MM has Aimed Shot (long cast time) instead of SV's Explosive Shot (instant). Those are the two signature shots. The only time AS is instant cast is when it procs, if you're not keeping up ISS and have to move a lot, the proc rate is going to go down considerably. MM is also the lowest hunter spec this tier, although if the OP is still progressing through regular heroics it doesn't matter too much.
Jump disengage is the winner for any kiting fights like this. Get out of the way fast then ArcS a few times (and SV has Thrill of the Hunt which gives a high chance to return focus when you use your abilities, MM only returns from MulitShot which is beyond pointless for this fight). IIRC those little adds can also be Conq Shot for an additional slow, but really they should die in two ArcS's.
The other problem with MM is that it REQUIRES you to keep up the ISS buff in order to be even remotely effective, you also have to make sure that you're at the appropriate haste break points (if SS isn't at 1.6 second cast time or lower, you need more haste). The T13 set bonuses also make MM ineffective because it doesn't scale nearly as well as either BM or SV (BM will be about 5k lower than SV, MM about 15k lower than SV).
A hard cast aim shot is only situationally viable, such as under dynamic haste effects or when your gear has enough haste to bring the cast time below 1.9 sec. Even in full heroic T12 (the last tier that MM was legitimately viable in a raid) hard casting aimed shot outside of haste buffs was controversial. In a heavy movement fight, you would NEVER hard cast a shot unless you had no choice (aka focus generation).
EDIT now that I'm on a computer and not doing this off the top of my head: I wouldn't consider Thrill of the Hunt's 15% chance to return base focus to be a "high chance" of returning focus, this is a poor selling point for SV to be superior.
If you are not geared enough to have a 1.6s focus shot cast time, MM isn't ineffective, it's LESS effective and your rotation is not optimal. I didn't have a perfect rotation at the beginning of cata when I was in 333 blues from heroics (which is the level OP's hunter is playing at according to her post) and OP doesn't seem to indicate the hunter in question is wearing T13, so you shouldn't rely on set bonuses as gospel when you do not know what the hunter's gear looks like.
Yes, disengage is the preferred method of movement for a hunter. This ability is not really better as any one spec, but if you were to argue that it was, MM would be the "best" spec for disengage, because of the Posthaste talent. Posthaste is extremely pro for kiting ads. I used it CONSTANTLY as MM when I was on add duty.
I played MM from about half way through Naxx until the beginning of T13, it's actually my preferred spec, so yeah, hard cast AS was a weird thing and not recommended on movement fights, but when you're talking about abilities that can be cast while moving, SV has more that don't depend on procs. It's also easier since you don't have to worry about ISS up time.
TotH's 15% isn't high, but if you're weaving in a ton of AS's (as you should be), it's up quite a bit. Even taking set bonuses out of context, SV was higher dps in 333 (and 346) blues. Technically, it was slightly higher than MM through T11, but they were close enough that it didn't matter too much, and MM had an AoE spec that beat SV (taking Entrapment, Bombardment and Rapid Killing, near infinite focus- AKA the Cho'Gall & Beth'Tilac spec). Of course, the only time when a spec like that would be useful in DS would be for Yor adds, and Immo/MultS works just fine for that.
Posthaste is nice, but it's also going to be available to all specs in 10 days (so most of this discussion becomes completely pointless when we consider that BM is the highest parsing spec on beta right now, and all hunter specs are in the bottom 5 over all, but there are constant updates. REALLY not looking forward to BM being the top spec. I cannot stand how it plays in PvE at all).
Anyway, if you don't have the 1.6 sec SS, you're going to be better off DPS wise as SV because you get the Hunting Party buff for an additional 10% haste which is excellent at all gear levels. The extra attack power from Trueshot Aura is nice, but it's overwritten by Blessing of Might, Aboms Might or a Shaman totem. The melee haste buff isn't as likely to be overwritten (provided only by a frost DK or enh shaman).
Back to the fight at hand - if the hunter looks at the ground and get far far away from the add spawn point as soon as it shows up they shouldn't need to do any of this at all. Proper placement will fix most of the issues they're having. Awareness FTW.
Point being: what spec does the best DPS is not the question OP had and your last paragraph is essentially identical to the advice I gave in my comment below.
Jump disengage is the winner for any kiting fights like this. Get out of the way fast then ArcS a few times (and SV has Thrill of the Hunt which gives a high chance to return focus when you use your abilities, MM only returns from MulitShot which is beyond pointless for this fight). IIRC those little adds can also be Conq Shot for an additional slow, but really they should die in two ArcS's.
The other problem with MM is that it REQUIRES you to keep up the ISS buff in order to be even remotely effective, you also have to make sure that you're at the appropriate haste break points (if SS isn't at 1.6 second cast time or lower, you need more haste). The T13 set bonuses also make MM ineffective because it doesn't scale nearly as well as either BM or SV (BM will be about 5k lower than SV, MM about 15k lower than SV).
Reply
EDIT now that I'm on a computer and not doing this off the top of my head:
I wouldn't consider Thrill of the Hunt's 15% chance to return base focus to be a "high chance" of returning focus, this is a poor selling point for SV to be superior.
If you are not geared enough to have a 1.6s focus shot cast time, MM isn't ineffective, it's LESS effective and your rotation is not optimal. I didn't have a perfect rotation at the beginning of cata when I was in 333 blues from heroics (which is the level OP's hunter is playing at according to her post) and OP doesn't seem to indicate the hunter in question is wearing T13, so you shouldn't rely on set bonuses as gospel when you do not know what the hunter's gear looks like.
Yes, disengage is the preferred method of movement for a hunter. This ability is not really better as any one spec, but if you were to argue that it was, MM would be the "best" spec for disengage, because of the Posthaste talent. Posthaste is extremely pro for kiting ads. I used it CONSTANTLY as MM when I was on add duty.
Reply
TotH's 15% isn't high, but if you're weaving in a ton of AS's (as you should be), it's up quite a bit. Even taking set bonuses out of context, SV was higher dps in 333 (and 346) blues. Technically, it was slightly higher than MM through T11, but they were close enough that it didn't matter too much, and MM had an AoE spec that beat SV (taking Entrapment, Bombardment and Rapid Killing, near infinite focus- AKA the Cho'Gall & Beth'Tilac spec). Of course, the only time when a spec like that would be useful in DS would be for Yor adds, and Immo/MultS works just fine for that.
Posthaste is nice, but it's also going to be available to all specs in 10 days (so most of this discussion becomes completely pointless when we consider that BM is the highest parsing spec on beta right now, and all hunter specs are in the bottom 5 over all, but there are constant updates. REALLY not looking forward to BM being the top spec. I cannot stand how it plays in PvE at all).
Anyway, if you don't have the 1.6 sec SS, you're going to be better off DPS wise as SV because you get the Hunting Party buff for an additional 10% haste which is excellent at all gear levels. The extra attack power from Trueshot Aura is nice, but it's overwritten by Blessing of Might, Aboms Might or a Shaman totem. The melee haste buff isn't as likely to be overwritten (provided only by a frost DK or enh shaman).
Back to the fight at hand - if the hunter looks at the ground and get far far away from the add spawn point as soon as it shows up they shouldn't need to do any of this at all. Proper placement will fix most of the issues they're having. Awareness FTW.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment