Hunter Question

[Nevar]

When all of you hunters out there raid which soec do you use? Do any raid as BM - I love BM spec, but many say its impossible to raid and do good dps as 1 - however I am simply captured by that black devilsaur...I know I have my wolf but I simply LOVE that devilsaur and Skoll is very nice to.

[Vephriel]

The general consensus is that no, BM is not really suitable for raiding. However, there are plenty of hunters out there that do raid as Beast Mastery and they do just fine. It's mathematically impossible to reach the DPS that some of the other specs can put out, but if they know what they're doing and really work at it they can reach viable and competitive numbers. A great BM hunter can perform better than a mediocre SV/MM hunter, it's all a matter of practice, skill, and gear.

Gigglemonsta has a fantastic guide to BM PvE which you should check out here: http://forums.wow-petopia.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=795

Anyways, if you want to raid as BM I think you really have to struggle to prove yourself worthy of that raid slot. It's definitely doable though, and I think with some of the upcoming changes to BM we might get a bit more of a foothold. Though raiding isn't as important to me as my pets, I wouldn't mind seeing some endgame raids if only casually. I'm tired of BM being treated like the red-headed stepchild of the 3 talent specs. -.-

[Ungoro]

If BM could keep up with the dps i do as Survival, BM would obviously be my main spec. But i've been interested in proper raiding for ages, but i always put guilds made by my friends infront of joining raiding guilds. Once my friend leaves this guild i leave and join a 'raiding' guild that never raids. So one Cataclysm is out, i probably won't sleep til i'm level 85. Sleep for a few hours, get into some heroics and see if i can get invited to one of my servers top raiding guilds.

That didn't really answer the question though...When i get into a raid i use Survival, as unfortuantly it's all about dps. BM must become overpowered in Cataclysm so i can give Survival a little rest.

[Nevar]

I remember when BM as such a good spec to, Just on the first hunter I leveled on a different server she had a bm spec and has Gondria It was such a shame not to use him he was such a beautiful kitty I always wanted to use him but I couldnt and it about broke my heart : /

[Vephriel]

Yeah, it's fallen to the bottom rung of the spec ladder unfortunately. =/

I think for raiding it all depends on your personal feelings. If you want to go in there and do the best of the best then I'd say go for MM/SV. If you're incredibly attached to your pets and know you would work your butt off to be able to justify BM in a raid then go for it.

[Saturo]

If you're incredibly attached to your pets and know you would work your butt off to be able to justify BM in a raid then go for it.

My suggestion would be to have a Wolf out when you get summoned, and then change your pet just before the boss fight. That way they won't kick you for ZOMG BM!
Yes, it's happened to me on the rare occasions I try to raid with BM spec.

[Nevar]

LOL def will try that

Raid: Didnt you have a wolf....
Nevar: No..... /trys in vain to hide devilsaur

On a side note a wolf will definately be awesome when I can be a worgen =D

[Tahlian]

If you aren't looking at progression raiding - i.e. ZOMGMUSTBESERVERFIRSTNOOBSZOMG - then Beast Mastery should be just fine for raiding. I will freely admit, though...having a stable raid that knows you and knows your capabilities is a major plus - I would not advise attempting to PuG raid as a beast master. BM is by far more gear dependent than Survival, perhaps even more so than Marksmanship, and you have to work your little huntery tuchus off from the first trash pull of the instance to the last boss for every last scrap of DPS that you can do.

But there are those of us that love it. Hopefully 3.3.3 will make it where beast masters don't have to work quite as hard as they do now, and I hold high hopes that Cataclysm will put all three hunter specs on even footing at last, if Blizzard manages to hold true to their stated design goals of having all trees of all classes being viable and competitive for raiding.

[Gimlion]

Well, as much as most 'elitists' say that SV and MM are far ahead of BM... truth is BM is barely shy of SV and a good BM will outshine an ok SV, always. Granted, MM, as far as maximum possible DPS, is well ahead of both, but that's beside the picture.

[Nevar]

Yeah true I suppose, I know a hunter who raids as Bm but he isnt a very good hunter sadly - I just like hunter mainly because of the pets

[kairii]

tbh if you can prove your good dps then be BM, i raid as MM atm in our 25 man ... well they kill my computer so i get 1fps -.- and then my MS goes to over 5k >.<
but even still i managed to pull 6k on festgut while i saw another hunter only doing 3k so i though ok ill change to BM to make them look good (hey i like them as a person )
then i still did atleast 5k steady they still were 3k >.> BM can be a good raiding specc if you can do it
im all for people being whatever specc makes them happy if you can gear and gem the right way what is stopping you as long as your happy

[Anansi]

The bottom line about raiding as BM is simply this - if your raid leader is happy with the DPS you're doing as BM, BM is viable for your raid. If your raid leader is not happy with your DPS as BM, BM is not viable for your raid.

All things being equal BM does the lowest DPS in the Hunter tree, but all things are never equal, so the only metric that matters is your DPS contribution to the raid, and if you're pulling the numbers needed to down the bosses, great. But if not, you should probably do your raid a favour and respec.

[kairii]

but if you have the skills .. like if you go againt a MM hunter who has 0 arp while your full ap youll do more then him
as long as you know specc well enough people as BM have proven it can be a good specc we all seen teh screenies!!!

[Saturo]

Yes, but if you're incorrectly geared, you can't really compare. BM > Huntards any day.

However, wellgeared BM vs. wellgeared MM you will just come to one conclusion, which is that BM can not compare. I am assuming that both hunters have good gear and good skills.

[kairii]

idd skills > all

[Undra]

My primary hunter has two raiding specs, Survival for when I must provide Replenishment, and marksman for when someon else is.

I'm not going to say you can't raid as BM, but you aren't doing your fellow raiders any favors by doing so. BM is great for Soloing and pvp, it's good for heroics, but it really doesn't belong in a raid at this point. Maybe after the overhaul, the three trees will be more even, but until then it's not very helpful.

So I'm afraid you'll have to save your devilsaur for heroics and unleash that wolf of yours. Whether you take MM or Surv is a matter of personal preference and whether there is already someone reliably providing replenishment.

[Tahlian]

No, you don't "have to." As was said before - and will be said again - if your raid leaders are okay with it, and you have the gear and the skills to provide the DPS that they expect you to provide, IT'S FINE.

Believe it or not, there are some raids out there that have neither a retribution paladin nor an arcane mage, so the beast master is even more valuable to those groups.

I raid as beast mastery, and I bring my devilsaur when I do it, and I bring sufficient damage to satisfy my raid - as well as a rather important marker, as was pointed out last night. Because of Clayburn's size, he makes it very easy for the rogues and ferals to get to where they're supposed to be on a boss because they can just run to him. If you are on my server and in my raid, then you know how to contact the raid officers with your concerns about my spec. And if you do that, I think you know what they will tell you. If you aren't on my server and in my raid? I fail to see how it's your business.

In conclusion - if you know what you're doing, have the approval of your raid officers and the gear and willingness to work to back it up? Knock yourself out. Raid as beast mastery.