Hunters and haste in Mists

[Magli]

Now that the 5.0 patch is on its way to the PTR, I'm starting to pay more attention to how the various specs are evolving. My big question is: what's happening with haste? Right now all three specs have some sort of self-haste: SV with Hunting Party, Marks with Improved Steady, and BM with Frenzy/Focus Fire. All three effects can be up for most or all of a boss fight if you manage them right.

So how are things working out in Mists? Marks is more or less unchanged, other than to extend the duration of the haste buff, which will help with what right now is a very tight rotation. But Hunting Party is gone, and I don't see any replacement...does that mean SV doesn't have any self-haste anymore?

And Focus Fire/Frenzy really looks weird. If I'm reading the skill descriptions correctly, Frenzy stacks much more slowly (40% chance on hit) but has a much larger effect (40% haste when a full stack is consumed with Focus Fire.) How does this work in practice? Does this make Focus Fire something that's saved for burn phases, or do we just fire it off when the button lights up? Can we stack it with Rapid Fire and Heroism to go to Ludicrous Speed?

[Sukurachi]

Can we stack it with Rapid Fire and Heroism to go to Ludicrous Speed?

that might "jam" the program.

[Cerele]

And Focus Fire/Frenzy really looks weird. If I'm reading the skill descriptions correctly, Frenzy stacks much more slowly (40% chance on hit) but has a much larger effect (40% haste when a full stack is consumed with Focus Fire.) How does this work in practice? Does this make Focus Fire something that's saved for burn phases, or do we just fire it off when the button lights up? Can we stack it with Rapid Fire and Heroism to go to Ludicrous Speed?

Focus fire is building faster, rather than being completely relying on criticals from your pet (which made tenacity/cunning left in the cold), you'd want to use focus fire when it lights up
Stacking rapid fire/hero was never the best idea, sure you could be attacking faster than a rouge could dream of for about 10 seconds, but you could also time the hero and your rapid fire to have more time with slightly slower shots. remember we do have a limit to how much we can shoot a second,

[Kalliope]

So how are things working out in Mists? Marks is more or less unchanged, other than to extend the duration of the haste buff, which will help with what right now is a very tight rotation. But Hunting Party is gone, and I don't see any replacement...does that mean SV doesn't have any self-haste anymore?

All hunter specs get TSA now! Hunting Party turned into the new family ability for serpents and hyenas. So now we all have self-haste (optionally).

These buffs are still changing, so this post could become outdated, but as it stands right now, that's the situation.

[Magli]

Well, I meant that SV doesn't have any built-in haste, not that they were losing their group buff. I knew that all hunter specs will get TSA in Mists. Good point about the serpent and hyena pets; I had forgotten about that.

Also, Nirelle, I thought Frenzy currently builds up after every pet basic attack, not after pet crits. The Wowhead, MMO-C, and battle.net talent calculators all say that's how the talent works...where does it say that Frenzy stacks after pet crits?

[Kalliope]

Ooh, sorry; misunderstood what you meant. Glad that the other point is still semi-relevant, though.

[Rawr]

Have we gone plaid yet?

[Magli]

Yay, somebody got the reference!

[Sukurachi]

Yay, somebody got the reference!

some of us use the Schwartz.

[Kalliope]

<---got the reference, had nothing witty to add