A Hunter's Story

Yay, finally picked up the last two pieces for my T-10 last night. The hands & chest. So cool! Actually, it was a little uncool. I’ve been saving up the badges to get the 2 pieces at the same time, because one piece would have broken my 2-piece set bonus for the T-9 which would’ve actually lowered my DPS. So I saved up, though I was going to get it WED, but my ICC pug stopped before Fester. Yeah, tank had to go, so raid broke up. /sad. But I still thought I was fine anyway and had enough. Until I remembered the chest was 95 badges, not 90… So I was 2 short. Ugh. But after waiting a long time anyway, and considering it was rather late at night… It was fine. I just got the gems & enchants all ready so that yesterday after logging in & downing Ahune, I could buy & equip right away. Had some fun w/ the gear too! Always fun to see a noticeable rise in your DPS!

Except there was that messed up PuG for VoA-10 first. I got in a group, and after a little bit we’re sitting there w/ 8 people. Just need 2 people. Well, 2 healers since we had none. Sitting, waiting…. waiting…. Finally, I figure what the heck, and volunteer to switch to my healer. So I do. Big mistake. Apparently they really could have used at least 1 smart DPS more than they needed a healer… You see, we couldn’t take down Toravon. Why? Because DPS was mostly ranged, and was all stacking together on top of the other healer and I. And then dragging the orbs into everyone. And taking forever to kill them. Now me, I see this as a ‘DPS not knowing the mechanics’ problem. Most of the raid saw it as a ‘Healers not healing’ problem. Well let’s put it this way: every time an orb came out, the entire raid dropped to 10% health. I was looking at the stats from the raid and comparing it to successful runs. Successful wind up taking somewhere around 350k dmg from orbs. In this wipe run, we took 500k. From the orbs alone. Seriously, who can heal through that? Take 10 people, give them an average of 25k health (some less, some more, obviously. Tanks at 40k, clothies at 19k) and that gives you a total health pool of 250k health. Insert orbs, all drop down to 10%, so essentially the group takes a collective 225k health dive. Now, if you paused all damage and let the healers catch up, that would take (at roughly 8k effective HPS combined) 28 seconds to get everyone back to full. Almost half a minute. And that’s if they don’t take any extra damage, which of course they are!

So normally I’m fine with wipes. I mean, yes, I don’t want to wipe, but if a group wipes, it usually means people learn from it and improve for the next time. And this would have been a great chance to teach everyone there how to kite the orbs away from the group, or kill them before they get to the group. But instead they just said “why aren’t we getting healed” and other similar comments, and just ditched the group. That’s why it was a pain. So I logged back on Gal, popped into LFR again, and wound up in a group with about 1/2 the same folks that were in the previous group. But now as a DPS I was able to pull the orbs away from the group, taking minimal damage myself. And we downed him pretty darn quick. In fact, had roughly the same total DPS, roughly the same total HPS, but far less Orb damage. Kinda funny that when DPS do their job on fights like this one… they’re so much easier!

Sad to say, I’m not all that exited about Ahune anymore. The problem, imho, is that Bliz is putting most of their focus on the expansion, as is to be expected. So they didn’t really upgrade the fight to be a level 80 heroic battle. Instead, it feels more like a level 70 that they gave extra HP and called him 80. I remember actually having to take out the ads quick, going through more than just one cycle of his two phases, clearing trash that leads up to him, and so on. And I remember it well because we ran it literally 10 times a night, for the two weeks of the festival, just hoping to get an awesome pet. Yet we never even saw it drop… After hundreds of tries.

Now, the way its setup, you zone right to the boss and kill one meaningless mob, then do the boss fight. In the 3 times I did it the other night, we only barely dipped into Phase 1 for the second time once. The rest of the time we downed him in his first Phase 2. And that was it. (Well, we did wipe once, because the group had literally never done it before and didn’t bother to ask about the mechanics at all, so they’re all trying to mele the boss, which is basically insta-kill, so it was just Lady X & I doing anything useful). But anyway, it’s a quick like 2 minute fight and you’re done. He drops a little bag and you’re done for the night. There you go, that’s your one shot per day at a dinky pet (yes, of course I still want the pet, he’s just not nearly as cool as the scorchling, lol). So that’s why I’m disappointed. I’m used to 2 weeks of hammering at this guy with all of our alts and dualboxing to get as many tries as possible. Instead, it’s a 2 minute fight and its over. /sigh

Woohoo! Fire Festival! I personally think it’s a really cool holiday. For a variety of reasons. First, is that Bliz is actually encouraging everyone to play with fire; I just think that’s a little funny. But I also enjoy tossing the torches, running to all the cities and seeing parts of the world I rarely visit, running into the Horde cities, and so on! Of course, there’s also the other reason – leveling. It’s the perfect way to level an alt. You get a ridiculous amount of XP from doing the dailies and hitting all of the fires. Yes, there’s a bit of time involved, but especially with the changes so that you can get mounts at lower levels? I suggest grabbing an alt and having some fun. Don’t forget to bring your heirloom pieces for the XP bonus too! And I’d give you detailed maps on where all the fires are, but… Well, here’s my version of explicit directions: Go to WowHead, look at the achievement you’re working on for that area, and read the comments. Lol.

Previous Editions
The Hunter Dance – Part I (Misdirect)
The Hunter Dance – Part II (Shot CD)
The Hunter Dance – Part III (Trap Usage)
The Hunter Dance – Part IV (How to Pull)
The Hunter Dance – Part V (Tanking)

Possible Upcoming Editions
Pet Control
Survival – Feign Death
Trap Dancing / CC
Line of Sight
Where to Stand?
Macros
Pet Tanking
Disengage Uses

Not a Macro
This is not an explanation of a macro you can use that you just press it every second and it automatically uses the next ability in the rotation. This is not an exact guide to which button to press when for maximum DPS. Rather, this is a guide on how to squeeze more damage out per second than before. I pretty regularly have people comment that I do more DPS than others with my GearScore, which is further proof that GS is not an exact representation of how much DPS someone will do. Yes, GS can give an indication of how much DPS a char can do, or what level of content they’ve been into, but it is not XYZ GS = ABC DPS. So, with that in mind, here’s how I do it…

Uptime
First, is uptime. If you’re not shooting bad guys… You’re not doing damage. NO – this does not mean you should pull trash and go before the tank does! Rather, it means that if the tank is hitting things, you should be too. And no pauses between abilities. That’s the easy one – most people know to use Steady Shot when everything else is on CD, and that you don’t want to sit and wait before hitting your next ability if it’s ready. Really, the key here is starting as soon after the tank pulls as possible. You just better remember how to use Misdirect! And you can certainly wait a half second while the tank rounds up the mobs – better to be able to MD all of them onto the tank than only get half of them and pull the other half onto you. Trust me, pulling them onto the tank means more damage than dieing from being a Huntard.

So anyway, in summary – when the tank is in combat – you best be putting out the DPS. In a recent run I did some analysis after the raid. I noticed one of the other Hunters who out-geared me by a bit, yet he was doing significantly less DPS than I. I looked at his various hits and he was in the same spec (SV), a similar percentage of usage of abilities, but I had somewhere around 85% uptime and he had 75%. That means that 10% of the time during that raid, I was doing DPS and he wasn’t. No wonder I did more than him!

Shot Hierarchy > Shot Rotation
Hunters shouldn’t use a “Rotation” so much as a “Hierarchy”. Certain abilities are more powerful, and deal out the deeps better. Use those when not on CD. The lesser ones are used when the higher ones are on CD. This isn’t just abilities, but extends to glyphs and such too. Take for example someone with Glyph of Serpent Sting and http://www.wowhead.com/item=42914. Now which is more important to cast first – Steady Shot or Serpent Sting? It should be pretty obvious here that Serpent Sting should be done first, then Steady Shot. However, if Serpent Sting still has another 10 seconds on the mob, there’s no point in using it again just yet – so Steady Shot goes first… And if you have the set bonus that makes your dmg from Serpent Sting able to crit, it makes it that much more important. Unless it’s the end of the boss fight and you only have time to squeeze off a few more shots before he’s down. Except if he’s about to freeze the group, or he’s going to do a mega-blast that may kill most of the raid, or if…

Get my point yet? This is where you truly can add to your DPS. Using the right shots at the right time. And figuring out which ones to always use whenever they’re up. Which ones are more important? Which do more damage? Which will continue to dmg even through you’re web wrapped? I’d give you an exact Hierarchy, except it’s different depending on your glyphs, talents, and spec. And, more importantly in my opinion, is that you’d be surprised what you learn in the process of figuring it out. Don’t just look at the abilities/glyphs you do have – look at the ones you don’t too. It may be better to respec because you really like using one ability most, but aren’t even maximizing the dmg it can do. Or there might be a bonus hidden that you weren’t taking into account when deciding which ability is higher than the other. So honestly just look. I revise my Hierarchy a little every once in a while, and I revise it during fights often. Why? Because of the next tip…

Situational Awareness
Yes, I come back to this point in many posts. It’s that important. It’s important so you don’t pull with your pet, so you don’t pull agro, so you don’t overuse the healers by standing in goo, and so on. But it’s also important during each fight to maximize your DPS. Here’s where all the little questions come in…

• Is my Volley hitting EVERY mob, or just most? Can I adjust it a little to hit that one extra guy? I personally use this as an opportunity to help give some agro to the tank on that one stupid mob that won’t come closer (again – use MD, don’t pull that extra one onto yourself).
• Is the boss at a stage that in a second I won’t be able to hit him, but he’ll still take DMG from DoT’s? Should I wait to use Black Arrow for its DoT, or is Explosive Shot up and the increased DPS percentage from Black Arrow more important at this present moment?
• Am I standing in goo? Remember – a dead hunter can only do DPS if there’s a DK around to play with his corpse. So yes, it’s actually better to move first, even if in the middle of a Steady Shot.
• Is this one of those annoying fights that requires almost constant movement? If so, ensure 100% DoT uptime, definitely use the big bang shots, but if you know you’re going to have to move real soon, then adjust your order so that Steady Shot doesn’t come up right before you’re trying to move. Rather, time it so you’re moving and using insta-casts at the same time.
• Is an add going to spawn real soon? Adjust slightly and save some of those big punches so you can MD the add onto the OT. Help take it down quicker so you can get back to the main boss quicker. Don’t stop shooting – just modify your order a little so that they come up at a slightly different time.
• Use MD and FD right. If you pull the mob onto yourself, you then have to dump agro which of course means you’re doing things other than mass-dps! So help put the mob on the right target and stay at range so you can lay into them.
• Is your pet alive? D’uh. Our pets are a huge chunk of our DPS. So keep them alive. If they’re dead, depending on the fight and the situation… It may actually be worth the 10 seconds to revive them. I know what you’re thinking – 10 seconds?!?! But that’s 70,000 damage!!! (Using 7k as a randomly chosen avg dps for this argument). Now think about it. 70,000 damage in a boss fight that lasts 3 minutes? If you’re doing 7k DPS, and your pet averages (conservatively) 20% of your damage… Then if the pet dies at the beginning you could be looking at losing 250,000 damage. Which one is worth more?! Well d’uh, it makes sense if the pet is dead right at the start of a 3 minute fight. But near the end of one? In the middle of a 1.5 minute fight? Hence the reason for situational awareness…
• Is Volley better or Multi-Shot/Single Target? If it’s more than 3 Volley is probably the way to go. 3? Depends on their health pool, how close to death, etc. Less than 3? Probably not Volley…
• Other things? Yep. Just think about the situation or the fight, and look to see where you could be more efficient. It’s ok to replay a fight in your mind after it’s over to think what you could do differently for more DPS. Lots of us do it. Sometimes with aids, sometimes with in-game Recount tools, sometimes just with our own mind. But it’s worth it if you want to improve.

Avoid Feign Death
This should be pretty simple – avoid using Feign Death. It’s a last resort because instead of doing damage, you’re pretending to be dead. MD means someone else gets your threat. FD means you dump yours, but you’re also not dealing damage. ‘Nuff said?

Multi… Umm… Hrm, how to phrase… Extra Deeps!
Just because you’re doing single target DPS doesn’t mean you can’t put Serpent Sting on more than one mob. Just because you’re doing Volley doesn’t mean you can’t Serpent Sting some of them first. Or Multi-Shot, then Volley. Outweigh it with your other shots too though. Would it be beneficial to put serpent sting on 10 targets, or better to just Volley. Volley starts hitting them all at the same time and packs a pretty big punch. But 2 targets, and you can toss a quick Serpent Sting on the other one instead of using a Steady Shot? Probably worth it.

Summary
Here’s the simple summary: Be Flexible. It’s not a Shot Rotation of 1-2-3-4-3-4-3-4-1-2-3-4-3-4…. It’s a Hierarchy of which ones are more important during which situations. Know what’s going on, what’s coming up, and use the right shots. Be flexible and be prepared. And try new things! That’s how I squeeze the most DPS out of my char!

WeWt! Finally done with Ravenholdt. See! I told you we’d eventually finish them up! No more Junkboxes!!! Well, we do need like 40 more total to finish up all the way to 999/999 Exalted (I know, OCD, Completionist, yeah yeah yeah). However, in theory we’ll get them in the mail in another week or two. Why? Because almost a month ago my comp decided to go screwy and I accidentally mailed 48 to some random character in Dalaran. I realized the mistake right after I sent… well… almost my full stack of 60… so I sent a mail to the guy right then saying “Sorry!” and asking him politely to send them back. Since they aren’t really worth a whole lot to anyone unless you’re doing The Insane, or leveling Lock Picking, I was hoping he’d just hit return. Well, now I’m just hoping it’s an alt that he never uses and it’ll auto-return after the 30 days since he hasn’t sent it back yet. Of course, he could have been a jerk and sold them or cracked them open and stolen the goods. But I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt still. Mostly because I’m hoping they’re returned and we don’t have to go pick up any more! Lol!

Ok, I know it’s The Insane for a reason, but man is it time consuming. Each time we spend an hour or two working on it we get closer, but we’ve been doing it so long that it’s getting really boring. And it’s probably partially our own fault for doing it together. I mean, 1,400 Junkboxes is bad enough, but 2800? I have made so many loops around that stupid place… And yet we’re only about 400 away from being done. It’s like, I want to finish, but I’m so tired of that place. I’ll bet the mobs will be happy when we go away though… I’m surprised they still carry any coins or boxes anymore just because they know we’ll be back! Gah. Oh well. We’ll finish it up soon. And then we’ll be on the next stage of pain… Shen’dralar & their Librams. Not to mention a ridiculous number of diamonds and shards… Of course, there’s also that faire. Our personal GB is half full of cards alone and we keep turning them in, but you want to talk about hours of farming herbs?!?! I swear, we will actually have gone insane by the time we’re done! At least it keeps us occupied through Cataclysm, right?