I don’t know if I’ll be able to play around with the new patch today at all, as I’ll likely be running off to work right when the realms come back up. However, I can tell you what I’m planning to do:
Respec: Those three points from Focused Aim are going into Improved Arcane Shot. I’ve been purposefully overcapping myself these past few weeks specifically for this impending respec and while I’ll still be a bit short, I should be close. Plus, now I’ll know my pet is benefiting from all my hit, too.
Re-Glyph: Goodbye, Glyph of Aspect of the Viper, hello Glyph of Arcane Shot.
Practice The New Shot Rotation on the Training Dummies: Beast Masters: Back before WotLK, we didn’t use Arcane Shot because it would interfere with our shot weaving, and cost a lot of mana. Until today, we still didn’t use it because while it no longer interfered with shot weaving, it still cost a lot of mana.
But as of today, it has the same mana cost as Steady Shot. And the reworked Ferocious Inspiration talent increases its damage. So does Improved Arcane Shot if you spec into it.
As of today, my fellow Beast Master Hunters, we have a shot rotation.
/giggles like a schoolgirl
You are going to want to apply Serpent Sting and keep it up while you cast Steady-Steady-Arcane and repeat that– or even better and if your latency is low, three Steadies and then Arcane.*
On top of that your pet is still going to be dishing out a lot of damage; sure, not quite as much as before, but a lot regardless, so while doing your Serpent-Steady-Steady-Steady-Arcane you’ve also got to pay attention to your pet and keep him out of trouble.
Sound tough? You betcha. I can’t wait.
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* This can probably be macro’d. But you will have to find that macro somewhere that isn’t this blog, because you will have to pry manual shot weaving out of my cold, dead, waiting-to-be-rez’d hands.
/castsequence reset=combat Serpent Sting, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Steady Shot, Arcane Shot, Steady Shot
assuming a glyphed Serpent Sting. If not glyphed, just take off the last two shots.
*scratches head* Back in BC, during that brief time in which I was allowed to make my hunter my main (read: I transferred my healadin off server), I always had a shot rotation. I always used arcane shot. And I was usually #2 or #3 in DPS in raids.
Was I just weird, or what?
Man, if I wanted one button push DPS, I’d roll a ‘lock.
Pike – what are the three Major Glyphs you have at the moment (pre-patch)?
I think I have Bestial Wrath, Steady Shot and Rapid Fire… (which isn’t in your Glyph Guide I believe)
Thank you Pike :3 you’re one of the first hunter bloggers that’s mentioned what our new shot rotation should basically look like and I really appreciate someone passing on that information for those who has little time for proper self-research.
@ Ambrosyne – With very low latency it was possible to swap a Steady with an Arcane when it was up, you would probably have seen a slight DPS increase but for most of us, the prohibitive mana cost was not worth it. But if you managed to pull it off then grats!
@ Steadfast – Currently using Bestial Wrath, Steady Shot, and Viper but I’m pretty sure I’ll be switching Viper for Arcane Shot.
This will be soooooooo much more fun that just spamming steady shot. Instances were getting boring, there was nothing to do but hit one button. /sleep.
I tried a similar shot rotation out last night in Outlands, and it worked pretty well. Two steadies and arcane had come out of cooldown. It was nice to um, actually have to think about what I was doing a bit.
Also, the mining thing makes me happy. So happy.
I’m right with ya on the shot rotations. I’m loving the idea of getting a brand new juicy shot to use! Apparently, MM hunters crit for 5k with it. I hope we’re somewhere near there.
Can’t waitcan’twaitcan’twaitcan’twait…
I’ve always used Serpent Sting, Arcane, steady, steady, steady… keeping serpent sting refreshed…
was that not right? haha… I guess I’m set now, huh?
Would one really need to macro that sort of thing anyway?
Unless someone is really laggy, how hard can it be to hand weave anyway?
I’m sure I’ll be fine.
Despite never having experienced shot weaving at all.
-gulp-
I was actually saving my arcane shot (during raids) for those times I had to shoot and move. I only used it and volley sparingly as the mana cost was too high, but now I’ll prolly try weaving it in more. What I’m most excited about, however is the cooldown reduction on kill shot. Currently the only real shot macro I use is one that I spam when bosses get low — it fires kill shot if up and steady if not. Now we should be getting 3-4 kill shots on raid bosses, w00t! I’m really wondering about the glyph switch though, the mana cost is getting reduced so that 20% is even smaller, I kinda like my 10% with viper. Now to scrounge up those 3 points for Imp Arcane Shot…
@ The Glyph-related Comments –
It’s definitely something I’ll have to test. If the Arcane Shot glyph isn’t working out as nicely for me as I’d like I’ll probably switch to Serpent Sting.
Arcane Shot has always produced pretty impressive numbers, it was just prohibitively expensive until now.
It is, in fact, so inexpensive in Three Point Oh Point Eight Land that the mana returns you’ll see from the arcane shot glyph will be pretty minimal. Let us know how that glyph works out for you.
Yay! I’m so glad you found something to be glad amist all those nasty nerfs to the hunter class, especially BMers. I’m a MM, but I have a baby BM, and I’m excited to hear that I’ll now be able to have a shot rotation for my baby BM! That’s the very reason I never got my BM hunter so high before, it’s boring without the shot rotations. I really hope that the BMers adjust well to the nerfs and I’m sure they’ll come out on the top – hunters ARE the top! ;D – even though they may be out-dps’d by a hunter of a different class. They’re the BMers, after all, tough to kill. 😉
I am so happy about the buffs to Arcane Shot. I actually went Survival for a little while before the patch to practice the same sort of rotation. I like that now there’s thinking and working involved with putting out top numbers. And I like Bestial Wrath, Steady Shot and Serpent Sting for my glyphs, mostly because I like not having to re-apply serpent so quickly and getting a few more GCDs in before I do need to re-apply. A lot of hunters over at EJ prefer the Imp. Aspect of the Hawk glyph because of the high uptime of Quick Shots.
I think more than anything, though, I’m the most excited to get the new mini pet achievement and show off my fawn. XD
I’ve always used Arcane in my rotation setup. I was willing to chug a Fel Mana Pot in BC or swap to Viper for a bit in LK to make up for the mana bleed (and if I had a Pally Tank it was made better). It’s not so much of a change for me other than the longer Serp Sting if I decide to keep that Glyph.
And it’s sad, my DPS has been nerfed, but I still find people running Heroics that can’t hold aggro. 🙁
Welcome back to the land of the shot weavers! It’s good to have our BM brethren back with us! I too welcome the changes that this patch brings, especially as the nerf bat has given us a relatively gentle tap rather than a thudding great thwack.
Now all i need to do is work out how to weave steady, explosive, aimed, and serpent sting into a rotation that makes some sort of timed sense! *Scratches head*