Mend Pet

I’m not one for whining about Blizzard’s changes, generally.  I actually hate it when people complain that other people are going to have an easier time getting the same stuff as them.  I don’t care how easy or hard others have it, what I care about is my own gameplay, and how it will be affected by the changes.

So I’ve taken some time to figure out how I really feel about these upcoming Emblem changes.

My overall opinion is that when you’re running Heroics you don’t need T8.  When you’re running Naxx you don’t need T8.  When a dungeon or raid gets too easy then you should move on to the next level.  Not before, not after.

But I can understand some people just want to get their alts to the same level as their mains.  Maybe they want to switch and don’t want to put in the overtime to catch up… I am not sure.

For my main, my Hunter, I don’t really care much about the Emblem stuff.  When 3.2 comes out, chances are we will have cleared the non-hard modes of Ulduar 25 and will be working on hard modes, maybe even have a few of them down.  It’s likely we’ll be moving on to the new raid when it comes out.  We aren’t going to be forced to go back and farm Naxx for Emblems, although I can see this making our off-night raids a bit more popular.

The strange thing is, this patch is supposed to be aimed at ‘casuals’ and alts.  Look!  You can get the 2nd highest shinies by running Heroics!  However, these changes make me quite sad when I think about my Paladin, who is just about to hit 80.

Will Ghugh ever get to see Ulduar?  Doubt it.  Because why would you run Ulduar when you can run Heroics and get the same gear?  Which means if I wanted to raid with him, I’d have to jump from Heroics to T9 raiding.

And that scares me.  What I like is progression, challenge.  Doing Ulduar again on a new character in a different role will make it a whole new challenge for me, but I don’t think anyone will bother running it much when you can get half of your epics from doing Naxx Emblem runs.

All in all, I’m not pleased by these changes.  I can’t know for sure what will happen, but if for some reason I decide to start raiding on my off-nights with my Paladin, he’ll be forced to skip content.  And that is just not cool.

Disclaimer: This post was accurate as of patch 3.1.3.

Misdirection.

Every hunter gets this ability at level 70, but even by level 80 some have yet to master the skill. It’s not just another shot to be thrown into a rotation, it’s situational. I would say “There isn’t a right or a wrong way to Misdirect”, but that would be lying.  So here’s some advice!

DO use a focus macro.

The default functionality of Misdirect works like this: Target who you want to Misdirect to, cast the spell, then target the mob you want to Misdirect. For initial pulls, this isn’t so bad. But what if you need to misdirect in a hurry? That’s where a focus macro comes in. With this, you can Misdirect without changing targets.

I have found the easiest way to set your focus is to have a mouseover macro. This way you can even change your focus mid-fight without changing actual targets. It looks like this:

/focus [target=mouseover]

I have it bound to Ctrl+F. This way I can just mouseover the target frame, raid frame or the actual character themselves and press Ctrl+F to set my focus.

Then, to Misdirect, you can use a macro like this:

/cast [target=focus,exists,nodead][target=pet,exists,nodead] Misdirection

This will cast on your focus if they are alive, or your pet if you don’t have a focus or your target is dead.

DON’T Misdirect to the wrong person.

This may sound simple, but it happens more often than you’d think. Always check who your focus is before you Misdirect. Is it a Bear who is temporarily in Kitty form? Don’t MD to her! Is your focus dead, meaning your MD will default to your pet? Don’t MD to him! Pay attention to tanking assignments, they aren’t just for healers and tanks!

DO use your heavy hitting abilities when Misdirecting.

The amount of threat generated by your Misdirection is dependent on how much damage you do. So do as much damage in 3 shots as you can! Use it right when you pop your trinkets/cooldowns. Or, use Multi-Shot/Volley to pull entire groups.

DON’T use Distracting Shot when Misdirecting.

Distracting Shot changed when 3.0 came out. It used to “cause a large amount of threat”, and was generally used in coordination with Misdirection. But now, it acts as a Taunt. This means that even if you have Misdirect up, Distracting Shot will pull the target to YOU, not THEM! I learned this the hard way!

DO use Misdirect during fights.

Misdirection isn’t just for pulls! It’s good to use during boss fights. There are some fights where it’s especially hard for tanks to build enough threat, be it from not having enough rage generation, or the DPS getting outrageous buffs, or high mobility/target switching fight. Every little bit helps! And remember, your Misdirect not only gives the tank more threat, but it pauses your threat gain for the next 3 shots. This means you can wait just a bit longer before you have to Feign Death.

DON’T use Misdirect all the time.

Take a look at your threat meter of choice before you Misdirect. Does the tank have a decent threat margin? Is the off-tank sitting in second place? Yes? Then don’t Misdirect. Use that GCD for something more productive. Don’t just blindly use Misdirect every time it’s off of cooldown, save if for emergencies if it’s not needed.

DO use Misdirect to help with tricky ranged pulls.

Hunters ranged shots having a huge range on them, especially if you happen to have Hawk Eye. It’s much larger than most tanks pulling abilities. So if there is a pull that is particularly difficult, whether it be because there are adds patrolling the area or the mob needs to be pulled back somewhere, volunteer your Misdirection services.

DON’T think you get to decide when pulls happen.

Just because your Misdirect means you can put the mobs to the tank does not give you permission to start pulls when you see fit. You need to wait until everyone, especially the tank, is ready and expecting the mobs, even if it means waiting for that patrol to make another cycle. Now that Misdirection has the same cooldown as it’s duration, you can keep it up and ready to go indefinitely.

DO Misdirect to your pet when soloing.

Sometimes, Growl just isn’t enough. If you’re not a Beast Master, chances are your pet doesn’t do a very good job of holding aggro off of you. Sure, most things are dead by the time they get to you… but popping MD right before you start shooting can give you a little extra time.

DON’T use DoTs when Misdirecting.

Most Hunter priority lists start with a DoT, Serpent Sting, to be precise. Well, make sure you modify your rotation a bit when using Misdirect! Serpent Sting ticks will use up a charge of Misdirect, but won’t do much threat/damage.  Don’t start with it, even if it goes against what you’re used to!  This also applies to Explosive Shot, it has a strange behaviour when it comes to Misdirect, so don’t use it.

Back in my day, all we had was Steady Shot and a mousewheel!

Things have changed a lot for Hunters since the days of BC.  And while we no longer are consistently at the top of the damage meters, I would still say things have changed for the better.  Nearly everyone was BM.  And almost everyone had given up the fine art of handweaving shots, to use a spammable macro which would use our cooldowns, avoid auto-shot clipping and let us hit one button constantly to pump out proper DPS.

Now, we have priorities.  We have people playing each spec viably in raid settings, all with different styles and focuses.  You don’t have to even think about your auto-shots anymore, just timing your abilities and cooldowns to be used most efficiently.

I now use at least 5 buttons in my regular ‘rotation’, and I’ve mastered the ability to keep an eye on my cooldowns and my environment at the same time.

“The days of the spammable macro are gone!  Long live priorities!”  I exclaimed.

But I was wrong.  Apparently, people have built macros that still can be spammed, casting all abilities in the right order and priority.  I know a few people who use these, both for Survival and Marksmanship.

They are not simple macros, either.  “Why does it call all these other macros and use all these castsequences and stuff?” I asked someone who was a big supporter of his giant do-it-all button. “It’s because they won’t let you use more than 1 GCD in a macro, so this works around that.”

But wait… didn’t they do that for a reason?  If they wanted you to work around it, wouldn’t they have just allowed it in the first place?  /confuzzled.

To me, it’s silly.  It’s silly to put all your eggs in one basket, or all your abilities in one button.  What do you do if you want to change your priority?  What if you want to use Multi-shot instead of Aimed Shot?  Can you do it with the macro?  I don’t know.  But I don’t like it.

I like having full control of my character, pressing buttons when they are ready, my own personal whack-a-mole.

But that’s not for everyone.

I’m not going to say I think these convoluted macros are cheating, or that they make you a worse player.  It’s a different playstyle.  True, it’s not my playstyle, but who am I to say what is right or wrong?  Some people prefer to hit multiple buttons when they flash, some people prefer to spend a bunch of time learning and writing giant macros so that they can do it all with one button – both require some kind of skill.  Is it really different to be smacking 5 buttons or smacking 1 button?

So what do you think of these macros?  Do you use one?  Do you think they make someone a bad player?

It was a warm day in Durotar.  Then again, it was always a warm day in Durotar.  That was the constant state of the land – hot, red and dry.  While Brajana remembered more of her life growing up in Sen’jin Village on the coast of Durotar, something in her still longed for the lush jungles that her people once called home.  Sometimes she would find herself daydreaming, picturing what this land would look like with a horizon of green leaves and hanging vines, rather than jutting rocks and dry brambles.

Fssshew!

Brajana wheeled around and readied her bow at the sound of an arrow flying passed her right ear.

“Good reaction time, but ‘cha really got ta stop dozin’ like that!” her Uncle Tza’jin called as he walked towards her with Jin’tza, his raptor companion.  “Now that I got yer attention, where’d ya let Mandaril get ta?”

Brajana flinched.  She must have let the little guy run off while she was practicing her marksmanship.  Her uncle had let her train with his youngest boar companion, Mandaril.  He was barely old enough to squeal, and he wasn’t the most agreeable of beasts, but she’d been tasked to take care of him and more importantly, train it in combat.  Brajana was great with animals, and always had companions she could summon to keep her entertained: Zither the adder, Holistas the sparrow, and Jaz’hal the hare to name a few.  In fact, it was one of the first signs that she would follow the path of the Hunter with her uncle rather than the path of the Warrior with her father.

She had not yet come into her own companion yet.  There was no specific age or time a Hunter’s life that they found their companion, but she knew someday it would be her time.  Until then, unfortunately, she’d have to do her best to learn to command and control this curious little boar.  She’d found it wasn’t quite working out as she’d like.

“Dat’s what I thought.” her uncle rolled his eyes upon seeing her expression. There was so little he had left to teach her, but tradition insisted that he remain her teacher until she found her own companion, but she seemed content with her critters and her bow.

Then he had a though.  “Go ‘n fetch ‘im. Den meet me at the river.”

Several minutes later, Brajana appeared near the bridge to the Barrens with an extremely huffy look, Mandaril trodding cheerfully behind her.

“Are we to have Crocolisk Stew for dinner?” She asked hopefully, upon seeing the creatures resting nearby in the river.

“Ha!  That be not why we here, girl.  Come along.”

Tza’jin and his companion crossed the bridge at a jog, and began heading south.  Brajana turned to Mandaril and made several ineffective gestures before the little beast decided he would follow as well.

They finally slowed when they reached a low outcropping above a plain, spotted with low, wide shade trees.  Beneath these trees, Brajana could see a pride of at least 15 lions resting.  She’d always admired the cats, both the tigers that roamed the Echo Isles and these large, family-oriented beasts.  She wanted to ask why they’d ventured here, but she was content just watchng them.

“It is your time, my girl.  You are an excellent Marksman.  You have nearly mastered the ability to lay traps and track all types of creature.  But you will never be a true Huntress until you’ve begun to share your journey with another being.”

Tza’jin called Mandaril swiftly to his side, and began his walk back to Sen’jin.  This was for her alone to accomplish.  He hoped he was making the right decision here – Brajana was still quite young, and these beasts were certainly not the easiest to tame… but he believed in her.

Brajana didn’t question him, she didn’t ask for advice, she didn’t back down.  She knew he was right.  She surveyed the land, looking for the beast that would become her counterpart.  She walked along the outcropping, spying Lionesses and Lions to find the perfect fighter, the perfect opportunity.  She didn’t know what to expect… would she feel a connection when she spotted the right animal?  What if she chose wrong?  How would she isolate one from the rest of the pride?  She took a deep look at each of the resting beasts, and felt nothing out of the ordinary.  She began to fill with frustration… and then she saw him.

She must have missed him earlier because he wasn’t resting beneath the trees.  A stunning white beast with a large grey mane, among a pile of half buried Kodo bones.  He was alone, but not lonely.  Independent.

She descrended from the outcropping and approached him with caution, remaining directly in front of him.  When she got close enough, the beast made eye contact with her – his grey eyes were piercing.  She continued her approach and then knelt only a few yards from the beast, never moving her eyes from his.

The taming ritual of the Darkspear Trolls is a sacred rite.  It is not taught, it is not demonstrated.  It is a private, personal event that is instinctual to every born Hunter.  This was a test – the only way to know Brajana was following her true path.

She’d heard a Tauren myth about a cat they called Whitemist, Echeyakee in Taurhe.  In their stories, they claimed he was both mercy and death.  That he could kill so fast his prey would have no time for fear, or pain.  They said he hunts with such stealth, he is like a thin, white mist.  The hide of this beast was saught after by every poacher and leatherworker in all of Azeroth – it was said to have magical properties, a cloak made from Echeyakee’s hide would allow the wearer to become nearly invicible.  While she knew it was only a myth passed down through generations, she also knew this beast was not just some uniquely coloured cat, this animal she had encountered was the mythical Echeyakee.  SHe could feel it.

She arrived back in Sen’jin village that evening, her new partner strolling  confidently along her side.

Tza’jin met her at the entrance to their family’s hut.  “Guess ya won’t be needin’ Mandaril any longer, girl?”  he chuckled, both proud and relieved to see her with such a beast.  “What ya be callin’ it?”

“I’m calling him… Fiddlesticks.”

She grinned and looked down at the beast, meeting his eyes.  Your secret is safe with me, friend.

While I’ll go a bit more into this week’s Freya attempts in my “This Week in Raiding” post tomorrow, I just wanted to point out this one thing I found quite helpful during the fight.

I know mana is supposed to be a non-issue during 25-mans.  That’s never held true for me, at all.  I run out of mana in no time, and I almost always have to switch to Viper more than once each boss fight.

Freya is a looong fight.  Six waves of adds before you can even touch her!  That’s a lot of mana to be using.

Assuming you are getting to the level of play where you have a chance at getting Freya down, there’s no doubt that you usually have a few seconds between each wave of adds.  You could spend this time trying to pad the damage meters by giving it to Freya hard, but I recommend this:  Shoot off a Viper Sting at her, and if you’re a Marksman, a Chimera Shot as well.

That’s 24% of your mana back right there (plus an additional >15% if you use Chimera). It’s as good as the ol’ Feign Death and drink tactic!

In fact, feel free to use 1 GCD to lop a Viper Sting her direction whenever it’s off cooldown and you’re running low.  Viper Sting is on a 15 second cooldown, and I doubt you’ll need to use it THAT often.  The special thing about this fight is that Freya isn’t your main target, so you won’t be losing DPS by putting Viper Sting instead of Serpent Sting up like on most other fights: You can maintain your Serpent Sting on your main focus while the mana just drains away on Freya!

Of course I’d recommend saving your Chimera Shot for real DPS while there are adds active, and only hit her with it when you’ve got down time… but 24% is still an incredible boost.

This whole idea might have been obvious to everyone… but I just thought I’d point it out to those who may have forgotten about this little gem.  So instead of  swapping to Aspect of the Viper, pop a Viper Sting (+ Chimera Shot) .  You won’t lose much, if any DPS because Freya is essentially invulnerable during the add phase!