Brawler's Guild Talk and Tips

The Brawler's Guild is quite fun and an adrenaline rush.

The fights start off comically easy.  If you've got enough skill or gear you can plow through them.

Then they start getting abilities similar to rares.  The only difference is that there is a general enrage timer (the fire storm you may have seen).  So there's a DPS requirement.

Then they start getting special abilities that aren't at all obvious.  You will die learning the fights or you can hit up wowhead.com for a little rundown on their abilities.  The comments are generally good around what the boss will do.  That said, don't bother with what other classes are doing. Hunters are different!

I'm only rank six at this point.  I only play doing this for a level or two at a time.  I got an invite from a guild friend.  When I get rank seven I'll pass one out to another guild friend.

I've stayed BM for all the fights so far.  One of my biggest challenges has been that my pet will keep aggro even with a dps pet (without growl) and cower-clicking.  Combine that with a situation where my pet bar sometimes disappears and I can't even macro-cast phoenix on my pet.  Quite irritating especially when my opponent is down to 25% health.  A few restarts and deep breaths and we're good.

So first some general tips:

• Join a buff group.  There's usually a raid available and you'll get healthstones and raid buffs.  Drop a feast and you're a champ.
• Be supportive of the others and you'll get their support instead of cat-calls. ;-)
• It's an adrenaline rush and pretty stressful.
• You need to concentrate even more than if you're raiding -- if you want to win.  There's no slack time.
• Use all the tools in your toolbox.
• Flask up on the tougher fights.
• You can pre-pot.  I don't have a timer, but I click it after quickly dropping one or two traps and it usually doesn't count toward the fight.  Make sure to use the cheap Brawler-only potions!  

Now some hunter tips:

• Some bosses will be easy for hunters and hard for others.  The opposite is also true.  Learn and adapt.
• Always drop traps before the opponent comes out.
• Spirit mend is great.  Spirit mend on yourself during a Stampede is [Great]x5.
• Some bosses are good for pet-tanking and make it trivial.
• Some bosses and even some AoE will destroy your pet.
• Always wait for your Stampede and Rapid Fire CDs to be ready before battling.
• There's no excuse for not moving and both kiting and dps'ng.
• Feign death and a dismissed/dead pet will pop you out of the brawl.
• Bind a Brawler agility potion quaff into your best DPS CD macros (e.g.- Rapid Fire). 
• On the harder fights, review your Talents each go around.   Would Binding Shot be extra nice over just a slow trap?  What about Wyvern Sting and an ice trap?  Or is the interrupt required?
• I've come to really like Spirit Bond for brawls.  Iron Hawk is good for when you have a real healer.  That said, I'm also liking Animal Bond for my pet and the Spirit Mends he gives me.
• Consider all the other Hunter Talents available and how they can be used on different bosses.
• Review the list of Glyphs as well.  For instance, if you're going to have a pet tank something impressive, then the Glyph of Mending is a very good choice.
• Consider all the pets you can bring and all their abilities.  It isn't a short list.  Use your tools!

That's all for now.

PS:  I suspect that if you are queued, grouped, and throwing some rotten fruit, then you can get pulled into someone else's brawl.  There might be a requirement that the group is cross-realm via a CRZ.  That sounds good and OP, but your boss will also show up!  I captured one on video and will post it when I get a chance.  It happened to me three times in a row.  It is quit e annoying because while I tried to just help the person who already had been battling for a minute, my brawl competitor annihilated both of us.