Mount Pet: Hunters as Main Tanks

Thesis
Hunters should have a main tanking ability.  Hunters should be able to queue as a tank and do it well.  Right now we obviously don't have the ability.  We can do extreme solo'ng and can tank content that we over-gear (e.g.- 5man heroics and lesser tier raids).  We could become tanks.  Here is how.

Mount Pet
Hunters have a non-magical ability which allows them to mount their pets.  MountPet() is both their new travel form and tanking form.  Mount pet has a two second cast time and a three minute cooldown.  Dismounting a pet only requires a global cooldown.

Tanking Abilities
While mounted, hunters lose their normal humanoid abilities, but generally gain improved versions of their pet's abilities.  The hunter and pet fight and operate as a single unit with a single health pool.  That health pool is the pet's, but if a pet dies then the hunter is stunned for five seconds.

Mounting a ferocity or cunning specialized pet is possible, but it is not a good idea to attempt tanking without a tenacity specialized pet.

All mounted pet abilities do more damage and are more effective while mounted than while unmounted.  However only tenacity abilities are improved beyond just numbers:

• Growl becomes a real taunt.
• Avoidance and Cower are proactive defensive cooldowns.
• Basic attacks generate extra [3x tank] threat.
• Charge (Tenacity) is on a shorter cooldown.
• Last Stand (Tenacity) is on a much shorter cooldown.
• Thunderstomp (Tenacity) does more damage and generates more threat.
• All Tenacity pets will have a new interrupt ability.  Pets with existing interrupt abilities (e.g.- the Special Ability, Pummel) will have two.
• Special abilities are slightly improved.
• Bonus abilities are slightly improved.
• Exotic abilities are slightly improved.
• Movement speed is greatly improved. 
• Pet health, armor, and dodge values are recalculated at a higher value than just the normal values inherited from the hunter.  Hunter gear and buffs do apply here, but don't double-dip.
• Additional abilities may be also available for flavor and variety.  Being able to summon a stampede of the same pet would be a useful cooldown.  Dire-beast might also be useful but have a suicidal taunt effect.

Tanking UI
Abilities on a cast bar are arranged once for tenacity pets, once for cunning pets, and once for ferocity pets.  If a mounted pet does not have an exotic ability or a bonus ability, then that button will be blank.

Items like potions and healthstones may be plausible.  But generally all hunter abilities are not usable.

Dismounting
When the hunter dismounts, the pet's stats, abilities, and most notably health are brought back to normal levels.  Dismounting only costs a global cooldown.  The new pet current health should be established as a percentage basis from it's while-mounted health percentage.  After dismounting, threat toward the pet is not immediately removed, but fades like normal threat fades.  As the pet is much weaker this can be detrimental.  If a hunter accidentally dismounts, they may also have a problem with the three minute cooldown on the Mount Pet ability -- and if that isn't an issue -- they may have a problem with the two second cast time of Mount Pet.

New Talents and New Glyphs
These would be far too speculative an area to discuss.  But suffice it to say these would be quite fun to dream up.  All new talents should be useful whether you're tanking or not -- but certainly more useful when you are.  Many new talents could enhance Survivability.  Many new talents could enhance Beastmastery.

New Specialization?
EDITED TO ADD: I wrote this yesterday in one sitting.  Thinking about it a bit more, the model Blizzard uses to determine roles is not one of choice and assignment.  It is based on Specialization.  So it would seem that hunters would need to have one specialization which is specifically oriented around tanking.  This would not be easy to just fold under BM.  I find the word "Huntard" horrid, but it makes me think that an entirely new Specialization would be more suitable than pushing all BM hunters into a tanking role.

Siegecrafter Blackfuse Conveyor Belt Work

[One of my guildmates swears in this video.]

TIPS: If you're assigned to the assembly line your overall damage will be low, but your assembly line damage better be good. Save DPS CDs for it. You'll end up being up there every other one. If you're having trouble, then you're either not blowing CDs and/or pots or you should have someone come up with you so you finish twice as quick. When on the assembly line hunters can DPS just as well as melee. If you jump then you briefly lose the force pushing you down the line. You can jump all the way back to the start if you want. Jumping into the Mario tube (or walking into the other one) to get off the conveyor belt isn't hard, but disengaging over to the main platform will save you time.

Kheldul on Episode 189 of the Hunting Party Podcast

I'm the big eye beholder guy.

Hunters are a Fun Class

Good stuff over at MMO Champion.  They looked at all level 85 characters and determined how many of them were leveled up to 90 during MoP.  They found that only 27.44% of Hunters made the effort.  In previous expansions numbers were similar but a little bit lower.  It appears that many people either stop playing or switch mains or don't bring all their ups up.

Interestingly, that 27.44% number is larger than during Cataclysm.  More interestingly, that 27.44% is larger than every other class in wow.  I suppose that's not entirely true though; Monks are infinitely more leveled than during Cataclysm...

in any case, this can be interpreted in a different ways.  I choose to think that it means that Hunters are easy to level, fun to play, and a desirable class.

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.

An Improved Aspect

This is just for fun.  Sorry no cleave aspect dreamcrafting.  Relax and enjoy.

Bringing the Hammer

It was a four day auction.  I generally consider myself not lucky.  So I fully expect I will get a Sha-Touched weapon to drop within the next week.  In my mind, the result wouldn't be that I'd have two great weapons;  I'd beat myself up for wasting a few months of gold.

Fuel, Farms, Fun, and the Bleak Future of Dungeons

I'm not exactly sure how Blizzard made cooking so fun.  I think it may be that they were completely okay with adding a crazy complex smorgasbord of stuff as long as the end products never unbalanced the game.  And it is crazy complex and lovely.  And I think we players have been have had some complexity removed from the game, so its refreshing to have something too difficult to explain in a couple sentences.

I think the best part of cooking is that it keys into the whole personal property thing with your own little personally improvable farm.  I really really do have to hope that this can lead to other property; Guild houses, player housing, etc.

I know housing would be the antithesis of getting players out into the world, but it would be a helluva fun.  The one thing I don't like about all these dailies is that they are essentially making a one-player game in a multi-player game.  Yes, they get people out in the field, but they don't get people working together.  So perhaps guild houses could have associated guild dailies.

I like running dungeons.  But running dungeons is not getting people out in the world.  It is slotting them into an instance.  Running dungeons feels like it may be coming to a close.  There are not enough incentives.  I personally want to get valor by completing heroics.  (And I could use a couple more i463 drops.)  But last night seems to be a foretelling.  We had no problems, no wipes, no issues.  But I went through three tanks in my LFD random just to kill the last two bosses in Scarlet Monastery and three tanks in the Brewery.  Their gear didn't drop or it did and they left.  Or they didn't want to possibly roll against someone else for gear so they demanded to be kicked even when we couldn't.  It was very tiring waiting around and knowing I don't have an insta-queue. I think after I'm done with gear there will be far far more efficient means of getting valor.  I suppose I'm also a little jealous about my inability to be a Primadona tank while playing my hunter.  (Though the way some of these guys tank I think my turtle would be fine if healers noticed pets.)

Knight Mail Transmog Set

On my hunter, I have a transmog set that looks like plate. Not so coincidentally, it happens to be my pet-tanking set.

The base components of this set are from the "Knight's" set:
Knight's Breastplate
Knight's Legguards
Knight's Boots
Knight's Gauntlets
Knight's Girdle

The true gems are from other sets however:
Champion's Helmet
Ornate Pauldrons (shown) though if you want a softer look, the Ancient Pauldrons are nice.
Gossamer Cape

Now come your accessories and trimline:
Ranged - Wolfslayer Sniper Rifle (shown) though Rifle of the Platinum Guard is a very close second.
Tabard - Stormpike Battle Tabard (shown)
Shirt - White Tuxedo Shirt (shown).  The shirt does show through in many places.
Bracer - Any bracer. Color can show as a short banded cuff above the gloves.

Need MOAR Hunter Music

Support Frostheim in getting us some more hunter music videos!

If you love these, and want to contribute to the cause, give a little love.  I did!

All Hunter Raid

Head on over to Arth's post at the WHU
http://www.warcrafthuntersunion.com/2012/06/hunters-conquer-bwd/

Cataclysm Raiding: Tired or Wired

Wednesday night we kicked off our raiding week.

I picked up "OS" off-spec gear.  I take it when nobody else needs it for their main spec or off-spec.  I got three pieces.  Heroic pieces.  I am upgrading 397 tier pet-tanking gear to heroic 410 pet-tanking gear.  /face-palm?

We raided and one-shot the first three bosses on heroic and then two-shot Hagara.  It was only our third kill of her.  We had previously done everything right except a for two things that seem like they shouldn't be an issue.  1) We didn't previously have the boss positioned on the edge facing away from everyone except the tank.  Ice lances used to shred us.  2) We used to have eight people chain the lightning (in four groups of two).  It is far, far, simpler to have two groups of two chain the whole thing, one working clockwise and one working counter-clockwise.  I'm always one of the four and enjoy when my group does one or two more than the other group.  Oh, and your pet can help or hurt chaining you.  I have a how-to I need to share for heroic Hagara.

After Hagara and Ultraxion, we realized we only had 45mins to try hitting heroic Blackhorn.  We also realized the other two raid nights had no tanks available.  So we all logged onto our alts and finished the instance in normal mode.

I have to say it was quite fun and enjoyable.  But I'm not sure if I'm tired or wired.

Tame Beast

Tame Beast is how hunter get new pets.  The channel time is ten seconds.  This is the challenging part and it's what makes some pets challenging to acquire.

In theory it could be used as a [bad] form of CC.  Yes, let me state that again with more specifics.  Before a pull a hunter could not have an active pet out and could have a spare stable slot.  If one of the mobs was a beast, she could in theory tame it and use it like a normal pet.  The issue of course is that Tame Beast doesn't work like CC.  The start of the very long channel initiates combat.  That channel is broken from any damage.  It is also broken if the pet focuses its attacks on someone else.

So in theory, a hunter could start a tame, lead it to a trap and then once tamed, use it to finish off the other mobs. (Or immediately dismiss it.)  The problem is that this theoretical and not

Let's pause for a moment and think about heroes from movies who were "hunters" or "beast masters".  They could soothe pets to sleep.  They could exert mental control over beasts and get them to do things.  They didn't simply tame one and "train" it or "tame" it and keep it forever.

Priests can Mind Control humanoids.  Druids can Hibernate Beasts and Dragonkin.

Hunters need a Control Beast ability.  What should it look like?

Porting Around Azeroth Without A Mage

Before the beginning of Cataclysm, I knew there would be a lot of moving around across the globe. I didn't realize portals would be in Stormwind (or the Horde's Orgrimmar) such that people would just move in there.  Because I was dumb, and not a mage, I started acquiring a few items. I've added a few but they all seem to come in handy for various activities. Here's my list.

[Direbrew's Remote] - Need a quick pitstop? Need to smelt some dark iron?  Want an ugly hearth between Ironforge and Stormwind?  It's better than a boat or zeppelin. Just don't be a jerk and use it a BG and ask people to click it for a present.

[Baradin's Wardens Tabard] - This is a wonderful secondary hearth.  Land in the quest hub and click on the portal to Stormwind.  Or you could actually do your dailies if you're going for a mount or pet.

[Wrap of Unity] - Another wonderful secondary hearth that level 15 Cataclysm guilds can provide. There are Horde and greater / lesser versions.

[Band of the Kirin Tor] - How often do you need to get to Northrend?  Or Dalaran?  No?  What about going to Dalaran and taking the portal to the Keepers of Time and Dragon Soul instance?  This thing used to be considered expensive.  Now a few thousand gold is pocket change.  There are other styles and upgrades, but there's really no point to them other than the hearth.

[Blessed Medallion of Karabor] - Need to get to Outlands and not near a portal to The Portal?  This will get you there nicely.  And if you're doing dailies for your drake mounts you'll crave this item.

[Argent Crusader's Tabard] - Would you like another Northrend port?  How about to that dailies hub that has all those mounts and pets?  For DPS waiting in a queue, this is a nice immediate activity.

[Hearthstone] - The list wouldn't be complete without this handy item, right?  Level eight guilds augment it with[Hasty Hearth]. A long time ago, I accidentally dropped mine.  I was quite relieved to learn I just needed to talk with an innkeeper for a new one.

[Stormpike Insignia Rank 6] - If you're a BG'er, this can have its uses; This is especially true if you're going for achievements.

And there's simply hoofing it.  But hunters should do it in style: [Master Riding], [Mount Up] and a [Blue Dragonhawk] (ss).

If I was an engineer, I'd have a generator or two, but alas I'm stuck in my ways and not going engineering.  I'm also not interested in expensive consumable hearths to Deepholm since I'm not an alchemist.

And if you're in a group, you should show that you're extremely fast and a gentleman to the lesser classes by tossing a [Have Group, Will Travel] summon.

Two trinkets, improved steady shot, and a rapid fire equal +153% haste.

Two trinkets, improved steady shot, and a rapid fire equal +153% haste.

I was trying to clock the individual steps of haste to see if is all multiplicative, but it was pretty late. I saw numbers go from 20% to 47% to 69% to 153%. Then I tried to reproduce it and write down the haste ratings and couldn't for over half an hour. So all this is ... is eye-candy.

I had just made the NeedToKnow addon bars I was making for the trinket procs. I don't think I can monkey around with the proc of the Matrix Restabilizer to get it to do crit (via extreme reforging) because my Hungerer trinket proc will overwhelm it. They both certainly proc easy enough at the start of a fight.

Anyway, this is probably okay since I made the bars to alert me to focus down and throw Aimed Shot after Aimed Shot after Aimed Shot...

The Hunter Transmog Gear List - Take Two

When you're working on a transmogrification set, please remember that different items often have exactly the same models.  e.g.- These days, you can have a full set that looks like T12 but doesn't have any tier gear at all.  Also keep in mind that some gear is no longer possible to obtain.  That said, some of that impossible to obtain gear (think that old super-difficult to get-at-the-time "Dungeon Set 1") is coming back in patch 4.3 as obtainable as "Replica" armor.  That's armor which is specifically for being used for transmog'ng and has no stats.  I think there's also a level requirement.

Wowhead had a great little webservices API and Javascript library. It keeps breaking, so I put together a little jQuery work-around. Mouse over the gear for a pop-up. Still grats to wowhead.com even with the broken javascript library. Here's a round-up of Hunter gear.  Click through to go to Wowhead and see the individual pieces and where they drop.

Rare and Epic Hunter Armor Sets
Chain of the Scarlet Crusade
Bloodmail Regalia
The Gladiator
Black Dragon Mail
Beaststalker Armor
Beaststalker Armor (Recolor)
Champion's Pursuance
Beastmaster Armor
Giantstalker Armor
Dragonstalker Armor
Cryptstalker Armor
Field Marshal's Pursuit
Lieutenant Commander's Pursuance
Striker's Garb
Warlord's Pursuit
Blessed Garb of the Undead Slayer
Brutal Gladiator's Pursuit
Cataclysm Raiment (Recolor)
Demon Stalker Armor
Demon Stalker Armor (Recolor)
Desolation Battlegear
Dragonstalker Armor (Recolor)
Giantstalker Armor (Recolor)
Gladiator's Pursuit
Grand Marshal's Pursuit
Gronnstalker's Armor
Gronnstalker's Armor (Recolor)
High Warlord's Pursuit
Inferno Forged Mail
Merciless Gladiator's Pursuit
Mistshroud Set
Rift Stalker Armor
Rift Stalker Armor (Recolor)
Rift Stalker Armor (Recolor)
Stalker's Chain Battlegear
Sunwell Hunter Armor
Sunwell Hunter Armor (Recolor)
Vengeful Gladiator's Pursuit
Swiftarrow Battlegear
Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear
Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Conqueror's Scourgestalker Battlegear
Deadly Gladiator's Pursuit
Frostsworn Bone Mail
Frostsworn Bone Mail (Recolor)
Furious Gladiator's Pursuit
Hateful Gladiator's Pursuit
Heroes' Cryptstalker Battlegear
Northrend Frozen Mail
Northrend Frozen Mail (Recolor)
Northrend Frozen Mail (Recolor)
Northrend Frozen Mail (Recolor)
Relentless Gladiator's Pursuit
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Sanctified Ahn'Kahar Blood Hunter's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Savage Gladiator's Pursuit
Scourgestalker Battlegear (Recolor)
Scourgestalker Battlegear (Recolor)
Thrall's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Valorous Cryptstalker Battlegear
Valorous Scourgestalker Battlegear
Windrunner's Battlegear
Windrunner's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Windrunner's Pursuit
Windrunner's Pursuit (Lookalike)
Wrathful Gladiator's Pursuit
Amani Chain
Bloodthirsty Dragonscale
Flamewaker's Battlegear
Flamewaker's Battlegear
Flamewaker's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Flamewaker's Battlegear (Lookalike)
Lightning-Charged Battlegear
Lightning-Charged Battlegear
Lightning-Charged Battlegear (Lookalike)
Lightning-Charged Battlegear (Lookalike)
Ruthless Gladiator's Pursuit
Ruthless Gladiator's Pursuit
Vicious Gladiator's Pursuit
Vicious Gladiator's Pursuit
Vicious Gladiator's Pursuit


Uncommon Mail Sets

Charger's Mail Warrior's Mail Battle Chain Mail Infantry Mail Cadet Mail Veteran Mail War Torn Mail Brackwater Mail Soldier's Mail Runed Copper Set Bloodspattered Mail Raider's Mail Burnished Mail Rough Bronze Set War Paint Mail Defender Mail Outrunner's Mail Fortified Mail Grunt's Mail Lambent Scale Mail Hulking Mail Battleforge Mail Spiked Chain Mail Glimmering Mail Sentry's Mail Silvered Bronze Set Banded Mail Slayer's Mail Wicked Chain Mail Phalanx Mail Combat Mail Green Iron Set Thick Scale Mail Barbariac Iron Set Pillager's Mail Renegade Mail Emissary's Mail Enduring Mail Knight's Mail Orcascale Mail Marauder's Mail Patient Mail Chief Brigadier Mail Golden Scale Set Sparkleshell Mail Jazeraint Mail Steadfast Mail Captain's Mail Ravager's Mail Brigade Mail Ancient Mail Blackforge Mail Bonelink Mail Turtle Scale Set Champion's Mail Counterfeit Mail Khan's Mail Sweet-Tempered Mail Tough Scorpid Set Warmonger's Mail Gryphon Mail Myrmidon's Mail Angor Mail Formidable Mail

Workforce Mail Lord's Mail Protector Mail Crusader's Mail Ebonhold Mail Ironhide Mail Merciless Mail Ornate Mail Bear Oiled Chainmail Bloodlust Mail Fifth Hunter Mail Engraved Mail Heavy Scorpid Set Impenetrable Mail Radiant Set Hero's Mail Magnificent Mail Unyielding Mail Felstone Mail Mercurial Mail Netherstalker Mail Warstrike Mail Masterwork Mail Nexus-Strider Mail Triumphant Mail Wrathfin Mail Fenclaw Mail Fel Iron Chain Marshcreeper Mail Blood Knight Mail Ironspine Mail Der'izu Mail Scaled Draenic Armor Garmaul Mail Skettis Mail Warcaster's Scaled Links Njord Mail Sundered Mail Skorm Mail Talhide Mail Netherstorm Mail Orca Mail Amberpine Mail Trapper Mail Shoveltusk Mail Mammoth Mail Frostscale Binding Nerubian Hive Wolvar Mail Cormorant Mail Ulduar Mail Spiderlord Mail Bramblescar Mail Spectral Mail Hiri'watha Mail Everstill Regalia Highperch Mail Razorshell Mail The Big Wave Thornsnarl Mail Tsunami Mail Windbound Mail Talondeep Mail Frayfeather Mail

More Transmog Gear Help

The AH
So, the above sets are nice.  And sets can be nice.  But really sometimes you can substitute out one piece for a solo, non-set piece and it looks almost the same.  Or maybe you just like them better.  For instance, I kinda like the Spored Tendrils Spaulders.  It's a family of shoulders that are available in many ways.  But they don't belong to any set.  I found them super-cheap on the AH.  The AH has a great little checkbox that lets you see the item as it would look equipped.  Try it out.

Vendors
There are a surprising number of vendors out there.  When I was putting together my sets, I hit up vendors all over the place.  Some require raid drop tokens.  Some honor.  Some justice points.  I traveled to the Isle of Quel'Danas for old PvP tier and non-tier gear, to Shattrath for a cloak, and hit the legacy PvP vendors in Stormwind (I'm a dwaft dammit.)  But this is a tiny subset of the vendors still hanging out waiting to serve you.  Note: if you want to do some Honor or Justice sales and you regularly hit the 4k cap, you definitely should make your purchases before the end of the season when Valor and Conquest fall into Justice and Honor and prices reset.

Boots and Bracers
There are a very small number of boot differences out there.  If you're looking for a wild color, you may not get it if it isn't already "in a set".  Otherwise, you most likely have something that matches already.  Bracers will often not even be a factor in display.

Belts
The AH approach works especially well with belts.  Belts tend to have a lot of transparency in them so the armor itself will dominate them.  This isn't always the case, but browsing belts is an easy thing.

Cloaks
I haven't found the best source for a cloak transmog service.  But this one is close.  It still takes a lot of work. Most good cloaks are not available from the AH.  You'll need to farm or buy them for small amounts of points.

Weapons
Last but definitely not least are our weapons.  I don't think we really need to talk too much about style options here.  If you've been playing your hunter for a while, you have developed a friendship with your favorite stat sticks and ranged weapons.  If you have trouble remembering some of the guns available, you can look back on my Ole' Gun Rack Post.

Loot Reaver Loot Fail

I'm looking for the Merciless Gladiator's Chain Spaulders for one of my transmorgrify sets. Every hunter should solo Loot Reaver once. The nice thing is that it's easy. ;-)  Click any image for a slide show.

Very simple fight.  I was already in T5x2
so I didn't even need to use mend pet or pull him out for stomps.

The mortars he throws are of course "old school"
and don't have those ground target sign effects.
But with the MM self-heal you don't really
even need to move around unless you want to dance a little.

The trash is more difficult than the boss. 

This raid is configured for 25man only, so you get
three T5 tier tokens. Of course no hunter tokens.
So, I guess I'll come back next week.
As a consolation gift you get 250g cash too.

An Agility Gun? From the 4.3 Five Mans?

I know they will probably change it into a crossbow.  I know they will probably have it sound like a bow.  I know it will be replaced by the first raid drop bow.  But it's a gun.  And I'm a Dwarf Hunter.

The Dragonsmaw Blaster.

Pet Tanking Ideas

Eidotrope over at outdps.com suggests a number of ways to make hunter pet tanking a viable tanking option.  I do truly like the notion of pet tanking.  I have a mostly 378 item level pet tanking set gemmed and enchanted for mostly stamina for raid tanking.  But pet tanking is in a sad state.

One of my main concerns is that one tree would become a tanking tree.  This seems like a wrong move.  It would inevitably be the beast master tree, and I don't think that is a perfect match.

I would more envision it as another hunter aspect that works along the line of other class stances -- and with a redesigned Tenacity tree.  e.g.-

Aspect of the Beast (redesigned) is a hunter aspect that can be used with a tenacity pet.  When activated, it switches your bars, and has the character "ride" the pet.  All tenacity pet abilities are still possible through direct control.  In this aspect, the hunter is completely focused on controlling the pet and  takes no direct actions.  Because the hunter is not firing his weapon they are able to much more actively handle their pet; They help the pet cause more damage and threat with a better understanding of their opponent's weaknesses and they help the pet avoid a substantial amount of damage similar to druids.

Some pet abilities that are currently from pet talents would need to become baseline pet abilities.  Other abilities would need to be strengthened for proper tanking and boss tanking.

Which Transmorgrification Will You Use?

I'm fairly stupidly excited over the transmorgrification news.  I was just looking over some of the gear I have kept and was considering throwing out stuff.  Now I'm wondering what I did throw out over the years and will miss.  What I know I do have is a very full gun rack.  Now I can pick things just based on their model.  But which?  My gun rack has increased a bit since two years ago.