[Which Pet?] Part 1: Which Pet does the most DPS?

Welcome to Which Pet? a series of undetermined length and quality, released at sporadic intervals, concerning the Hunter pets of patch 3.x.

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Which pet does the most dps? I wasn't sure so I compared a few different pets and their dps output. Here's some results and notes about my method.
Being too lazy to actually get stuff to 70 (I actually leveled a Boar from 48 to 70 in 2.3, almost exclusively in Nagrand, which took aaaaaages), I tamed a bunch of 65 pets and let them loose on a level 60 training dummy. So these numbers aren't representative of anything you should expect, but are solely to compare different pet families.
My current spec is 51/10/0.
Each pet was completely unbuffed (no Hunter's Mark even) except for the 25% Happiness bonus, and was allowed to hit the dummy for a few minutes (long enough to get over 50k damage).
Each pet used only it's focus dump, plus it's special skill (prioritising the special), and in the case of Cunning pets, Wolverine Bite (although I don't think the dummies dodged much). So none of the specials like Rabid etc were used.
The Cunning pets were spec'd thus: link.
The Ferocity pets were spec'd thus: link.
The Tenacity pets were spec'd thus: link (admittedly less than ideal).

Results (rounded to 2 s.f.):
Cunning:
Silithid (X) (65): 270 (62.5% melee, 27.5% FD, 10% Venom Web Spray DoT)
Dragonhawk (65): 290 (66% melee, 22% FD, 8% Fire Breath DoT, 5% Fire Breath DoT)

Ferocity:
Core Hound (X) (66): 300 (70% melee, 21% FD, 9% Lava Breath)
Devilsaur (X) (65): 350 (70% melee, 22% FD, 8% Monstrous Bite)
Wasp (65): 300 (70% melee, 17% FD, 10% Sting)
Cat (65): 320 (67% melee, 20% FD, 7% Rake DoT, 6% Rake) - NB with Longevity, the DoT gets overwritten with 2 seconds left, reducing DPF (damage per focus)
Beathooven in Catform (70): 750 (35% Melee, 25% Mangle, 23% Rip DoT, 14% Rake DoT) - NB: This pet cannot currently be tamed, presumably NWAI (not working as intended). Besides 750 dps on a level 60 target is quite pathetic, since I can probably do twice that as a Moonkin (but Moonkin aren't beasts).

Tenacity:
Gorilla (69): 340 (58% melee, 25% Thunderstomp, 12% FD) - NB: Thunderstomp was only used on one target

So what pet does the best DPS?
The clear winner is the Devilsaur, the 9% increase from Monstrous Bite is just nuts.
Of note is the fact that the Wasp's Sting has an armour debuff component, which will increase hunter dps by quite a bit as well.
The Gorilla's Thunderstomp will quickly become top of the table with 1 extra target, and will go insane with 5-6. Also Gorillas are a lot more awesome than some shrunken anachronism from a giant outdoor Science Fair experiment.
For those that aren't 51+/x/x who want a high-dps pet, Cats will probably be the best choice, and are the most popular pet in the game.
Other pets can be tested if requested, and may synergise better with the Hunter. These are just the five I had on me, plus a couple running around Eversong Woods (testing done in Silvermoon City).

NB: this was a pretty unscientific test, and the results should be considered as a relative comparison only.

So Big (it doesn't fit on the screen)! (It shrunk loooads when tamed :( )

[Hunter] I want more stable slots

So, I journeyed into the land of trolls. I figured since I am a troll, I might be able to survive. I did, and made it back here, but I left small parts of my soul and sanity behind. Seriously, the new 'Damage Dealing' forum is insanely busy, and full of annoying people. It takes between 10 and 30 minutes for a post to disappear off the first page. Anyway, I digress.

I made the following post:
I, and pretty much every hunter out there, want more stable slots.
Pets that come to mind that I might want at 80:
1: A Worm, for any 10 man without a warrior (presumable won't happen in 25 mans)
2: A Wolf, for any raid without an AP buff (again probably 10 man)
3: A Gorilla, for AOE grinding, and tanking stuff
4: A Rhino, fo'shizzle
5: A Devilsaur, for raid dps as a 51pt BM
6: A Spirit Beast
7: A Spider or some-such, for non-Beast Mastery, non-drain PvP
8: A Scorpid, for drain PvP (yes I know dispels will now remove the whole stack, but it's still a 50% chance of masking your Viper Sting as dispels currently stand)
9: A Core Hound. White.
10: A cat or something for raid DPS, when I'm not a Devilsaur-taming spec
11: My Elder Mottled Boar, because Hunters are a sentimental bunch

Just looking at raid (10-man) min/maxing I'd foreseeably need to choose between Worm, Wolf, Devilsaur and something else. And for arena if on a given night there's a lot of casters around, a Core Hound might be nice, or an Owl/Silithid/Spider/Chimaera if it's melee-heavy. Sure I could go tame something new, but it'd involve considerable inconvenience in obtaining and possibly leveling a new pet.

Adding more stable slots would not particularly imbalance the game in any way, since it doesn't directly affect Hunter performance. It would act as a gold sink. And it'd make people happy (well, happier, we'll always find stuff to QQ about)

Self explanatory really.
Charge me 200 gold per slot, and I'll buy another 5.
Charge me 1000 gold per slot and I'll still try to buy at least 1 or 2 more.

And on the plus side, I found the ignore button in the forums. Now I just wish there was an "ignore level 1 alt" button.

[Guide] Getting Your White Core Hound

White Core Hound? Want it? YES YOU DO!

BigRedKitty calls it the "Puppy Dog of Doom". I call it the only Core Hound that actually looks like a beast (the others look like some sort of demon, and we're definitely not warlocks).

Ok, so a couple of questions have been asked as to how you get it. So here's a guide.

Briefing:
Your target: The Kurken, a level 12 Core Hound on Azuremyst Isle. Wowhead. Petopia. NOTE: It's an EXOTIC pet, so you'll need the 51 pt BM talent (Beast Mastery)to tame it.
Here's a map:

Azuremyst Isle: Now Even More Exotic!

Details: the target lives in a cave (Stillpine Hold) with some deranged Owlkin. It's the object of a quest, so be nice to any level 10-12 draenei running around.Now if you're Alliance, that's all you need to know. Go get it, or go find a real challenge.

If you're Horde things get a bit more tricky.
Firstly, Azuremyst Isle is hostile territory. And there's no direct transport.

On the plus side, you need to be at least 60 to tame the thing in the first place, so at least you won't have a hard time getting there, it will just take a while.

Before you go: STABLE YOUR CURRENT PET, or prepare to abandon it.

How to get there (Horde):
The route is Ashenvale -> Darkshore -> Azuremyst Isle.
More specifically, you need to get to Darkshore, and then head to the Auberdine Docks (it's an Alliance town, and not a problem for a 60+).

Darkshore: Alliance territory

The best way to get to Darkshore is to fly to Zoram'Gar in Ashenvale (from Orgrimar), head a bit east to the road and take it north (the road on the western side of Ashenvale, not the one to Felwood), Splintertree Post also works.

Ashenvale, Horde Flight Paths shown with a *

If you don't have the Zoram'Gar FP or Splintertree Post, head north from the Barrens through the Mor'Shan Rampart and into Ashenvale. And pick up the FP while you're at it. If you don't know where the Barrens are, look up Chuck Norris, or go roll Alliance (although if you don't know where the Barrens are, you won't get the Chuck Norris reference either).

For the Horde: Showing Route from Orgrimar

Ok, you've made it to Auberdine. You're at the docks (which can be found if you ride through the inn). You can't read the signpost that points to Azuremyst Isle (because Orcs can't read), so let's make sure you get on the right boat: the left pier goes to Stormwind, which is some Alliance village or something; the right one goes to Teldrassil, some other Alliance hovel; the middle one goes to Azuremyst Isle, which is still infested with Alliance, but also has one of the coolest pets in the game on it.

Directions: The Blue Thingie is You, the Black Cross is the Docks. Paint Rocks.

Take the boat. Wait for it to cross the water. Get off the boat. Check out that Wowhead map linked above. You're at the docks south of the Exodar. Head north along the road (western side of the isle), but go around the Exodar (hint: the guards are now level 75, I found this out the hard way when I thought I could take a shortcut through).
Keep an eye out for a bunch of hills on your right, if you've reached the bridge to Bloodmyst Isle, it's a bridge too far. Stillpine Hold shouldn't be too hard to find if you keep an eye on your map. The cave entrance is from the south.
Don't kill any Draenei if you're on a PVP server, let them grow into worthy foes. Feel free to kill any gnomes you see.
Enter the cave (Stillpine Hold). Your target is at the back of the cave, by a lake. As you go in, there's a little path on the left that dips down and takes you straight there, but if you miss it you'll get there eventually. Tame it. Hearth out and stomp around Shattrath, or go raid the Exodar.

Now if you want to be manly (or womanly) and you need a MC one, check out It's Gotta Be Orange! on BRK.net. It's an excellent guide.

Personally I really like my white Core Hound. It looks awesome.

Now /shoo and get taming!

EDIT: now with pictures for the illiterate.

Soooo 3.0.2 - initial thoughts

Well, we finally got in.
And now the whole Bloodlust battlegroup is down for 2 hours for "emergency maintenance".
My thoughts so far? A bit chaotic, but overall awesome.

First of all, I respeced Darksentinel to 51/10/0 Beast Mastery. Then I went to go get me a white Core Hound (got to give my thanks here to Mania's update of petopia, I kinda forgot). On the way I managed to find one of those cool Ghost Sabers in Darkshore (wasn't going to keep her though):And then it was on to Azuremyst Isle. Where I got killed by the guards, because I didn't realise that they're all 75, so I tried to ride straight past the Exodar. While I was doing, that orc hunter I know was flying to Un'goro (people, if you want a Devilsaur and you're Revered or higher with Keepers of Time, take the portal to the Caverns of Time, it's slightly faster than flying from TB or Org, or however else Alliance gets there). Anyway, I found the Kurken, and I now have a white Core Hound:
A brief trip to Warsong Gulch yielded 3 achievements (including Saves the Day), plus a daily I forgot I had. I also found out that ret pallies are pretty nasty at 70.

After this it was time to respec Beathooven to balance and test out the new spell power-based damage on all my healing gear. And yes, it's really nice having 800+ spell power. Although a couple of duels later I decided it really was much more fun kiting people with Core Hounds.

So it was back to Durotar on the avenging Beast Master, really putting Beast Mastery with Bestial Wrath's 1.4 minute cooldown through it's paces. It's awesome. Out of around 20 duels I lost 2, 1 to a well-geared rogue (Dismantle is nuts) and one to a warlock who kited me around the giant rib cage sticking out of the ground by the entrance to Orgrimar. Core hound really messes up Elemental Shamans with Lava Breath. Given the number of ret paladins performing way above their gear level (and never running low on mana), I decided it was time to try another pet: the chimaera. And after a trip to Winterspring (on the way I grabbed an Owl, but then released it again) I ended up with a 2-headed drake with Froststorm Breath. Now the damage on Froststorm Breath is only a few hundred, but the debuff is insane. Combined with Wing Clip, Frost Trap, and Concussive Shot I kited around T5/T6/S3 rogues/feral druids/warriors/enhancement shamans and ret paladins as much as I wanted, especially combined with trinket+Bestial Wrath. In duels at least (not arena), Beast Mastery hunters are extremely hard to beat.

After eating a couple of mages and enjoying a server restart, I decided to try the ret paladin for myself. My ret paladin is level 41, and for the first 10 minutes I tried to get my head around the new system of Hands, Seals and Judgements. And after that things went a bit nuts (once I'd gone back to Org to train a few things that had been changed). I experimented in Dustwallow Marsh, with mobs ranging from 37-39, so there wasn't a lot of challenge 1v1. But after rounding up 6 of the Theramore Deserters, killing them extremely quickly with Consecrate and ending up with both 90% health and mana, I realised that even while levelling, retribution is pretty OP. At one point I went afk for 5 minutes and came back to find I'd been attacked, and there was a corpse next to me waiting to be looted O.o. I was going to test AOE grinding on the murlocs, but decided there was something else I needed to do first.

My rogue alt had a massive supply of herbs to sell, and by this time Kingsblood was selling for 40g/stack. Long story short, within an hour I had amassed 280 gold and cleared some bag space. Also, auctions that have sold but not yet been paid for are now listed on the auction house interface. The point here being, if you have herbs, sell them, if you want to level inscription and don't have a supply, be prepared to fork out quite a bit of gold or go hunting yourself.

And by the time I'd tested both Fire and Frost specs on my mage, it was time for the servers to come down again. Both these specs seem a bit better than before, and some of my +[school]-only damage items have been changed to raw spellpower, making it easy to switch between specs.

Short form summary:
- chaos
- some stuff hard to find, including marks of honour
- achievement system has some really cool stuff, but not enough retroactive achievements
- ret paladins are nuts (especially compared to before)
- BM hunters are nuts (although they were pretty sweet before)
- rogues are nuts (and always were)
- basically everything is nuts, except holy paladins and fury warriors (lol, Titan's Gimp)
- lots of nice changes, but will take a while to get used to
- addons sort of work (not completely) and are showing a lot of error messages, but I'm too lazy to update them
- servers are still down

And here's a picture of Stormwind Harbour, taken on the Proudmoore server while Aman'Thul was down:

[Insert clever title here]

If I take a look at the blogs I follow (half a dozen or so), it pretty quickly becomes obvious that in terms of most-recently-updated there is one conspicuously at the bottom of the list. Mine. /facepalm. That being said it's been an eventful week for me:

1) My laptop (one of those cute white Asus Eee things) has died. Something about memory errors and not being able to save stuff or access external data storage (so no backing up files). Fail. This means I’ve lost access to a bunch of stuff (like the internet from any point in the house), and also links to stuff I’ve recently viewed, and a couple of drafts of (let's be honest) drafts of articles.

2) I procrastinated on a 3000 word essay on Euclid's Elements of Geometry. I thought it was due on Thursday, in reality it was due on Monday. I got an extension to Thursday (/win). Today is Thursday and I still haven't finished it... errr, started it (/golfclap).

3) I borrowed 2,200 gold from the guild bank and got myself Epic flying. And it's pretty damn epic, being able to cross any Outlands zone in 2 minutes. My reasoning for borrowing the gold, rather than earning it first: if I borrow the gold I have motive to pay it back, whereas if I save up the gold I'll keep thinking "meh, expansion soon, can't be bothered farming gold if I can't fly in Northrend anyway and the price might come down", and also doing the Outlands dailies is much faster when you can fly... faster. Also if I die today (e.g. suicide/homocide because of unfinished essays) I will have FLOWN (really, flown, that 60% stuff doesn't cut it). And now I can earn gold from the Swift Flight Form questline, to pay the guild back.

4) I spent $100 (NZ) on a pair of headphones. This was a big deal since previously I tended to spend about $10-$15 on headphones, barring my computer headset ($45). Will spending that much more make the 3.5mm headphone jack last longer (or rather, the bit of cable directly above the jack, which always seems to get damaged over time)? Probably not. Does anyone really care about my buying headphones? Probably not. But the Sennheiser PX100s fit very nicely into a case that the cable wraps around - meaning it doesn't magically get tangled in storage in a way that makes quantum-entanglement look like crochet - and THIS IS A GOOD THING (although I don't really get the analogy... quantum entanglement, crochet, wtf am I thinking?).

5) My credit card seems a bit messed up. After buying a bunch of things and making a large payment onto it all within the last week, my account shows zero activity since the 8th of September, which worries me slightly.

6) My Hunter got the S3 Chestpiece, which put him at 11k health until I came to my sense and swapped in some blue DPS rings. In terms of set gear he has 3x S2, 1x S4 and 1x S3. And a bunch of other S1-S3 gear in most of the remaining slots. Which isn't a big deal to most arena players, but it means I'm generally one of the best geared in BGs and is quite satisfying. And now I get to try to obtain all of that again on the druid, in the space of about 2 weeks (or whenever the content patch comes out and messes with the status quo).

7) I suffered through 2v2 again. By 'suffered' I mean that we played 10 games, going 4-1 for the first 5 and reaching a record rating of ... 1465 (/golfclap2) and then went 1-4 for the second lot of 5 (seemingly having jumped a bracket), so gained a total of about 3 rating points (/facepalm2). It appears that my druid (who has the grand sum of 7k hp, buffed, 8k if I swap in some tanking gear) and his Elemental Shaman partner are actually doing better than the significantly better-geared and much more viable hunter/druid combo. And while I play a mean drain game, we lose to enhancement shamans, a lot, like 80% of the time (on the plus side we win around 75%+ of our drain matchups, people in this bracket haven't heard of Scorpid Poison or Star's Tears). One memorable match we played Hunter/Druid (and by that I mean we played against it). My pet was killed twice, while the opposing Raptor remained untouched, but we still won - something about me resurrecting my pet twice, and managing to drink half a mana bar.

8) With the knowledge that Honour (yes, this is how you spell it, no matter what Blogger, Blizzard or anyone else thinks, 'honor' is for the uneducated :P), Marks and Arena Points will be wiped in the expansion, I cashed in all my marks on the druid and got the Guardians Kodohide Belt at about 2:30am this morning (yay for 4.5 hours sleep), which was a minor upgrade over my level 65 int/spirit/healing green. Now I just need to replace the level 66 green boots (I was using Heavy Clefthoof Boots socketed for 8 Resil, 12 Stam from my tanking set, but they've mysteriously disappeared from my inventory, and they're not in my bank either).

9) I think the current Brewfest is pretty cool. I have downed Coren Direbrew 18 times, with 7 Direbrew Hops, 5 Coins, 4 Stam trinkets, and 2 AP trinkets. And my Hunter has the Remote (slightly faster than flying to Kargath and riding to Blackrock Mountain and then winding our way to BRD... ever so slightly). These trinkets are stupidly easy to get (barring the really weird droprates) considering how good they are, and eventually everyone will end up with a full set long before they have their festive mount. Given the other stuff I have to do (farming honor, and gold) I'm not going to be participating in any of the other Brewfest stuff, especially since I spent way too much time on it last year (and got my faux-engineering goggles, I mean, how could I not? They're hunter loot, right?).

10) Hunters in Wrath are going to be awesome. Hunter pets in Wrath are going to be awesome. I've said this before? Well, repeating it doesn't make it any less true ^_^.
BRK has shown that a Gorilla is an awesome AOE tank with Thunderstomp, if you haven’t seen his latest movie, check it out here. Note that the cooldown on Volley has been removed, AND that you can use Autoshot while channelling it (…wow…, and also wtf?). Combined with Explosive Trap this should allow Hunters to push out some mean AOE DPS, and with a Gorilla all you need is a healer (or a nice T5 set bonus). Awesome, or awesome? I haven’t yet decided.
Given the Guard Dog talents, you no longer need to find your Gorilla Fungus to eat, and apparently they can now also eat bread (possibly even Manna Biscuits, but I’m not sure on that). And whereas before, you had to go out and tame a new pet to learn higher ranks of pet skills, they now learn them automatically.
Given the very high damage that Thunderstomp deals at the moment, I expect a nerf to be forthcoming, but it should still be the best AOE tanking skill. The other good AOE tanking pets are the Bear with Swipe and the Crocolisk with Bad Attitude (which has been changed to have quite a long cooldown). All of these should be able to hold threat through Mend Pet aggro, and probably any other incoming heals – at least at melee range.
And although you’d be missing out on Blood of the Rhino and Spirit Bond plus the various other BM-based pet improvements, you can get any of these pets as Marksman or Survival (Explosive Shot, anyone?). But how do these compare to the Exotic Tenacity pets, which should, strictly speaking, be better than their non-exotic equivalents (otherwise Beast Mastery becomes a 51 point vanity talent)? And the reality is that neither the Rhino nor the Worm are particularly dominating in terms of AOE threat (and if they don’t do AOE threat, then heals will draw aggro on any additional mobs, not fun when soloing and definitely not fun in a party where you pet is tanking). Stampede does some AOE threat (through damage), but not a lot and it has a very long cooldown (for the purposes of tanking) – although it’s still a cool talent in PvP, I can’t wait to use it in Alterac Valley on the Stormpike Bridge, or in Iceblood Tower *evil grin*. Acid Spit is probably the highest threat single-target pet skill there is, but unless you macro it to hit adds (and the cooldown is a bit long to rely on it) it won’t hold threat through heals. I really think that the Exotic tenacity pets should not be outclassed in their main roles (i.e. tanks) by apes from the southern jungles of the Old World. Someone please mention this to the devs.
Overall, however, pet (and Hunter) changes in Wrath of the Lich King are nuts (oh right, repeating myself again). Expect people to QQ when we solo every 2 man quest Northrend has to throw at us (and possibly a lot of the 3 mans as well, and some of the easier bosses in Kara). We might even be able to take on Hogger in Nightmare difficulty (although chances are that a Lightning Enchanted Multishot Hogger will blow up Gorillas pretty fast). On that note, what happened to Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2?

11) This one goes up to 11. And it's almost 11 now and this as-yet unwritten essay is due at 5. /Facepalm.


PS: I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information or links on this page, so if anything is wrong, please let me know.

[Hunter] I love Beastmastery

Beastmastery is awesome.
I respec'd a few nights ago from 11/41/9 to 41/20/0 to do triple DPS arena. And it's so much more fun being able to just blow up clothies, and rogues, and I believe one warrior as well. And the games were short, none of this "how do I drain a Druid with 600mp5" crap.
Then I spent time running around Legion Hold killing stuff for the sheer fun of blowing it up before it got to me (and additionally Intimidation offers another way of allowing pet to hold threat, in addition to Feign Death and Misdirection).

Then I did some 2v2 arena, and in the lower brackets it's not too bad. Given the massive burst and cc immunity of BIG RED KITTY it gives you a bit more staying power against double dps, and the drain component still seems to be enough to beat healers since I keep my Scorpid pet. And now I only need to respec my druid if I want to maximise performance in raids on all my characters, and solo play is sooooo much more enjoyable (imo) as BM (you can still crit stuff to death in 2-3 shots, but those shots occur 20% faster).

Off course 51/10/0 is even better than 41/20/0. Mmmm.

And one day I might be able to tame my feral druid and have the best of both worlds. /dream on.

So yeah.

Beastmastery is awesome.

I hate assignments.

[Hunter] LF4M Utgarde Keep have DPS and Tank

So. Hunters can have their pets tank. Damn that is awesome. I've tanked stuff (non-heroics) on my hunter using a weird 17/0/44 build and a lot of PvP gear, and having the DPS using Omen, and Blessing of Salvation. But having my pet tank stuff generally resulted in a dead pet. But no longer, with worms having Acid Spit (think Sunder Armor), and some really awesome Tenacity talents, they not only do increased threat, but also are easier to heal, have a taunt (although 3 minute cooldown is a bit harsh) and higher survivability. A chance to have 4 dps in an instance? I sure hope so. Just need to work out how they will tank multiple things, otherwise the healers will /cry. A bear or gorilla might be able to hold threat at melee range, but would still have problems with casters.
Still, even if it requires 5 cc/dps, should provide some interesting flexibility in group composition during the race to 80. Although it will mean Hunters become even more imba in solo content (yes, you can solo Hogger in Hell Difficulty), which will mean that a lot of hunters will have even more difficulty doing well in group situations. QQ.

Some quick points on Wrath

While I'll probably make a longer post on Wrath later, a few things excite me:
- new hunter pets. Especially the really awesome ones. Well most of them are really awesome. THEY'LL BE ABLE TO HOLD THREAT AGAIN. Can't remember when the last time was that a pet of mine reliably held threat. Mid-60s? A pre-Charge-nerf boar?
But in Wrath, they'll be able to tank, and possibly even tank 5-mans. THAT is exciting. 4 dps, and an off-spec healer doing Utgaarde Keep (or however you spell it)? Yes please. Although how well a Worm can tank without Taunt, or (afaik) any AoE threat abilities, remains to be seen.

Also, wtf, ret paladins. Buffed? Just a bit. That's pretty nuts...

So yeah, those are the updates. Currently working on getting the Druid geared for Arena (oh so slowly, damn honor farming) and the Hunter is sort of floating around farming leather kits for the druid. How exciting.

Also working on a longer post about gearing baby-70 Feral Druids. Vatch dis space.


Edit: really need to find a good way to distinguish between the wowhead links, and the non-wowhead links. Anyone got any ideas?