Big Game Hunter or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Class

I've always loved Hunters. It was the second class I played in WoW, back when they could use shields; but that is a story for another day.

The point of today's post is that my next F2P class will be a Hunter. I know that they flood the BGs (not when I play though) and I will be rolling Ally for the eye patch (Sorry Horde), but it is a class near and dear to my heart and I really, really want want to tame a Ghost Saber and name her Æther.

So I am really sorry to everyone, please don't rage at me, but I was going to do it eventually and I have been playing my Hunter A LOT on my P2P account and it made me realize how much I missed it.


I will be rolling a female Night Elf Marksmanship, Hunter named Dysphoria.

Why Night Elf?

Shadowmeld is a nice little combat trick as it Quickness. Other than that, for looks.

Why Marksmanship?

At this level I have a few options:

Beast Mastery: Attack Power boost and Intimidate which is useless in PvP. My spec would probably be Imp Kill Command, giving my Kill Command a 10% increased chance to crit, One with Nature, giving me a +30% bonus on Aspect of the Hawk bringing it to 81 RAP, and then putting the last point into Spirit Bond for 1% HP regen every 10 seconds. Overall, it's not too great.

Survival: 10% bonus to Agility and Explosive Shot which is rather nice. My spec would probably be Imp Serpent Sting, +10% boost to Serpent Stings damage and it automatically does 30% of the damage when it hits, and then it would be a toss up between going 3/1 or 1/3 into Hunter vs Wild and Pathing, either a 5% Stam bonus and 3% Ranged Haste bonus or 15% Stam bonus and 1% Ranged Haste bonus. Since traps aren't unlocked until after level 20, there's really no reason to go into the second tier of talents. 2 seconds knocked off of Disengage is probably the best you will come by, but compared to Pathing and Hunter vs Wild, it's a no brainer which is better.

My Spec:

Efficiency - Rank 3/3
Reduces the Focus cost of your Arcane Shot by 3, and your Explosive Shot and Chimera Shot by 6.

Rapid Killing - Rank 2/2
After killing an opponent that yields experience or honor, your next Aimed Shot, Steady Shot or Cobra Shot causes 20% additional damage. Lasts 20 sec.

Careful Aim - Rank 1/2
Increases the critical strike chance of your Steady Shot, Cobra Shot and Aimed Shot by 30% on targets who are above 90% health.



My Gear:

Still haven't started yet, but this is my planned gear set. Looks pretty much the same as Beershock's.

Head - Rifle Commander's Eyepatch
Shoulder - Serpent's Shoulders
Chest - Armor of the Fang
Back - Glowing Lizardscale Cloak (Replace with Satchel 'Bandit')
Wrist - Bands of Serra'kis
Hands - Naga Battle Gloves
Waist - Belt of the Fang (Replace with Satchel 'Bandit')
Legs - Hogger's Trousers
Feet - Standard Issue Prisoner Shoe


Finger - Signet of Argas
Finger - Ello's Band
Trinket - Insignia of the Alliance
Trinket - Rune of Duty
Neck - Sentinel's Medallion


TwoHand - Impaling Harpoon
MainHand - Wicked Dagger >>> Dissector
OffHand - Wicked Dagger >>> Thief's Blade/Goblin Screwdriver
Ranged - Naga Heartpiercer

Time to get started!

~Zuty

Been Awhile

Hey everyone,

I've been busy leveling Zuty from 70 to 80 and I am currently busy IRL. I haven't had too much time to focus on F2P twinking, but I will be working on a new class since I feel like Yost and Beershock are fine for now. I'm 75, a few bars away from 76, and I have been having fun. I don't see myself doing serious endgame, but I am getting geared out and making a ton of gold.

~Zuty

Restoring the Light: Redesigning Yost

So I just recently did an overhaul of Yost. I was dying too much in BGs and I wasn't healing that great either.

Spec:

I changed my spec from Holy to Discipline.  
Why the change?

• Chastise just isn't doing it for me.
• I found myself never using Desperate Prayer and when I did it did almost nothing.
• Renew was WAY to weak and my overall healing seemed lacking

So why Disc?

• Imp PW:Shield is really good. I've knocked it in the past, but man ... It's good.
• Penance ticks higher than my normal heals were ticking for and in a pinch can be used for damage.
• 15% Intellect is INSANE! I not only get a larger mana pool, but my spell power and crit is increased by a large margin.

 


Improved Power Word: Shield - Rank 2/2
Increases the damage absorbed by your Power Word: Shield by 20%.

Twin Disciplines - Rank 3/3
Increases your Shadow and Holy spell damage and healing by 6%.

Mental Agility - Rank 1/3
Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast spells by 4%.






As I said before, Imp PW:Shield is amazing. Twin Disciplines affects all my spells instead of just Renew and my healing spells which is another plus. Twin Disciplines seems to also buff up my PW:Shield. My final point I put into Mental Agility just to have cheaper spells. I debated putting it into:

Inner Sanctum - Rank 1/3
Your Inner Fire also reduces all spell damage taken by 2% while it is active, and the movement speed bonus of your Inner Will is increased by 2%.

While a small amount, reducing damage by any amount is something I would gladly take. I don't see damaging spells being huge right now, mostly getting hit by Rogues and Hunters.

Soul Warding - Rank 1/2
Reduces the cooldown of your Power Word: Shield ability by 1 sec.

I find that PW:Shield stays up long enough that I can slap another one on without worrying about the CD. Also, if I reduce the CD by 1 second, I still need to wait for the Weakened Soul debuff to go away before I can even use PW:Shield again.

Gear:

I turned my sights to getting as much Intellect as possible. I can still do this while having a decent enough health pool to not die in one, maybe even two hits, but I am not aiming to do damage. I heal and put SW:Pain on Rogues so they can't stealth.

Head - Tiger Eyes Goggles >> Lucky Fishing Hat
Shoulder - Slime-Encrusted Pads/Feline Mantle
Chest - Je'neu's Robes (+20 Mana)
Back - Tumultuous Cloak...of the Sorcerer (+10 Armor)
Wrist - Crystalline Cuffs >> Mindthrust Bracers (+1 Spirit)
Hands - Serpent Gloves (Med Armor Kit)
Waist - Ghamoo-Ra's Bind
Legs - Silk-Threaded Trousers (Med Armor Kit)
Feet - Corpse Rompers (Med Armor Kit)

Finger - Black Widow Band
Finger - Seal of Argas
Trinket - Rune of Perfection
Trinket - Insignia of the Horde
Neck - Brilliant Necklace

TwoHand - Rod of the Sleepwalker (+3 Int) [Wiz Oil +7 Int]

So now I will be putting my time into working on Yost and healing peoples faces off in BGs. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to hit me up on Twink Info.com or leave a comment here.

~Zuty

Yet Another Quick Update

So I have Zuty who is a 70 Troll Shaman and Morrigu who is a 60 Night Elf Death Knight. What I am thinking of doing is locking Morrigu at 70 so I can PvP on her and get the BoAs while I also run other twinks on Aerie Peak through instances. I'm being told to go Frost for my Tank spec for instance runs, but what should be PvP spec be and what gear should I be looking to use? I won't be doing raids on her, so is there PvP gear available for a 70 DK?

Still in Starter Gear.

Stuck in Elem gear when I wanna go Enhance

Zuty I will max out in level and probably just have him grind gold and help lowbies on Horde go through instances. I still need to buy Cata, so once I get to 80 I will do that. Not really sure where to go with Zuty; I'm not a fan of end-game raiding or PvP so I have no idea what to do other than grind gold all day, work the AH, and help a twink or two out. I just got into a guild with the BoAs unlocked, so now it is a matter of getting those and once I have access to them I will most likely buy multiple copies of each and start twinking.

Any suggestions? Please comment below or hit me up on Twink Info.

~Zuty

Working Around the Clock: Profession Progress

So I got my eyepatch on Beershock last night and it made me realize that I no longer need to pick up Engineering for goggles. So it made me wonder what professions I will need along the way and what professions I will stick with in the end. Reminder, F2P twinks can only have 100 skill in any profession. (Except Fishing)

So I currently have Cooking, Fishing, Mining, and Skinning. While I could pick up First Aid, I see it as too much of a time sink. I'd need someone to kill the higher level mobs so I can loot the better quality cloth and then slowly make the bandages. Even if I did do that, I am a Shaman and I have a heal spell. I don't think getting the highest possible bandage I can use will make any difference and I am sure people out there will disagree. But I digrees.

Alchemy: I'm not sure if Mixology is available at 100 skill, but even if it was the only potions worth talking about would be Swiftness Potion since the Health Potion and Mana Potions are WAY to weak. Even then, it's not worth a profession spot.
Rating: 1/5, I'll pass.


Blacksmithing: Not much for me to get here. Only reason to go BS would be to make a Silver Rod when I go Enchanting, but since I am limited to a skill of 100, I never need the Runed Silver Rod. The Sharpening/Weightstones would be the only other reason, but I have my Flametounge Weapon and the two don't stack.
Rating: 1/5, I'll pass.

Enchanting: Eventually everyone will pick up Enchanting to give their gear a little boost. There really isn't a lot to talk about as far as enchants go. I'll be getting +1 weapon damage on my weapons, +1 agility to my bracers, +1 resistance to all magic on my cloak, and +15 health on my chest. The minor wizard oil is also good, but it doesn't stack with Flametounge.
Rating: 1.5/5, Enchant my gear and unlearn.

Engineering: I may be picking this up after all. Nice resource of bombs, a way to pick locks (chests and lockboxes) up to skill 150, and a non-combat pet. Only problem is I would need to either stock up on all the mats or forget ever having the Skinning buff and keep Mining.
Rating: 3.5/5, I'll think about it.

Inscription: Tons of glyphs I can't use, an off-hand I don't really need, and a way to get a random level 10 green during the Darkmoon Faire. The only saving grace is the rank two scrolls that give +5 in a stat. Not really worth me losing a profession over. Oh yeah, and a second way to hearth with Scroll of Recall.
Rating: 1/5, I'll pass.

Jewelcrafting: Even if Heavy Silver Ring was useable at level 20, the only useful reasons to go JCing would be: Brilliant Necklace which is really only for casters, Bronze Band of Focus which I may or may not want to use on Beershock, Thick Bronze Necklace if I were a FCer, and Course Stone Statue which heals 15 HP per second for 12 seconds.On top of that, I can turn my stacks of ore that are flooding my bank into gems which will vendor for more. So I will have a nice flow of gold to spend on mounts, non-combat pets, tabards, and the like. Same issue I had with Eng, I will need to drop Skinning for mining.
Rating: 3.5/5, I'll think about it.

Leatherworking: Medium Armor Kits. That's about it. Gonna make as much as I can, slap it on my gear, and then drop it.
Rating: 1.5/5, Enchant my gear and unlearn.

Tailoring: With the advent of 16 slot bags costing almost nothing if you are at a good standing with a faction, Tailoring has nothing to offer but 8 slot bags until then. Literally nothing else is useful unless you want a shirt, but I am Stylish Black Shirt from this chick today.
Rating: 1/5, I'll pass.

Now it is time for the profession buffs:


Lifeblood: The only profession buff that gets you to rank two. 15 Haste and a small HoT every two minutes. Not bad, I'll think about it.
Rating: 3.5/5, I'll think about it.

Mastery of Anatomy: +3 Crit which converts to 0.93% crit. A small amount ... Probably not worth it in the end ...
Rating: 2.5/5, Meh.

Toughness: +3 Stam. Not much else to say ... I like it ...
Rating: 5/5, LET'S DO THIS!

So it looks like Mining and either Eng or JCing. I think I will be going Eng for the pet and JCing so that I can make sure I am at gold cap.

So my plan is: skin as much leather as I can get, drop Skinning for LWing, make as much Medium Armor Kits that I can, drop LWing for Enchanting, DE stuff and chant my gear, drop Enchanting for Eng, get my squirrel, drop Eng and get JCing, ???, WINNING!

~Zuty

Quick Update

Beershock is now level 20 and I am going through the process of getting him geared. A few good BGs got me my ring and both trinkets, so I was very happy about this. I also ran some dungeons and got some of my gear. I also went back and edited my last post with an updated gear list.

~Zuty

First Things First: We're Gonna Need Some Beer

Hello again,

So I started this guy a few days ago, but have been in the process of leveling, gearing, and planning the end result for him out. I introduce to you my F2P Dwarf Shaman, Beershock. (Very surprised the name wasn't taken)

In all his level 12 glory!

 He still has a ways to go, but I can at least talk about and theorycraft his final build.

Why Alliance?

I will be flip-flopping between Horde and Alliance and while I do love the Horde, the Alliance have an eyepatch that will help make my Enhance Dwarf Shaman even better.

Why Shaman?

I've been main playing a Shaman since the days of yore, back when you'd pay 1 copper for a flight from Orgrimmar to Booty Bay, go out for a nice dinner, train in all your new spells, and STILL have enough change left to fly back to Orgrimmar. I've played Elemental, Restoration, and Enhance throughout the years and have seen the good and the bad of each spec. So I decided that it was time to do a F2P version of Shaman and try my hand at some PvP.

Why Dwarf?

I hate Draenei and I like Dwarves. Pretty much the only reason. 10% damage reduction is cool and all, but I didn't pick Dwarf based on racials.

Why Enhance?

The only other Shaman I have seen so far was Resto and that seemed boring. Slap on an Earth Shield and /sleep since you were never going to die. Plus I already have a healer. I want to jump right into the fight and bloody my weapon.

Smexy Talent Tree

Elemental Weapons - Rank 2/2
Increases the passive bonuses granted by your Flametongue Weapon and Earthliving Weapon abilities by 40%, the damage of your extra attacks from Windfury Weapon by 40%, and the effectiveness of the ongoing benefits of your Unleash Elements ability by 50%.

Focused Strikes - Rank 3/3
Increases the damage dealt by your Primal Strike and Stormstrike abilities by 45%.

Elemental Devastation - Rank 1/3
When you deal critical damage with a non-periodic spell, your chance to get a critical strike with melee attacks increases by 3% for 10 sec.






Usually when I go Enhance, I am a FCer, but I wanted to hit stuff this time around and a -1 second casting on Ghost Wolf doesn't really make me out to be a great FCer when Druids can do it instantly and to escape roots. So I went the smash route and took up Elemental Weapons, Focused Strikes, and Elemental Devastation. Elem Weapons will help up the spell powers for my shocks, Focused Strikes will help up the damage on my Primal Strike, and, when my shocks crit, Elem Devastation is there to give me a nice boost in my crit department. I also gain access to Duel Wield, Lava Lash, Primal Wisdom, and Mental Quickness.

My Build:

Head - Rifle Commander's Eyepatch
Shoulder - Serpent's Shoulders
Chest - Armor of the Fang
Back - Glowing Lizardscale Cloak (Replace with Satchel 'Bandit')
Wrist - Bands of Serra'kis
Hands - Naga Battle Gloves
Waist - Belt of the Fang (Replace with Satchel 'Bandit')

Legs - Blackfathom Leggings
Feet - Standard Issue Prisoner Shoe

Finger - Ello's Band
Finger - Protector's Band / Bronze Band of Force
Trinket - Insignia of the Alliance
Trinket - Rune of Perfection >> AGM
Neck - Sentinel's Medallion

TwoHand - Cold Iron Pick (Laugh now, but a 2H to the face hurts)

MainHand - Wicked Dagger
OffHand - Wicked Dagger

((Gear in blue I currently have))

That's it for now,

~Zuty