I have a Wild Hunt question

[Protego]

Is 2 Points in Wild Hunt a good idea nowadays? 1 Point? Or should the Point(s) be spent elsewhere? Particularly for Ferocity pets. Thank you!

[Sarayana]

I'm not sure what the number crunchers say, but given that I'm BM and have a lot of pet-focus boosting talents, I specced 2 points into Wild Hunt. I think it's like the old Serpent Swiftness (was that what it was called? - the one that increased attack speed but lowered damage done), one of those talents that sound like they could be a dps loss but are a net gain. I'm not certain though.

[Protego]

Thanks for answering Sara! Kk Cool. I'm glad Wild Hunt's worth it! It's not a waste without having being able to have 2 Points in Sic 'Em (currently, at 80)? I'm assuming not now. ^_^

[Sarayana]

Well I really don't know if it's worth it, I'm just making a big assumption. I certainly hope it is.

I'm still playing around with my BM spec, but I think I will end up boosting the pet some more with Sic 'Em.

[Protego]

Of course! No question about that.

[Nimizar]

Given that Wild Hunt increases damage by a greater percentage than it increases focus cost, I don't see any way for it to be a DPS loss, even without taking into account the possibility of pets reaching focus saturation without it.

This is in stark contrast to the Inner Rage situation for warriors where the resource cost increases by more than the damage, so they need to be careful as to when they trigger it.

[Gungnir]

The problem with wild hunt is that it will not go off if your pet is below 50 focus. 2/2 wild hunt + beastial discipline + Go for the throat, my pet will stay below 50 focus for quite a while unless I get a decent string of autoshot crits for GftT to push it back up. Until you can get Sic'em, im not sure its worth putting 2 points into.

I haven't done any number crunching so don't take what I say for truth. Im just speaking for how it "feels" in live combat. Currently a BM pet will not be able to utilize wild hunt to the fullest unless you can get pet focus regen up.

[Nimizar]

But if WH is proccing at all where else is the pet going to spend those points that would provide more DPS? If nothing else, it will proc when we hit Fervor.

Tenacity pets can skip it now and pick up Great Resistance instead, and for Cunning and Ferocity pets there aren't any other DPS talents to compete with it. I'd probably skip it for PvP builds though - the pet survivability talents are likely to be of more help there than the WH damage increase.

[Protego]

For me I currently only have 1 Point in Wild Hunt. It doesn't seem like it my pet can get 50 Focus, on its own, spamming its Basic attack, to me. Fervor isn't on a short enough cooldown. The 3 seconds on their Basic attack cooldown isn't long enough. And auto-shots, from Go For the Throat, seem, to me, with all the talking of rotations (Kill Command, Arcane Shot, ect), like they hurt our precious, little DpS as it is. I'm gonna wait for Cataclysm, when I can get 2 Points for the good Sic 'Em! talent. That'll be nice. I'm looking forward to trying out Sic 'Em!. Then I'll do 2 Points in Wild Hunt.

[Silvarain]

im BM atm and i dont see any reason for myself to put 2 points into the talent. i may at some point test 1 point but as far for me my pets rarely stay at even 50% focus for me to think that 2 point are worth it for myself. maybe im a bad BMer but with pet skills costing 50 and up focus with 2 points in WH... yeah >_>

[Anyia]

I started with 2 points, but after watching the pet focus bar I dropped both of them. I should go back and see how focus holds up during BW though - that might make it worthwhile to put one point in there.

[Nimizar]

I'm curious where people are putting the talent points that they're taking out of Wild Hunt. There's nowhere else to put them as BM that is even potentially a DPS increase, and if nothing else, WH will always affect the pet's first attack (or first two attacks if you turn Dash/Dive/Charge off).

Now, the interesting trade-off is that 2/2 WH does convert two Basic Attacks for 100% damage each into a single Basic Attack for 220% damage. That makes Cobra Strikes and Owl's Focus correspondingly stronger (as well as Sic 'Em once we can afford it) since the free or guaranteed crit attacks will sometimes be the empowered version, but weakens Frenzy and Invigoration (since they care about the number of Basic Attacks rather than how much damage each of them does). Fervor is also boosted, since it guarantees a 220% damage Basic Attack on the pet's next swing.

It may be that without Sic 'Em the additional 3-6 second delay WH imposes in getting to the first Focus Fire proc isn't worth it, but I'm currently happy with the trade-offs involved in taking it myself.

[Nimizar]

I started with 2 points, but after watching the pet focus bar I dropped both of them. I should go back and see how focus holds up during BW though - that might make it worthwhile to put one point in there.

Only the hunter gets a focus discount during TBW. Pets just get a damage boost.

[Narzul]

At the moment it's good for 5 mans \ target switching encounters and not much else.

That being said, if you're BM there's nothing else to put these points in really (save tenacity).

[Ellaran]

Cunning pet + Owl's Focus + Wild Hunt + Go For The Throat + Sic 'Em = Oh my god this thing is eating my intestines through my nostrils.

Add in Feeding Frenzy and Cunning pets may be the go-to pets for raids.