing to get the MD on the main tank done right. Lurker has a huge hit box and it's hard to get the shots off without getting in the water. Perhaps swap axe, put up mark, send kitty, get to my island and then do the MD thing?

I have over 70 badges now, so I am getting close to being able to upgrade with the new badge loot. I am thinking of going with the crossbow. There are a few other things I would like to have, mostly in the area of items for PvP or when I need a ton of stamina, but that crossbow is the only thing I really drool over.

Question from the comments

This was commented on one of my posts about my Ghost Saber and the red she becomes.

Anonymous said...
I know that the "red" appearance comes from the Beatial Wrath. Did your Ghost Saber learn this over time, or did have the ability when he spawned? I have a one and she doesn't have the ability.

Bestial Wrath is a talent learned skill in the Beast Mastery Tree.

Here's the tooltip:

Bestial Wrath
10% of base Mana 100 yd range
Instant cast 2 min cooldown

Send your pet into a rage causing 50% additional damage for 18 sec. While enraged, the beast does not feel pity or remorse or fear and it cannot be stopped unless killed.

The 41 point BM talent is called the Beast Within, which makes the Hunter Big Red and Mean. It reduces your mana costs and gives you the same immunity to crowd control as your pet.

If you look to the side over to the left you'll see a link to the Beast Mastery Hunter blog called Big Red Kitty. He has tons more info on this spec.

Building a Hunter

First and foremost, you want to know the best talent build for a hunter, look no further than http://bigredkitty.blogspot.com There is just no reason not to build as you level exactly the way he tells you to in the first 40 points. Want to build for a battle ground twink? Well maybe BM isn't the way to go early in your life. Most WSG/AB battles are quick and you need damage output in short bursts, so MM might be the way to go. After you get intimidation though, you cannot stay away from BM. In fact, depending on how you play AB or WSG, it might be best to stay BM. I did, until the last week or so in 39 and I switched over to MM to try it out.

What build determines the best build for you? Playstyle mostly. Of course, this is a moot point until you reach up into your higher levels. BM has been considered the best leveling build by most hunters. It buffs your pet, makes him an effective tank and your pet does enough damage to hold aggro well. As a MM, you can crit a few times and grab aggro. Survival is really an end game type of build, it requires a lot (read 600+) agility to really shine.

But build discussion isn't my main concern here. That you can find everywhere. My main concern here is what armor, stats etc should I look for as I build my hunter.

Here are some facts. Hunters are designed to do their damage at range. They are designed to use their pets to help them stay at range. A hunter uses mana. In a perfect world, a hunter should never take damage except when stealing aggro or adds or those pesky casters that suddenly switch targets.

Let's examine the facts.

Hunters are designed to do their damage at range. Okay so why do we carry melee weapons. Well, for one thing, you at some time, will have something get to melee on you. For the first 10 levels you don't have a pet to tank for you. But the real reason we have melee weapons (ok how about the nicest reason) is for you to be able to bonus your stats. What stats you ask? Agility, Stamina and Intelligence. Also, Ranged Attack Power (or attack power), Hit, Crit Chance, etc. For the most part, as you are moving up through the levels you will see plus to Stats though.

Notice that in this there isn't a need for strength. Or Spirit.

So, what do you need to look for on the AH etc?

First things first. Once you pass level 10, you should be working to not pull aggro off your pet. Keep it trained with the highest level of claw and growl, or gore, if you go with the ravager or boar. After that your armor doesn't matter as much. Work on saving money because at the very first you will move through levels so quickly, spending a ton of cash on armor/weapons won't pay off.

There is one exception. Your ranged weapon of choice should always be as up to date as possible. A point here: Range weapons with special procs or some such won't be as nice as additional stats bonuses. If you get a nice drop, certainly use it, but don't drop a bunch of gold on it. You want to save for your mount and have cash left over for a nice enchant if you get a nice blue. See, a blue might last you 5-6 levels, if nothing else is good out there.

I try to spend nothing on armor/weapons until i get to the capital city through questing. As a hunter you can use leather and cloth, get a cloth drop and it's an upgrade to your armor area? Put it on. Especially early when they don't soulbond.

As you begin to progress you might notice armor starts to get stats added to the areas. You should be looking for of the Falcon, of the Eagle and of the Monkey armor pieces. These carry your top three stat needs. Falcon is nice due to bonus to Agility and Intel. Monkey is nice for Agility and Stamina. And Eagle is Intel and Stamina.

A point here. Try to work your entire armor and weapon set as a whole. In other words if you find a piece that bonuses agility heavy on one slot, put intel or stamina in another. Oh and another point, single stat pieces don't usually sell for as much as multiple bonus ones. Might mean a good deal can be had on a of Stamina or of Intel piece.

I have more to write but I am rambling now so I want to end this and think things through a bit before continuing.

Woot 45 and the pet caught up!

So I dinged to 45 and the pet dinged to 44 right before I dinged. Finally, all the work is done and the cat is up to my level. Put her in the stable and picked up prowl 2 from an elder shadowmaw while I was in STV.
Next stop, Feralas.

Of course, there won't be much time to play this weekend as I have things to do this weekend. Oh well, I accomplished my goal of getting to 45 this week.

Szablya dings 40!

My guildmate and I decided I needed the Carrot on a Stick, so we found 3 other folks to roll through Zul'Farrak. Well during the run, Szablya dinged to 39 then 40. WOOT! So here she is in all her prowlness! (I had to retrain to get claw 6 done)
Just prowl, greenish background, pet not selected.


Prowl pet selected, background is whiter.

Prowl on, Big red Szablya. Hard to see isn't it!??
So I dinged up to 43. Need to finish up some quests in Arathi and up to the Hinterlands and such. I also need a few more quests done in Dustwallow Marsh. Then I suspect I need to go to Tanaris.

Introspection

Okay, so I spent the weekend at my aunt's basically making sure her 18 didn't have a ton of kids over and burn the place to the ground. Didn't get to play WOW much.

I realized I am most likely not going to stop and play the battlegrounds in the 40's bracket much. I just want to get to outlands and such.

My ghost saber just dinged again and is slowly but surely catching me. This is good because as I begin to run out of quests to finish up before I head into new territory, I need it to hold aggro better. Luckily, I do have some quests to finish in Arathi Highlands and surrounding areas that are still yellow to me, which means I make up for the lack of kill exp with some decent quest exp. Funny thing is, as a hunter, if the quest is orange you can usually do it solo.

Names for the Ghost Saber

Okay so I have narrowed my choices for names to two.

DieSpitze = German phrase die spitze meaning vanguard. I would pronouce the name Deh-spit-zy

Szablya = Hungarian word meaning to cut, possible origin for the word saber. I would pronouce the name Zaab-ya


What you think?

Ghost saber in Red!

Okay so figured I should put up some screen shots of the ghost saber in all his transparency. I have taken him through an almost full run of SM and battle satyrs in Desolace and taken down 40 elites with him.
Here's the pic of him and I relaxing in Thunder Bluff.
And here's a pic of him in all his big red coolness.

It's hard to see in the pic I think, but even red he's opaque.

BIG RED GHOST SABER =

As you can see, he's been trained with growl and claw. In addition he has avoidance and cobra reflexes and Rank 2 of each of the resistances. I might change that later due to wanting him to have a bit more health. I plan on putting prowl and dash on him for those times when those will come in handy.

I have a few more quests to finish up in Desolace, then I am on to Swamp of Sorrows. I am looking forward to that run, since you have to run through Duskwood to get there, although I think I can do it and not get gang tackled by the guards as I did on my way to Redridge. Heh.

Dude where's your kodo?

Okay so in the past I said I was going to work on getting to Exalted with Thunder Bluff before 40...well I failed. So, I am the proud owner of a Dire Wolf Mount.
One of my friends and I ran through SM last night so I could get all my quests in there done. I netted big cash! It's amazing what you can do when you have a 70 shaman running you through. My ghost saber gained 4 levels and is now closer to my level, might even help me level!

Help me name my new ghost saber!

I picked up a ghost saber and now I need a name. I suck at naming things so I need your help. I won't name him/her until I get some good suggestions so, please help my "Cat" get a name.

Stupid me didn't take a screenshot of him/her so...head to Petopia and see screenies of them there!

Is it time for a new pet?

Okay so I have the white lion from the barrens that you get with a quest. I thought I was being different. I am not. I am sad because I have this white lion and I keep seeing tons of them running around. Well...I go to Petopia (see link in my favorites area) and check out the special pets section. Hrm. There are pets with unique skins. Hrm. So....do I travel around and try to get a special skinned pet or hope that the other huntards will drop their white lion skinned pet for something else.

On my dwarf, I ran a raptor almost all the way up through until I could tame King B. Then I tamed the Raptor King and ran him through to Winterspring, then went with a bear. I am digging the cats though.