The Enigma Order

I mainly tested BM and MM on dummies since I heard from many people that SV had huge focus issues. I am gonna test SV one of these days tho, but for now just my comments on the other two.

On the dummy I had my highest dps with MM. Not a huge difference but like 2-300 dps average on 4-5 mins 'fights'. I suspected it was due to me being more used to MM abilities and therefore also the shot priorities, but after practising BM over and over i sorta got the hang of it, which helped, but not enough to completely catch up with MM.

I tried MM both with Kill Command in the rotation and without it. It wasnt really surprising to me that it was a total waste of focus to bring that in since as MM i dont really have anything boosting its dps.

I went MM in last nights raid because it seemed like the best choice on the dummy, but there was just a 'tiny' problem that i couldn't really test beforehand: The-freaking-moving-around-not-being-able-to-cast-Steady-Shot-issue! As MM its kinda needed to push 2 steady shots in a row for the haste proc, which means you need to stand still for quite some time before you can use Chimera/Arcane and then you need to regen focus after 2 shots again. This is somewhat impossible to time right on several boss fights where you cannot plan very far ahead. Getting Aspect of the Fox later on will clearly help, but for now I'd say BM should be better since its not quite as dependent on Steady shots all the time, and atleast not 2 in a row.
Another thing that was driving me insane was the extremely boring rotation, which is something like 2 SS, 2 AS, 2 SS, CS AS, 2 SS and now an then 1 AS is replaced with Aimed Shot. That was the way i needed to do it if I wanted to have enough focus ready for Chimera as soon as its off cd (i know the haste buff lasts 15 sec). Otherwise i should skip 1 AS and 1 SS every other time to save focus for chimera and that didnt seem like a good idea either. 
Due to the movement issue on a lot of fights I very often ended up with Chimera being ready for a long time before i had the focus for it. This will ofc get better once I've tried it some more, but until you can fire Steady Shots while you move, I'm quite sure I wont be raiding as MM. Atleast not on all bosses.

I didnt really give BM many shots in last nights raid since there are still some things i need to figure out, but my plan is to try that next time. The tricky part here, for me atleast, is to remember to renew Serpent Sting. I've been used to having another ability doing that for me so it takes a little practice to get that back into my head. I also need to tame an exotic pet for a little more damage since I've gotten the impression that its clearly worth it. Going to test that for myself soon aswell. Other than that I think I've gotten the hang of the shot priorities. Now I just need to learn how to execute it right. I doesnt seem like there are nearly the same focus regen issues with this spec, which will work in my advantage og many bosses I think. I actually tested the usage of steady shot on a dummy just out of couriosity. 2 min 30 secs with BM i used 38 steady shot, with MM it was 53

Im sure things will generally look better when we get the missing spells. This is clearly not designed for lvl 80, but I just hope to find a good way to manage until 85. SV is for sure missing Cobra Shot, same goes for BM. But MM is indeed missing Aspect of the Fox, so the advantage I assumed MM had before last nights raid is IMO not there at all.

Reforging:
Well, I dont really know yet. I've tried testing without reforging anything, tried with some reforging and tried with reforging every item. The odd conclusion was, that its a small gain to reforge crit to mastery, but a somewhat large gain to reforge haste into mastery. I cant really say why that could be. I was sure haste would be a better stat than crit, but dunno now. When i tested it was about same gain for both MM and BM approximately. I havent tested this enough times to feel completely sure, but I'm probably going to this weekend.

I really like a lot of the changes Blizz have made. I think in many ways its going to be more interesting and challenging to play hunter now, but I am ofc not satisfied with the dps output. It seems like they miscalculated quite a lot when they removed ArP, but i guess they'll fix that eventually. Atleast when we hit 85 if not sooner. I must admit tho, that being below tanks on dps is not something my real life enrage timer can handle until december 7th
Hopefully thats not going to be the case, but otherwise i might need a night off now and then

That was my messy brainstorm!

Maxi

Last edited by Maxilla (2010-10-15 19:57:12)

We have pushed a hotfix to improve hunter damage.

Specifically, we increased the damage of the signature abilities (Chimera Shot, Explosive Shot and Kill Command) by 15-25%. This will both improve overall damage-dealing and make sure that these abilities are prioritized higher than other shots. We think this will bring hunters to a good enough state until they hit 85. Aspect of the Fox and Cobra Shot solve some specific issues at higher levels. Marksman hunters may still trump Survival and Beastmaster hunters until they’re 85, since their rotations rely a little on Cobra Shot.