I’m going to write a little about 3.1. Not all the changes because they’re mostly still not ready, but certain things that are of importance now.
First on my list: pets. Using the right pet is important. Hunters who play the mini tamagotchi game with their pets, choosing rare skins and bringing a pet they like to a raid regardless of its DPS need not read this part. In 3.1, the most DPS you’ll be able to get from a pet will be from a wolf. Any wolf will do, so go and get one leveled to 80 as soon as you can and you’ll be ready for your first raid night in Ulduar! Why a wolf? They’re changing Furious Howl for the better. Currently, it doesn’t stack with Blessing of Might or Battle Shout, and every single raid usually has one of these. After the patch, it will only effect the hunter and the wolf, but it will stack with the above buffs. The cooldown is going to be 40 seconds unless you’re a beastmaster specced to lower that, and it will add 320 attack power to the pet and hunter for 20 seconds.
edit: Here‘s a build for a wolf. You could equally use shark attack, however wild hunt is slightly better for most gear levels.
Next up: respecs. Enough hunter changes are in the next patch that Blizzard is giving us a free respec, so unless you have a really bad problem with your chosen talent build, don’t bother respeccing. Save your gold for the dual spec!
Lastly: ammo. The promised multiple ammo system has not been built yet. The changes that have made it into this patch are stacking and quiver haste. Bullets and arrows now stack to 1000, and all bullet bags’ and quivers’ haste effects have been rolled into the base class. When I heard in the very early planning stages of patch 3.1 that ammo would be made unlimited, I lowered the number of ultrasafe bullet machines I kept in inventory to one weeks worth of raiding, hoping to reduce the amount of ammo I waste when transferring to the new system. It looks like this was an unnecessary move on my part, however I am sticking with this policy in case they ever do change.
That’s it for now- once it looks like the version of patch 3.1 being tested is the one they’ll release, I’m going to write up a guide on how to maximize your DPS in the new system. Sneak peak: it won’t be by trap dancing :)
I’m looking forward to your DPS guide. I’m one of those “tamagotchi” hunters, but I like keeping up with the highest possible DPS specs so I can tell my guildies (and then beat them on the DPS meter anyway! :P)
heh, I know plenty of hunters who really form attachments to their pets and still do very well. The reality is that until now, cats are one of the most popular and performing pets. Having a cool rare skin doesn’t take away from that :)
Worth noting there are level 80 wo[ed:L]ves ready for taming in Storm Peaks, and Heroic UK I believe. Not all skins, but should suffice for the “untextured cube” crowd.
wtb an L
Sold. Mail my gold to Euripides of Drenden.
Also, I tamed one of the hodir wolves that was 80- had to briefly declare war on the sons of hodir to do it, but it was worth it, and I believe they’ve forgiven me. He walks funny. No matter how fast I go, he looks like he’s tiptoeing behind me as fast as he can.
[…] You want a wolf. […]