Tuesday, January 25, 2011

First Impression: Marks on the PTR

'Sup,

I originally just going to cover some basic spec information, then I realized that because there is a patch impending in about 2 weeks or so, it would be more useful for me to include some of my initial reactions to speccing on the PTR, so you can have the edge when the patch finally does decide to drop, if it ever does.

One of the keys to success in the arena is to always be one step ahead of the competition. This can be taken literally, in matches, but I think its also vital to be completely aware of any information coming down the pipe that could affect the arena, and more importantly, hunters.  As far as other class changes are concerned, I think its a little easier to just be aware of potential threats to you, and not be an expert on all class mechanics. For example, in the future patch, its important to note that Death Knights are gaining a mini-hand of freedom style ability that triggers whenever their unholy runes are on cooldown. What this means for hunters is that DKs will have an easier time staying on you once they get their hands on you. But of course, they have to reach you first!



But I digress. First, I'll hit on some first impressions that I've found with Marksmanship. Remember that Survival is getting some strong damage nerfs, specifically to explosive shot and to the tree's mastery. Overall, the main utility of the tree, namely shorter trap CDs and Wyvern Sting, are unaffected, but note that survival will be unable to burst as hard as it has been. Marks on the other hand, is getting a HUGE damage buff to nearly all of their main abilities, which is really, really good news for us, as Marks is widely regarded as the strongest utility tree out of the three, but was seriously lacking in damage output.

Here are some parses using recount. My gear on the PTR is essentially the same as live at the moment. All these parses are in PVP gear on the level 85 non-raid dummies.

First, I immediately noticed that Chimera Shot hits like a freight train.

For one thing, I'm pulling roughly 2-3k more dps more on the dummy as PTR marks than I was as live Survival. For another thing, 35-45k crits on the dummy will probably work out to around to 25-31k crits on resil targets, and this effect will ignore armor. Also a 21k non crit? I like it.

PROTIP: I noticed a bug with "Ready, Aim..." (the effect that procs off of Master Marksman). Stack it up to four, then cast a steady shot. As soon as the steady shot launches, immediately hard cast Aimed Shot. If you get your fifth stack off of that steady (60% chance), you will proc "Fire!", which makes your next Aimed Shot instant. When you finish your hardcasted Aimed Shot, throw another one as fast as you can. Both will launch simultaneously, and both will cost NO focus! I've found that aimed shot hits for around 10k on resil targets... follow this up with a chim, and you're looking at around 40k damage in roughly 2 seconds, non-crit.

I also noticed that wild quiver was about 10% of my damage, and against resil targets, will likely crit for between 5-7k or so. This damage has a chance to proc off any ranged attack, and a string of lucky procs will equal bad news fast for your enemies. Imagine that double Aimed Shot to chim I mentioned above, and all three of those proc Wild Quiver shots. Oh man, then Readiness another Chim shot out... I think I'm getting a tear in my eye...

I'm still undecided on a marks spec on the PTR build, so I'll be back at you guys when it hits live with some spec suggestions. This post is getting epic long already, and it's getting late.

Happy hunting.

12 comments:

  1. I used to play WoW, quit the game long ago though

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  2. Ex wow player myself, good luck on glad I'll be reading through your progress.

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  3. Never played WoW, actually. Not really my kind of game. Does seem sort of interresting at times, though.

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  4. One of my friends play WoW, he has tried to get me to play it but I don't want to risk getting sucked into it! If I did play though, I would most likely be a ranged class - usually prefer them in games.

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  5. I wonder how long that bug will be around. I played almost every class for a little while when I played WoW, but then I kinda got bored of it.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. I don't play WoW anymore, but looks like you've got a sweet character going.

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  8. I've never played WOW. Its hella tempting at times, but I usually got another game I'm itching to play.

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  9. those charts, now I understand why my bro called it World of Work.

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  10. like a lot of people are saying, I've never played wow.

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  11. WTB survival dominance back. These nerfs suck soooooo bad.

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