PVE Hunter tree

[Mythall]

Ive been reading loads online trying to piece together the ideal vanilla wow pve spec for hunters.

Any input here would be appreciated as there are so many conflicting opinions. I basically want a tree thats going to best aid me getting to 60 and then being of use to raid partys. Yes id love to be the dogs bollocks at pvp aswell but will respec at 60 should i decide thats all i want to do.

Thanks

[mrmr]

No such thing.

levelling, PvP and PvE has 3 completely different specs.

Try harder...

[Mythall]

Instead of the feeble childish response of "try harder" how about putting all of your obvious knowledge on the subject into a worthwhile response.

[erifornia]

For raiding i'd say :
http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#cbZVEooxhtG0VV0h
For PvP I have no clue, and about leveling you could spec anything and win, you're a hunter.
The 18 points in Survival may seem useless but they're useful for the %hit. You need around 10% hit if I remember correctly to never miss, and missing on aimed shot can be a huge problem for your dps in raids.

[Mythall]

Thanks Erifornia

[Trolle]

For leveling you should max BM since you will most of the time have sub optimal gear which means your pet will be a much higher % of your dps.
I'd recommend something like this:
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 050511305v

[DeeMarie]

I've always levelled MM, it's not hugely sub-par BM levelling, just means I can do a few more things ie elites, group quests, solo.

http://db.vanillagaming.org/?talent#cE0MbZViohthtI

This is my usual raiding spec. It's not cookie cutter, it has Pathfinding for kiting, but you shouldn't need to delve deep into Surv if you a) have enough hit gear and b) don't have enough agi.

[Tethys]

For leveling:
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 105451c05v
First max out BM tree.

PvP:
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 0510303150

PvE: Beginning without hticap with items
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 133d405c3f

PvE: Raiding as meelee supporter
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 05133d402i

PvE: If you already have a MM hunter for the aura in your group OR enough MM hunter in raid but not in your group and you have >400 agi buffed (i think it was 400)
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 425c323050

What I never tested yet was the last PvE case but with:
http://www.wowprovider.com/?talent=1121 ... 25c323050h

[Patience]

The first respecs cost no more than a few gold, so I would definitely go with a leveling spec, then at 60 (or 55+ if you decide to do dungeons) respec to whatever your raid spec will be.

[Eyeful]

Most any spec while leveling will get the job done. It's just a matter of which route makes it the less painful to do so. Personally, most specs leveling are slightly different from choosing the playstyle you prefer. Perhaps you want to be capable to stand your ground when getting ganked in stv, or perhaps you want the lone ranger who has his pet to do all his dirty work. There are many different forms.

From my personal opinion, choosing a spec like this is both very viable in all aspects to level with. Provides all your pet bonuses, heavy CC for PvP encounters, and doesn't gimp on wasted talents. "but what about my imp hawk, imp mend pet, imp (pet)movespeed, aim shot!"

What about them? They are nearly all useless for a BM hunter who is leveling. Imp hawk is useless since your pet is the main dmg dealer in your duo; doing more shots isn't going to make your pet hit harder. Imp (pet) speed is useless when your have your opponent on lockdown from CC. Imp mend pet is useless since it's channeled in vanilla, and only removes things that don't really affect your pet (aka let it die and revive it). Aim shot....please.

Being said, with this spec, you're going to want to go down into the BM tree to around 5/5 U-Fury. From there, imo, head into the surv tree to get your imp WC, and traps. You'll be level 40 when you get your 2/2 C-traps. Pick up the 4/5 conc on your way back into the beefy parts of BM. As always, people will suggest you tame a kitty cat to level with. While they are a great pvp pet due to attk speed and dmg, I generally prefer the boar. More utility to level with (1 sec stun, that boosts pet AP on next hit), and eats near anything you pickup. Up to you though (can always stable 1 or the other).

As for raiding, it's pretty much always dat marks spec. Only variances are your hit, and if you're the marks bitch or not.

5% hit self buffed
This is the avg cookie cutter spec for raiding, given you have 5% hit (+3 making the base 8% for bosses), and are not a marks bitch. If you are 8% hit w/o talents helping you, you can shift that 3/3 in SF into imp hawk. If you are the designated marks bitch, you'll have to juggle some talents around to get 5/5 imp mark (generally taken from hawk, or any excess SF points).

Given this server lasts, and you see break of T3 era, the shift happens to favor BM subspec over full surv spec. You'll start to see T3 hunters with a spec like this.

Doubt it will progress that far, but info is info.
Hope this helps how you feel you should play as a hunter. Also note, getting hit capped > anything else before raiding. Don't be bullied by people saying Surefooted isn't needed cause gear provides all the hit you need from preraid (quite hard, and can gimp).