I’m in a bit of a pickle. I haven’t been spending as much time with my druid of late. Pummra has little room for upgrades right now (not that he’s all decked out, just that all his upgrades will come from either a ton of badges or raid drops) so he’s been relegated a bit to just raids when they come up.

So, it’s been all about the hunter. He was my original level 60 back in the pre BC days, but he didn’t get all that much play when BC hit. Sure, I got him to 70, but what happened was at the time I got to 70, there were about a dozen other 70 hunters in guild always looking for spots. We lacked healers, and Pummra was born. I probably ran my hunter through 5 or 6 instances post 70 before he got shelved. Needless to say, his gear stunk.

Now, the alliance I raid with has had an unexpected shortage of hunters, so I thought it might be a good time to get mine geared up and start running him in SSC. In the 3 weeks or so I’ve been playing him, I’ve made great strides in terms of gear, and got the old skill back. And, of course, he has a shiny purple mount.

/rambling off

On to my point. Should I use a shot rotation macro? Right now I have a few macros that I use, one to send the pet and cast Hunter’s Mark in one button, one to feed my pet, one to set a focus target, and one to cast distracting shot on said focus target. I’ve never used a shot rotation macro, and to be honest I’m hesitant to do so.

Is it just me, or is using macro a little bit like not actually playing? Will I still enjoy playing my hunter as I hit 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ad infinitum? Is using a macro to ensure that you don’t err in the graceful dance of a shot rotation a bit like cheating? All I hear is that my DPS will go up by X% if I use a shot rotation macro, or how I’m gimping my DPS output by doing it the old fashioned way.

All I use for my shot rotation is Quartz. It has a nice big cast bar for steady shot, and just above it is a second little autoshot bar. I know when I should hit steady based on the position of those two bars, and I think I do pretty well. If Kill Command lights up, it does throw me off for ONE rotation of steady, but that’s it. And there are times when I can get it just right and weave in KC with no issues.

Is it silly of me to be hesitant to use a macro? Perhaps I’m being a little bit hypocritical, since I obviously have no problem using other tools (namely addons) to make my job easier. If I’m going to be on such a high horse that I refuse to use a shot rotation macro, maybe I have to delete ALL combat related addons. No more Quartz. Nor more Grid and Clique for Pummra. No more Innvervator. No more Cooldown Timers.

I don’t see that happening.

Still, there is something I like about the manual way of doing things. For me it’s like a little game within a game to get my shot rotation right, and it’s a skill I have already spent some time developing. One of the most enjoyable things about combat for me, on either toon, is when I get in a zone. For Pummra it’s when I get into the flow of the GCD and my various click settings to deliver heals to the raid in a continuous stream. With Feroz (spanish for Iron, he’s a dwarf…though I hate the name now) my hunter, it’s that delicate balance of the manual shot rotation using Quartz.

I mean, I wouldn’t want a macro that I clicked and it figured out the perfect heal to cast with Pummra. I don’t know if I want a macro that in some way “figures out” what exactly I should be casting as Feroz.

I suppose I’ll find out more as I actually finish gearing enough to participate in SSC. One thing I couldn’t handle is severely gimping the raid DPS due to my moral superiority. We’ll see. I certainly don’t want to be the one BM hunter that can’t break 650 DPS.

I realize it’s been some time since I had a big, beefy gear post. Since I’ve been playing my hunter more, and trying to get him geared for 25 man raiding, I thought this might be appropriate. I also found that though there are vast numbers of sites with good lists for Druid gear, the same can’t be said of Hunters. Perhaps its due to the fact that it is much easier to find gear that works for a hunter. They do have both leather and mail available to them, after all, and what they shoot for (Agility, AP, Hit Rating) is pretty easy to find. Anyhow, here goes, slot by slot. I’m going to ignore rings, trinkets, melee weapons and cloaks, as there are just too many choices to pick through. Chances are you’ll happen across good items for these slots as you hunt down the others. All of these items come from normal mode instances (save one that comes from a quest), so if you can get a strong group to pull you through some heroics or Kara, obviously you can do better. It should make for a good starting point, however.

Ranged Weapon

There are three ranged weapons that all hover around the same quality level, one for each type. The Crossbow to get is the [Emberhawk Crossbow]. No agility or hit rating, but it does buff your crit and AP. This crossbow drops in the Arcatraz. The Gun to get, if you are dwarvenly inclined, is the [Telescopic Sharprifle], which drops off the final boss in the Mechanar. This gun has the same DPS rating as the crossbow, with the added benefit of both agility and AP. A solid choice.

Now then, if you’re completely lazy and just want a good starter bow NOW, you can’t do better than a [Valanos' Longbow], which can be had for around 20g on the AH, maybe less. My hunter is STILL using this bow, as I have been unlucky thus far with epic level ranged weapon drops. Some day that Big Bad Wolf will drop his [Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle]!

Head

Now, if you happen to be an engineer, you should have [Surestrike Goggles v2.0], which is one of the best head pieces in the game. If not, go for the [Beast Lord Helm], which also drops off of the last boss in the Mechanar. If you’re hoping for the gun, the Mechanar makes for a perfect instance to farm for multiple drops. This is also a good option because you might want to go for the 2 piece set bonus from Beast Lord, which reduces the cooldown on traps. This is VERY handy in heroics and beyond.

Shoulders

For the shoulder slot, the [Mantle of Perenolde] from the final boss in Old Hillsbrad is a solid choice. It has hit, crit, AP AND two red slots, perfect for +agi or +ap gems.

Belt

The [Rune-Engraved Belt] is a nice choice here. It has agility, AP and Hit rating, and it’s from a quest, so no hoping for it to drop. It comes from the Fel Embers quest in Shattered Halls.

Gloves

While you’re completing the above mentioned quest, you can also find a good pair of gloves. If you have the Beast Lord Helm already, you can get the [Beast Lord Handguards] from the final boss in Shattered Halls. These gloves will serve you VERY well. Sockets, Agility, AP, Stam and Int for a bonus, and a little hit rating if you socket for it. Nice gloves. If Kargath refuses to drop those, he also has the [Wastewalker Gloves] which are VERY nice in their own right. Once you’re into heroics, you can look for other Wastewalker pieces for the nice +hit set bonus. Sure, they’re maybe more for rogues, but they suit a hunter just fine as well.

Chest, Legs, Wrist, and Boots: Magisters’ Terrace

Now, I didn’t realize this when I began my research, but with the release of 2.4, a veritable cornucopia of good hunter gear was brought together in one instance. Magisters’ Terrace. Holy shnikies, Batman, there is some NICE gear in there. There are even epic drops from regular mode.

[Bracers of the Forest Stalker]

These drop off the first boss, just about everything we want in a pair of bracers, Agility, a socket, some AP, and some armor penetration to boot.

[Leggings of the Betrayed]

These legs also drop off Selin Fireheart, the first boss in MagT. Who knows, maybe you get lucky and these and the bracers BOTH drop. Very nice legs here - agility, 3 sockets, AP, and a little haste as an added bonus.

[Hauberk of the War Bringer]

Epic chest. Regular instance. You can’t beat that, eh? Now MagT is a tougher than most other regular instances (I’d call it half heroic), but is doable. You just need to be a little more careful with your group. This is an excellent chest that will serve you well for a good while, probably until you start collecting badges. There is no hit rating to be had on it, but there are those yellow sockets to take advantage of and gem for it a bit. (I haven’t mentioned it before, but for a BM hunter, you want to get to 142 HR to hit the cap.) This chest drops off of Kael’thas himself.

[Sunrage Treads]

Another nice epic drop from Kael’thas. Agility, stamina, a socket, AP and a little more armor ignore. These will last you at least until you get your [Edgewalker Longboots] off of Moroes.

A Note on Crafting Before I Go

You can circumvent a lot of the pain of gear hunting by taking up a tradeskill to make your armor and/or weapons. Like Druids, Hunters can benefit GREATLY from Leatherworking. There are actually three different sets they can make that are useful. Fel Skin, Felstalker, and Netherscale Armor. With all those choices, and the very raid useful [Drums of Battle], Leatherworking may be a VERY good investment for a hunter.

Well, there you have it. Obviously, this is not intended to be the ultimate gear list, but simply a cheat sheet to get you started. That should get you well on your way to heroics and Karazhan, and before long maybe you’ll be putting an arrow in Lady Vashj’s eye. Thanks for reading!