Help my girlfriend!

[Eurydace 0]

Spec: SV

Item Level: 483 Equipped (slightly lower in the WoL)

Expectations: DPS is not top tier quality for ilvl

Armory Link: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/kiljaeden/Kloverr/advanced

WoL Link: http://worldoflogs.com/reports/z50cebme2s07878m/

This is my girlfriend's character. We both recently got back into raiding and she went from being very good in Dragon Soul to what appears to be decent and not much better now in 5.2. It's tough to accurately gauge her DPS since her ilvl is so much below most people who use hunters as their mains, but perhaps some of you guys will know what's going wrong here.

She feels like she never has enough focus to do all her abilities, especially the crow one. She focuses on explosive shot on CD, and then black arrow on CD, then T90, T75, and then T60 in that order. She uses arcane shot only as a focus dump but she feels like she never has enough focus to need to dump it. She runs out of focus simply by using the tier abilities and ES. When compared to other hunters on Skada, they always have way more arcane shot so we're unsure how to do it.

She got how to play her spec from Icy-Veins survival guide (https://www.icy-veins.com/survival-hunter-wow-pve-dps-guide). Is that guide accurate?

[benjam1997 18]

use explosive shot on proc, as its too much focus, keep serpent sting up and spam arcane shot while using black arrow on CD to proc explosive shot and use all cooldowns when needed

[Ratharoth 2]

Nothing is enchanted. Helm isn't gemmed. PvP gear detected. When raiding you have to be raid ready if you want to be putting out numbers which make you smile.

[Mutterkorn 8]

Also, nothing is reforged.

Gem, Enchant, use askmrrobot to reforge and then see whats happening.

[Horcored 17]

Nothing is enchanted. Helm isn't gemmed. PvP gear detected. When raiding you have to be raid ready if you want to be putting out numbers which make you smile.

I hate when ppl in MoP mention PvP gear as a lower value of gear. As of MoP blizzard made it so that pvp gear and pve gear of the same ilvl has the same value of secondary and primary stats, the only differnece is prob the gem bonus, which isnt a huge dps loss anyhow.

[Littlepinch 0]

I hate when ppl in MoP mention PvP gear as a lower value of gear. As of MoP blizzard made it so that pvp gear and pve gear of the same ilvl has the same value of secondary and primary stats, the only differnece is prob the gem bonus, which isnt a huge dps loss anyhow.

The problem they have with pvp gear in pve is most pvp gear comes with secondary stats that are NOT optimal. That is why we say to avoid them. Also @ the OP, are you using your traps to force ES Procs? you get procs from black arrow but you can also force procs with a few of your other traps(100% proc rate on some of your traps if im not mistaken). This way you get to control your procs.

P.S Some of those other hunters you see might be using Thrill of the hunt. Might account for alot of their arcanes.

Hope this Helps Cheers

Edited April 19, 2013 by Littlepinch

[Krazyito 521]

The problem they have with pvp gear in pve is most pvp gear comes with secondary stats that are NOT optimal. That is why we say to avoid them.

But his point remains the same, the gear still has 2 normal secondary stats and the same exact AMOUNT of stats if they were the same ilvl. Regardless of it being optimal or not, that is up to the judgement of the player taking the item.

Hell, when MSV first came out, I grabbed some pvp hands on my druid just to replace the blue I had. The blue and the PVP hands both had spirit/haste. So I don't see how its a problem until new gear can be acquired.

[Littlepinch 0]

But his point remains the same, the gear still has 2 normal secondary stats and the same exact AMOUNT of stats if they were the same ilvl. Regardless of it being optimal or not, that is up to the judgement of the player taking the item.

Hell, when MSV first came out, I grabbed some pvp hands on my druid just to replace the blue I had. The blue and the PVP hands both had spirit/haste. So I don't see how its a problem until new gear can be acquired.

That's why i said they are to be avoided if possible. They can and will be used as place holders, but at no point do i say to myself, lets forget that pve pc because i have a pvp pc as a placeholder. at the OPs gear lv i found it hard to keep my hit/exp caps without sacrificing an important stat to get their. the number of stats on the pc isn't the issue. So in that sense yes her dps will suffer if this is the case.

[Mutterkorn 8]

The Problem is not the PVP Gear per se.

The Problem ist, if you want to compete and compare to other players who don't use PVP gear.

Then you are behind them because of the seceondary stats.

I used PVP Gear as well to get into LFR.

[Tehstool 10]

I'm sorry, but you guys are really ignorant. PVP GEAR HAS THE SAME STAT BUDGET AS PVE GEAR. The pvp cloak in question actually has really good stats for SV pve. Comparing that with the LFR alternative gives us 566 agility for BOTH and 736 stats for the pvp cloak and 728 for the pve cloak. THE PVP CLOAK IS BETTER. It just really really grinds my gears when the pvp gear most of the time is equal or better.

[Littlepinch 0]

I'm sorry, but you guys are really ignorant. PVP GEAR HAS THE SAME STAT BUDGET AS PVE GEAR. The pvp cloak in question actually has really good stats for SV pve. Comparing that with the LFR alternative gives us 566 agility for BOTH and 736 stats for the pvp cloak and 728 for the pve cloak. THE PVP CLOAK IS BETTER. It just really really grinds my gears when the pvp gear most of the time is equal or better.

and you sir are combative. The information we have given is correct. just because you have found 1 pc of pvp gear that you deem better doesn't mean gearing the correct way is wrong. I accept your opinion but i don't agree with it.

[Tehstool 10]

I never said it was wrong, I'd appreciate if you don't put words in my mouth. I just said to the people who were saying pvp gear in pve is bad that they were wrong. You can't argue that the pvp pieces they have on are underbudget and bad (like they were). All of them have hit/crit/haste on them which are the best stats for hunters.

You are also wrong, there isn't just one piece that is better that she picked out. In fact all the pieces are better (if there were any ilvl equivalents of the 493 one)

Malevolent Gladiator's Chain Gauntlets vs Grips of the Leviathan (The only 483 alternative)

(just noticed she's gemming hit/expertise in blue sockets, agi/hit is much better)

The stats add up to 885 agility on the pve piece (because you aren't going to go for the socket bonus) and 988 of haste/mastery.

The stats add up to 865 agility on the pvp piece (because you go for the socket bonus) and 1154 hit/crit.

That is a difference of 20 agility for 166 more stats that are better than the pve gloves which makes the pvp ones better. Even putting a red gem instead of a purple gem in the pvp gloves would still make them superior by 6 more stats.

Malevolent Gladiator's Ring of Cruelty vs Perculia's Peculiar Signet

566 agility on both. 736 crit/haste on the pvp ring and 732 hit/haste on the pve ring. You'll be trading crit for hit (and there is less stat ratings on the pve ring) Ergo PVP ring > PVE ring.

I could go through all the hunter pvp items, but frankly I don't want to.

I'm not saying that you should just go full on pvp gear, I'm saying in most cases it is even or better then their pve alternatives and there is nothing wrong in using pvp gear in pve. A 476 pvp cloak is just like a 476 pve cloak if used in pve is all I'm trying to say. If you are that dense that you cannot see that then I'm sorry.

[Littlepinch 0]

you say don't put words in your mouth, yet you do it yourself. most of those pieces you listed would get replaced very fast anyways, no one keeps the 476 pieces very long imo. I do see your point for some of those pieces though and i apologize on that account.

[Tehstool 10]

I was just telling people they were wrong about pvp gear... I didn't insinuate anything. I was just simply stating that the other posters were saying that about pvp gear, not you. My point still stands even though you may or may not replace the gear fast.

[Eurydace 0]

I'd like to note that the expertise gems were from a few days ago when she couldn't hit the cap without them. They won't be a staple of her gearing.

Thank you all for the replies though.

[xionyus 0]

First thing is first, never stack your Rapid Fire with Bloodlust/Time Warp. You have a focus cap and it'll just be a waste of a cooldown. If you lust at the beginning of a fight, use Rapid Fire after your lust expires.

She focuses on explosive shot on CD, and then black arrow on CD.

Black Arrow is more important than Explosive Shot, because they fixed the procs with lock and load. If both are going to come off of cooldown at the same time and you only have focus for one, use Black Arrow.

Say you're on a fight where you don't lust at the very beginning. My rotation would be something like this

Serpent Sting > Black Arrow > A Murder of Crows > Dire Beast > Glaive Toss > Rapid Fire > Explosive Shot > Stampede

Something around there, I'm not in game at the moment to make sure. Anyways, you want to have your DoTs up and then use A Murder of Crows and then Dire Beast and then activate Rapid Fire and Stampede. Once you activate your Rapid Fire, Cobra Shot a couple times to get your focus back, then explosive and then dump your focus with Arcane Shot. You never want to be focus deprived. You should stay anywhere near 40-60% focus.

[shinaynr 0]

Well, get gemmed and enchanted first. Any comparison done like this is by default skewed.

Part of the problem might just be getting accustomed to it all. I still at times screw up through the myriad of skills, clipping my own Murder of crows or such.

In the end though, the focus game is a tight rope exercise, staying balanced while anticipating back and front drafts. You don't want to drain your focus, yet also not top it. Anticipate boosts in focus like direbeast. Anticipate upcoming decreases like black arrow or murder coming off cooldown.

After black arrow and murder of crows are cast, you have quite some time where focus is less of an issue. Specially since LnL will proc most likely. LnL + more focus through dire beast and such means I often have to drastically hit arcane shot to get rid of the focus before cap.

Another help was js hunter addon, the focus bar shows how much focus your cobra shot will add and what the minimum level is for a explosive shot. It just provides a bit of visual aid to balance the whole thing.

The only time when I throw this all out of the window is when my trinket + scope procs align. Use weakauras or such to make some nice sound+visual triggers for this. Having your agility and such increase drastically is a good thing to notice.