4/21/09

Of spreadsheets

So, I downloaded the hunter spreadsheet off Elitist Jerks' forums this week. So far it's telling me that there was maybe 100 DPS difference between what I set up as my general use build and what I decided on for a raiding build. It's also telling me that the Chimera shot glyph really wasn't worth that 50g, because I'm probably going to switch it back to something else tonight. It also suggests that my gut instinct - to keep 2 points in Go For the Throat - was the right one - another change I'll take advantage of with the free reset tonight. I may even talk myself out of Hawkeye (one of the things I love dearly).

So... my raiding build may become even more optimized for raiding. Yay? Maybe it was worth the 1000g and the download...

It also suggests that the unbuffed DPS #'s I was seeing on the target dummy aren't totally off. Phew. Now I just need to learn to push buttons as well as Excel. >.<

4/15/09

Post-3.1 Spec

Ok, I haven't dual-spec'd Dusk yet. I did the priest and the warrior, but I have less than 4k gold left, and for some reason that makes me uncomfortable. And being dual-MM spec'd - not just that, dual PVE MM spec'd - well, ok, I already know I'm crazy.

So, my general spec hasn't changed too much - I bumped a couple points around to pick up Piercing Shots, and so I'm now 7/53/11. Major glyphs - Hawk, Serpent Sting, Trueshot Aura. Minor glyphs - Mend Pet, Revive Pet, Feign Death.

The second spec will be more optimized for raiding - so, cutting out things like Scatter Shot, and actually analyzing my haste rating and seeing just how many points I actually need in Improved Aspect of the Hawk... and then shoving all the extra points into things like Marked for Death (once I find out if it works with other hunters' marks) or Ranged Weapon Specialization (a talent I used to have, before they added so much fun stuff in 3.0).

I didn't actually test this spec much of at all. No, I logged out Monday night parked in Feralas, in order to begin farming Sprite Darters as soon as the server went up. Which I did, sometime around 8:45ish EST. I was all alone there until about 9:50, when another Tauren hunter showed up. The egg dropped for him after about five minutes. >.< Mine dropped at 10:00 on the dot, which was coincidentally the time I had decided I was going to stop a half hour before, so that I could go do the cooking and fishing dailies and buy the three new Horde faction mounts.

Small pets: 73; Mounts: 77.

Tonight: Gnomeregan! (For Lil' Smokey.) And then, assuming I'm not invited for Ulduar (I don't anticipate being asked to come), I'll start on the Emerald Whelpling.

4/14/09

Bah

Well, 3.1 is here. This means I'm going to have to accept that I'm not getting upgrades from Naxx-25, which is frustrating, because I really kinda sorta wanted the bracers off Grobbulus. Yes, of all the possible hunter drops in Naxx, for me, the bracers are what I wanted the most. The good news is that there's another similar pair of bracers in Ulduar-10. The bad news is that it's in 10, which means there won't be purchaseable bracers of iLVL 219, so I'm going to be relying on drops again.

Yeah, yeah, only four Naxx-25 Grobbulus kills in my stats. (42ish boss kills total? And nothing from them?) It's still frustrating. Maybe with the changes to Efficiency and Chimera Shot I'll be able to take the hit to mana (and the AP loss) and switch out to the Bands of Anxiety. Going to need to pick up a smidge of hit rating, though. Why do the Eaglebane Bracers have to be so all-around awesome?

4/6/09

Ah, leveling

Mabs hit 60 sometime in August 2005. Duskhawk hit 60 in May 2006. And since then my pre-60 leveling on hunters has been pretty sparse, the first 15 levels or so on the scattered baby hunters that were to try out a starting zone, or a server.

Now I'm leveling my baby hunter on Bronzebeard, the one that was to try out the blood elf zone and jewelcrafting. Having leveled one hunter 70-80 in Wrath already, I had gotten used to Volley. Uninterruptable Volley. Very used to it. Much of the past week has been an, "Oh, my God, when do I get Volley already?" haze. (At 40, apparently. Not that it's a huge help, with single-target pets and not having points in the uninterruptable talent yet.)

I soloed Shadowfang Keep on her last night at 40 (with the blue tallstrider from Ashenvale, heh) to clear out those quests from my log; sometime in the next couple days I'll probably hit up Razorfen Kraul, as well. (And hopefully get a group of some sort for Razorfen Downs, since I want the sword to offhand with the sword from the Scarlet Monastery quest.)

The early 'of the falcon' mail is stupidly expensive on Bronzebeard. Argh. I really don't have to make myself some Tough Scorpid leatherworking stuff. (I mean, seriously... Agility and Spirit? Who came up with that one?) Dustwallow has had unuseful quest rewards, though, so I'll probably hit up Tanaris (for the lucrative Zul'Farrak quests, at least) next.