Suggestions for gear?

[Sosul]

Since it seems this sub-section is fairly lively, I wanted to offer myself up there for everyone to take a look at. Does anyone have any suggestions for gear/gems/enchants for me? I have access to everything in game except for 25 man Heroic LK drops. I'm usually in the top 3 for damage done in ICC25, with 11k to 11.5k dps.

Obviously, Heroic DBW and Heroic Tokens are on my list of items to pick up. I'm also building an off spec MM set right now (almost up to 1k ArP).

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... venth+Hour

[Kruf]

Since it seems this sub-section is fairly lively, I wanted to offer myself up there for everyone to take a look at. Does anyone have any suggestions for gear/gems/enchants for me? I have access to everything in game except for 25 man Heroic LK drops. I'm usually in the top 3 for damage done in ICC25, with 11k to 11.5k dps.

Obviously, Heroic DBW and Heroic Tokens are on my list of items to pick up. I'm also building an off spec MM set right now (almost up to 1k ArP).

http://www.wowarmory.com/character-shee ... venth+Hour

The obvious question "Why are you survival?" comes to mind first.

Some other questions:

• Why no 4T10?
• Why the awful T10 leggins?
• Why so far above hitcap?
• What's with the agi/stam gem?

[Sosul]

The obvious question "Why are you survival?" comes to mind first.

I enjoy playing survival and we already have a MM hunter and another survival hunter that we raid with in 25s. I've been conflicted for the past couple of months on going MM or not, and that's why I started to build a MM off spec.

Some other questions:

• Why no 4T10?
• Why the awful T10 leggins?
• Why so far above hitcap?
• What's with the agi/stam gem?

No 4T10 was a hard decision to make but I made it based on two pieces of loot, Heroic Snowserpent Mail Helm and Heroic Carapace of Forgotten Kings. I was playing around with Rawr and it said those two pieces would increase my dps by around 200 dps. Of course, Rawr was also the program that suggested I use agi/stam gems. I was really just kinda testing that out more then anything else. I was using the T10 legs for my set bonus, but I've changed my gear around to the 4T10 pieces, with regular Northern Lights as my legs. I'll test it out in Tuesday raid to see how my dps compares. My hit is so high because I just don't have the right choices for the gear that I want. Hit is a lower priority for me right now, but if it's the difference between a 264 piece and a 277 piece, the other stats make up for the choice. However, since switching those pieces, I'm below hit now. I usually have a dranei in my party, but if it becomes a big deal I can just do a race change, it's not a big deal.

[Suppeople]

''I want help but when I receive constructive criticism I'll start defending myself and denying my own mistakes.''

[Sosul]

I don't think I was denying my mistakes, I was just explaining and trying to answer Kruf's questions.

I appreciate his/her quick response, and it gave me some ideas on some things to check out.

[Kruf]

The obvious question "Why are you survival?" comes to mind first.

I enjoy playing survival and we already have a MM hunter and another survival hunter that we raid with in 25s. I've been conflicted for the past couple of months on going MM or not, and that's why I started to build a MM off spec.

Ah, the classic choice between what's fun and what does the best dps. The choice at the level I play is rather obvious, your choice is, of course, your own.

I was playing around with Rawr and it said those two pieces would increase my dps by around 200 dps. Of course, Rawr was also the program that suggested I use agi/stam gems.

I'd recommend taking the suggestions of Rawr with a large grain of salt - the hunter simulation is not very accurate. I'd recommend either the spreadsheet (or the online version of it at http://www.femaledwarf.com/ which is very easy to use) or simulationcraft.

My hit is so high because I just don't have the right choices for the gear that I want. Hit is a lower priority for me right now, but if it's the difference between a 264 piece and a 277 piece, the other stats make up for the choice. However, since switching those pieces, I'm below hit now. I usually have a dranei in my party, but if it becomes a big deal I can just do a race change, it's not a big deal.

Hit should really be the highest priority. As in, optimizing it to be as close to 8% as possible, but not over. As MM you can always swap points in and out of Focused Aim which makes optimizing hit easier. If you can't get exactly 8% it's better to be slightly over than slightly under, since just one missed Chimera Shot is huge dps loss.

Some very rough stat values, from memory since I'm too lazy to rerun the numbers:
1 hit rating = 5dps
1 arpen rating = 2.8dps
1 agi = 2.5dps
1 crit rating = 1.5dps
1 haste rating = 0.8dps
1 int = 0.7dps

DISCLAIMER: The numbers are probably way off, but the relative scales should be in the rough ballpark.

Note that some of the statvalues scale very nonlinearly, namely arpen is not very good until you get 1000+, after which every point is worth more and more until you hit the hardcap at 1400.



I notice you're now MM - there are a few things I'd like to note about that spec. First of all, 3/3 Focused Aim is unnecessary with the amount of hit you have from gear, only take enough points to get over 8% hit total. Secondly, you really shouldn't skip Improved Steady Shot completely for Improved Hunter's Mark, not when you need points in Focused Aim also. It's probably better to drop points from Improved Barrage than Improved Steady Shot anyway.

I'd recommend something like http://www.wowhead.com/talent#cxbZMeVoRhzGIctuAox00b for your spec - put the last point in TSA if no one else brings the buff in your raid, otherwise I'd put it in Rapid Recuperation. IHM makes sense if you run with 3+ hunters in raid, but then one of the hunters should gear with enough hit to not need any points in Focused Aim so he can take IHM without losing any important talents.

Also note that as MM you're somewhat more dependent on others putting their debuffs up - without sunders/expose and a bleed debuff you won't be doing much dps at all as MM.

[Sosul]

Thank you for the help. Yeah I made the decision to go MM the other night and while my DPS dropped, I was still above the other hunters in the raid. I was really iffy on Improved shot because the other MM hunter we have doesn't really use it.

I appreciate you taking the time to do that for me. I can probably play with my gear a little bit in order to get 8% without needing to take any points in focused aim. I'll make some changes and see how it works out.

[Kruf]

I was really iffy on Improved shot because the other MM hunter we have doesn't really use it.

How do you "not really use" a talent that's practically a passive damage increase?

I can probably play with my gear a little bit in order to get 8% without needing to take any points in focused aim.

Why would you want to do that, though? Careful Aim is a dps increase in any fight where you take damage, not to mention being one a very good talent for stats gained per point. If you really want to bring 3/3 IHM you should drop one point from Improved Barrage, TSA and Rapid Recuperation rather, unless your gear has so much hit you can't take Careful Aim anyway.

[Sosul]

Good point. I've been messing around with it a few times in the past couple of days. I think I got a good spec now and I'm at 1306 ArP now. Just wondering if I should still be eating ArP food until I can reach 1400 without it or not?

[Kruf]

I think I got a good spec now and I'm at 1306 ArP now. Just wondering if I should still be eating ArP food until I can reach 1400 without it or not?

Obviously you should use arpen food - the value of every single point of arpen increases the closer you get to 1400, so the last points are in fact more important.