Hunter Leveling

[Deleted]

I bet you will be respeccing into BM rather sooner than later.
If not I will be eating my own shorts.

[Samin]

I bet you will be respeccing into BM rather sooner than later.
If not I will be eating my own shorts.

Actually more and more people realize that the days of frost mages and bm hunters for levelling are over. I see more and more MM hunters and fire/arcane mages levelling. Maybe they only do this because of the large potential of these spec in end game, but currently the same is true for levelling. It's just more convenient killing mobs fast and straight forward instead of painful slowly but safe.
You sometimes have to rethink. I think currently, with heirloom gear, balance is the best levelling spec after level 20 (because of starfire), while most people still stay with feral, like they always did. With cata many things will change again, especially high health and damage output of 80+ zones will make us have to rethink again. Different specs will be superior to others. And specs that are efficient today are maybe not viable for levelling at all in cataclysm. But what I'm trying to say is, that if you try something different you may be positively surprised.

[Deleted]

From my exp. when u spec BM, your pet isnt able to tank at all. After a few arrows/bullets the enemy is on you.
So i always leveled as MM. Mobs die fast, just take a pet then can charge (i always played with a boar, but that was the only pet with charge back then)

For me, MM is best for leveling.
Yes BM has its advantages, such as being able to let your pet tank elite mobs/quests/groups (yes he can tank, but then u need to let him get big aggro first + heal him like mad)
But imo thats about it. If you know how to play and kite, MM is the way to go imo.

then you obviously have no exp at playin BM.

BM is the way to go if you wanna level up fast: you almost got no down time and you can also solo 3+ grp quests

also when you get to lvl 60 as MM, if you wanna use Chimera shot you gonna be oom after 4 or 5 mobs

[Alianthos]

I agree with Samin. Basically I didnt used any guide for my lvling hunter (36 atm), I knew BM was safer, but after a couple try I quickly figured out that MM will be the shit. Seriously, Aimed Shot / Sting / Arcane shot -> BAM dead. I consider myself a pretty capable player on my tank warrior (full keybind, lots of macro using, no backpedal / keyboard turn, good knowledge of the game and classes), so I just choosed the highest dps threat, and it is TONS of fun as MM. Explode this mob, daze him if you gain aggro, pull another one into your ice trap, then daze it, pull a third one, play with your stances (how is it called for hunters ? xD), disengage, FD, preparation, start again. no down time at all, that's sooooo awesome.

Reaaaaaally funny class to play, i dont understand why people say hunter is faceroll. At lvl 36 i found it ten times more intersting than lvl 80 fury warrior... though it may just be the "refreshing new class" aspect ˆˆ

[Samin]

then you obviously have no exp at playin BM.

Or you have no idea how to play MM correctly if you think BM is fast.

also when you get to lvl 60 as MM, if you wanna use Chimera shot you gonna be oom after 4 or 5 mobs

Yes, then you viper+steady one mob (and still crit for crit for 1000) and be at full mana again. L2MM I guess.

[Popmybubble]

Use MM and get a tank pet (ie gorilla)to help keep mobs on them. Also make sure your pet has growl on all the time except for when you run a dungeon. BM would give you less down time but MM gives you bigger crits and you can usually kill people alot faster as MM. Also never stop to drink, just use your aspects to keep things going. Also SV only passes MM for dps once you hit higher levels. I found that SV outweighed other specs once I got a few epics at level 80.

[Nielah]

Beastmastery is divine for low levels, especially once you get deeper into the tree.
You hardly need to drink and you can constantly spamheal/dispel your pet.

[Pyrophobia]

Hunters always have had agro problems. And you are better of leveling with them than without them. This way when you hit 80 or 85 you will not be surprised when you take agro from your pet due to your gear. And most importantly you will know what to do in different situations.

As MM you will learn to kite. And Kiting is your MOST important pvp skill as a hunter.

In addition you are best off leveling in the Dungeon system. Aka forget about the soloing quests and stuff.
Also most of the hard quests that BM could solo are now solo able by most of the classes just with some burst. Those that are not are usually part of a long chain end quest. And the current design of those is time consuming and non rewarding at all.

[Samin]

Use MM and get a tank pet (ie gorilla)to help keep mobs on them.

Because all pets are normalized and have an (almost?) equal amount of stamina/armor/damage, a dps pet with a good damaging move on cooldown (=threat) is also a good choice.

Beastmastery is divine for low levels, especially once you get deeper into the tree.
You hardly need to drink and you can constantly spamheal/dispel your pet.

Yes of course you never get oom, because you can't do anything besides steady shot. But that is not fast. That is the same problem as with frost mages. The time you save drinking/eating doesn't make up the time you need more to kill the mobs. And without epic gear at 80 your pet just never does that much damage. At least it didn't at 71 for me in BM spec. Also with heirloom gear, I still pulled aggro even as BM (I specced full pet damage and some survivability)

[Deleted]

Currently I'd say BM is the way to go, thats what i did anyway. However in cata beta i have levelled to 62 so far as an MM hunter with little difficulty, only really get aggro off your pet if you crit alot and the pet is lower level than you or the mob. The change from mana to focus has made MM more attractive when leveling now.

[Kidoeng7]

IT IS COMPLETELY RELIANT ON YOU AND YOUR PLAY STYLE!!!

I cant stress that enough.

Typically in these threads it comes down to a 50/50 split on BM/MM

BM you basically send in your pet and watch it kill shit, keep it alive and maybe throw and arrow out here or there.

The nice thing about BM is if you pick up an extra 2 or 3 mobs, you'll survive and you wont be running away trying to kite things to death.

The thing with BM is people will argue over what pet to use which, again, comes down to preference. I like using Ferocity pets, and other people will swear by tenacity.

Id say the difference there is Tenacity can handle another one or two mobs where Ferocity will help you kill shit faster. But Im not 100% positive on that.

As for MM, When I've played MM (and I have leveled 3 hunters to max level so I have a moderate amount of experience) while leveling, I've found you kill ~5 seconds quicker for 1 mob, but you spend a lot of time running around kiting mobs and you have to keep your mana up, so you're drinking more often than you would be with BM.

But ultimately, I promise, it comes down to play style.

If you want a more interactive experience doing shit, constantly running around, blasting down mobs then go MM.

If you want minimal downtime, the ability to handle a pack of mobs and the ability to play without thinking, go BM.

Wow this guy gave u the best explanation ever. great job btw.
Personally i went BM feels more like hunter to me than MM. Anyway after i got the exotic pet talent it becomes more nice and eve more if u get the spirit beast and leveling with it (always if u like it like me)

[hellar]

BM. it easily pulls the most dps if played right while lvling. i am pushing close to 1.6k at 73 on a single mob. whole MM and SV pushes 1.2k. and your pet always holds agro

[ceelion]

Because all pets are normalized and have an (almost?) equal amount of stamina/armor/damage, a dps pet with a good damaging move on cooldown (=threat) is also a good choice.

Look at the tenacity pet tree; This is where the differences lie....
Growl creates more threat, your pets gets a taunt, Intervene and Thunderstomp. Thats means as BM your pet has Growl, Taunt, Intimidate, Thunderstomp and Intervene, basicaly becomes a mini-warrior. I use a bear to tank, it comes with a cleave ^^ so more AoE for a group, some threat damage and finishes the mini-warrior theme XD

BM has Intimidation, that skill alone makes it my choice for leveling spec. A stun and taunt? Yes please ^^

[Samin]

Look at the tenacity pet tree; This is where the differences lie....
Growl creates more threat, your pets gets a taunt, Intervene and Thunderstomp. Thats means as BM your pet has Growl, Taunt, Intimidate, Thunderstomp and Intervene, basicaly becomes a mini-warrior. I use a bear to tank, it comes with a cleave ^^ so more AoE for a group, some threat damage and finishes the mini-warrior theme XD

BM has Intimidation, that skill alone makes it my choice for leveling spec. A stun and taunt? Yes please ^^

1. Fixed threat 2. On a 1 minute cooldown. Rather use MD on cooldown.
You can have the tank abilities of tenecity pets as MM too if you like. Growl and all those moves always generate a fixed static amount of threat
Still if you want to go BM-AoE you should of course use a bear or gorilla because of all those talents. Imo it's still less efficient than MM.
Big minus for BM is that your pet is just stupid. Really. It's brain dead.
Yes I hate pets. I would rather level an archer. But that is mostly because of how wow pets work. They're more of a burden than a help while levelling. Especially as BM when you rely on them entirely.

[ceelion]

Fixed Threat you say?

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53179

Could you please read back the first thing this pet talent says. 1min isn't a long CD to wait for what is essentialy the Bm hunter "OH SH!T" button.

[Samin]

Fixed Threat you say?

http://www.wowhead.com/spell=53179

Could you please read back the first thing this pet talent says. 1min isn't a long CD to wait for what is essentialy the Bm hunter "OH SH!T" button.

It' still fixed in the meaning of not scaling with anything (I don't count happiness as 'scaling' because we just assume that is always at max). I'm not saying it's worthless, it just isn't "omfg solves all my problems!"

[Wardley]

At least it didn't at 71 for me in BM spec. Also with heirloom gear, I still pulled aggro even as BM (I specced full pet damage and some survivability)

Then you're doing something wrong. In full ICC25/HC ICC 10 gear I can, for example, solo the Threat for Above quest with the elite frost wyrm and his friends without pulling threat off my pet when I'm BM spec'd.

You checked that you've actually got 'growl' enabled yeah?

[Firebyrd]

1. Fixed threat 2. On a 1 minute cooldown. Rather use MD on cooldown.
You can have the tank abilities of tenecity pets as MM too if you like. Growl and all those moves always generate a fixed static amount of threat
Still if you want to go BM-AoE you should of course use a bear or gorilla because of all those talents. Imo it's still less efficient than MM.
Big minus for BM is that your pet is just stupid. Really. It's brain dead.
Yes I hate pets. I would rather level an archer. But that is mostly because of how wow pets work. They're more of a burden than a help while levelling. Especially as BM when you rely on them entirely.

Dude, you don't get MD until level 70. It's really not helpful telling people who are leveling to just use MD, because for most of leveling, they don't have it.

[Gerbacio]

i just hit 75 yesterday been leveling a hunter with heirloom gear


im gonna be a 100% honest...every spec is doable

but effitenly is BM till atleast 70...its boring and retardedly mind numbing...like i HATE BM...

but with MM and Survival you will take a shitload of time kiting since your pet wont hold agrro for dick...MM became useful for me and survival after i could kill a mob before it got to me ...send pet UNLOAD ...KILLSHOT next

STILL....wasnt as efficient as having my pet tank 4 mobs at the same time while i killed them...is more boring but also more efficient

Try em all really see what suits your style!