The 2008 holiday gift guide for Hunters

I'm not saying this week's column isn't for Hunters. That would be silly, what with this being a Hunter column and all. But this column goes out primarily to the Hunters' friends, guildmates, family members, spouses, significant others, and the like, who may be thinking, man, here it is, Christmas day, and I still don't have the proper gift. This column aims to help them find that gift. But hey, if you're a Hunter who wants to get something special for yourself too, you should still read on. You might just find an idea here.

Yeah, I suppose if you wanted to get your Christmas shopping done for your special Hunter EARLY, this guide is a little bit late. But hey, there's 12 days of Christmas, and where I come from, The first day is the 25th of December. Besides, this is a Holiday Guide, and the Holidays, all told, extend to at least mid-January, right? So yeah, we're totally good. Anyway, if you have a Hunter on your gift list this season, here's some in-game gift ideas from various professions, dungeon drops, and elsewhere that just might woo your special Hunter, or appease them until next year, or whatever it is you may need to do.

Swiftarrow Armor: If your special Hunter is getting up to the high 70s in level just about now, why not buy them a nice suit of armor to help them get over the top? Swiftarrow armor, made with Leatherworking, comes with Belt, Boots, Bracers, Gauntlets, Hauberk, Helm, Leggings, and Shoulderguards, and takes various amounts of Borean Leather and an Eternal Air each to craft. It has plenty of all the basic stats a growing Hunter needs, plus some extra resilience if your Hunter likes to PvP. Check your Hunter's Armory, check your bank account, and buy as many or as few of these pieces as you want. They're sure to be appreciated.

The Nesingwary 4000: If your Hunter is a gun lover, here's something that's sure to make their season bright. The Nesingwary 4000 is a crafted gun that takes a lot of expensive components to craft, including a Frozen Orb and 3 Sun Scopes. It's better than pretty much any other gun outside Heroic Naxxramas, though, augmenting high pure DPS with some nice attack power and critical strike rating. It also comes with a yellow gem slot, so if you're feeling really generous, you could even stick a Glinting or Rigid gem in there.

Loque'nahak: This one is going to be a little more difficult to pull off. Your Hunter will need to be there and she'll need to have Beast Mastery, the 51 point talent in the tree of the same name. Also, he's the only tamable beast of his kind, he's incredibly rare, and you'll have to run yourself ragged all over Sholazar Basin to find him before someone else tames him or kills him for the Northern Exposure or Frostbitten achievements. But if Your Hunter was the type who camped Humar the Pridelord for hundreds of hours and currently laments the lack of rare and unique pets in WoW today, she'll want Loque'nahak. Just hope you're the only person who goes for this gift.

Arrows or Bullets: Until a new patch brings us new faction rewards or items, the best bullets and arrows in game for a Hunter right now are engineering crafted. That's certainly a pain for your Hunter is they're not an engineer, but it's the perfect opportunity for you to get your gift shopping done. Just buy a handful of Ultra-Safe Bullet Machines or Saronite Arrow Makers from your local engineer, and your Hunter will love you for it. And then go through horrible withdrawals when the ammo runs out in a few days, but hey, nothing's perfect.

A Non-Combat Pet: Does your Hunter have a favorite pet? Why not get them a non-combat companion that matches it in appearance or theme? If they use a Dire Raven, get them a Hawk Owl. If they use a Dragonhawk, get them a Dragonhawk Hatchling. If they use a Silithid, get them a Cockroach. If they use Bun'kar the mighty, get them a Snowshoe Hare. The list goes on and on.

Rusted-Linked Spiked Gauntlets: This is where things get really expensive. These drop off Gluth or Faerlina in 10-man Naxxramas, but they are bind on equip. They're really the perfect Hunter gloves, even adding a bit of hit rating on top of the other amazing stats. It'll even beat out their 10-man gauntlets, most likely. This, though, is definitely the equivalent of the $1,500 bottle of Cognac or the limited edition 24 karat gold and diamond encrusted Macbook.

The Mirror of Truth: This one's also going to take some Hunter participation, but it's nice in that you can make it a long term promise: "Hey, I'll be your instance buddy until you have enough Emblems of Heroism to grab this." The mirror's a really awesome trinket that most Hunters are probably going to want to add to their arsenal sooner or later, so it's a safe bet they'll like the idea. Even more if you're a Healer or Tank so as to make it easier to find those other 3 group members.

WoW Hunter Guide: Grizhak's Guide to "Gray" Pet Levelling at 70

By Grizhak

After reaching Outland and level 70, people complain about the types of pets available to them on that level. This guide will hopefully give you a look on how to level a pet from a level from totally useless to above 60 - where raw grinding and instance runs take over.

Of course, you *can* do instance runs with your level all-too-low pet, but as most people tend to hate and blame a low level pet for everything, far less permit the hunter to bring it, I will focus on getting the little bastard to 60 for now. The hard way, all solo of course. Be warned, once the pet reaches 60, the process of levelling will go much slower as he will require almost four times the amount of xp needed to gain a level. If someone could provide me with the exact numbers I will include them here (with credits, of course).

This is my first guide, and lacking other guides on the subject, why not write one? So here you are... comments and suggestions are welcome, as long as you keep it civil and constructive ;)

Table of Contents

Part 1 - Getting started
Part 1a - Skills and talents
Part 1b - Equipment
Part 1c - Pet skills
Part 2 - The technique
Part 3 - Places to grind
Part 4 - Conclusion
Other stuff

Part 1 - Getting started

Part 1a - Skills and talents

Skills

- Aimed Shot
- Concussion Shot
- Scatter Shot
- Steady Shot
- Aspect of the Viper
- Hunter's Mark

Talents

A good marksman build with a few points in survival and beastmastery works well here. The trick to this way of doing it is to down the enemy before it gets too close without burning too much mana and without using your pet at all. I will give you a sample build and explain some of it now.

http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=mVbhZEE0RVzMxotcG - 10/43/8

This build has a few survival talents that helps against the enemies featured in this guide as your prime target - humanoids. It also features Hawk Eye, which is almost mandatory for a hunter these days, even so for us in this situation. Efficiency points may be sacrificed for Careful Aim, depending on your preference. Remember, this is an optimized variant of my character's levelling build, and a more general approach would be preferred if you plan to do other things than just levelling a grey pet. The other Beast Mastery talents helps your overall damage and survivability in melee. As long as your build contains the above mentioned skills and preferrably Savage Strikes and Hawk Eye.

Part 1b - Equipment

Nothing really fancy. A good dps gun with a steady shot rotation you're familiar with and an OK melee weapon. I prefer slow two-handers for Mongoose Bite and Raptor Strike, but do what you feel is best.

My weapon of choice: http://www.wowhead.com/?item=23748 - Ornate Khorium Rifle. Good, slow and with a nice DPS to boot. A bit more expensive than http://www.wowhead.com/?item=31303 - Valanos' Longbow, but I recommend either of these for the task ahead.

Oh, and a decent crit rate (15% and more) is a plus, but you can manage without. It'll just be a bit slower.

Part 1c - Pet skills

Before you tame your pet of choice, be sure to have learned all the skills you plan to teach him. For example, before getting my Ashmane Boar I had to tame a Rip-Blade Ravager to learn it's Gore rank 9, a Plagued Swine for Charge rank 6 and I already had Dash rank 3.

See http://www.goodintentionsguild.info/hunters.html for a list of pet skills and where to get them.

Part 2 - The technique

So, how to do it? I'll give you a short walk trough an average battle:

Hunter's Mark when running to range, Aimed Shot, Concussive Shot (if melee mob), Arcane Shot, Steady Shot, Auto Shot, Steady Shot (Concussive Shot will have worn off by now). Depending on your number of crits and the mob's health you can now either finish him off in melee, try to finish him off while still at range, or Scatter Shot him and do a Steady Shot + Auto Shot. He should be dead by now.

If you fight casters, you might want to use Silencing Shot. If you get the distance right, he will stop running towards you and start casting again before getting too close for you to shoot him.

In any case, remember to use Aspect of the Viper. Don't be ashamed if you get some downtime, personally I solved that by not using Arcane Shot unless the mob was closing in on me with 2000+ health. With decent gear that won't happen often anyway.

Rinse and repeat in your area of choice or until the pet gets level enough to hold aggro. That's when you can begin the "ordinary" grind.

Side note: Traps
I tried using traps for this kind of grind, but it's not worth the time or mana. Use some extra mana on your shots instead.

Side note 2: Stings
Not worth the mana either. The mob will die before too long has passed, and the dot effect of Serpent Sting breaks Scatter Shot. Mana better used on something else.

Part 3 - Places to grind

Grind. A terrible word. But that's what it is - experience grinding. I have chosen these areas out of efficiency, not out of drops. These are the areas I have tried and have experience with, you might have other favourites. The level range is from 62 and above because at level 70, neither you or the pet (at ANY level) will get experience from mobs at 61 and below.

Preferred place, second if not alone: Firewing Point (Terokkar Forest) - around 70,35
Mob level range: 63-64
Mobs: Around theglowing centre with the manabomb - Mainly warlocks, which stays at range most of the time. Casts shadowbolt and immolate, often resisted. Some melee mobs. All the mobs have a small chance to drain about 1200+ mana if you're closer than approx. 20 yards.
Common drops: Silver, Netherweave and Runecloth, water and bread, Firewing Signets (low-level scryer rep) and very rarely Arcane Tomes.
Great if you are alone, because you can mainly grind off warlocks. Only technique to worry about is to keep distance. Once they start casting they'll stay at range. Downside is that the place is a quest place, making it quite possible someone else is there too, "stealing" your mobs. Also the warlocks do some damage, making it likely you will get some downtime. Otherwise a brilliant spot :) Can also be used at levels above 60.

A close second: The Den of Haal'esh (Hellfire Peninsula) - around 26,75
Mob level range: 62-63
Mobs: Melee and ranged casters. Some grey level birds, easily avoided. Melee mobs might get a running speed buff, which makes raptor strike useless. Use Scatter Shot instead to gain range if needed.
Common drops: Silver, Netherweave and Runecloth, a few pieces of meat and some water. Also tons of light feathers.
This is the place I found the most effective in pure xp value. The mobs respawn quickly, the ones questing in the area leave as soon as they are done and there are no high level gankers around. Also, if you are horde like me, the vendor at Falcon Watch is only a minute away.

A close third: Veil Shienor (Terokkar Forest) - around 58,23
Mob level range: 62-63(?)
Mobs: Melee and a few stationary ranged casters. A named quest mob.
Common drops: Silver, Arakkoa Feathers (used for Lower City rep), Netherweave and Runecloth, Light Feathers, meat and water.
The skettis camps in Terokkar is often crawling with both alliance and horde, and mobs can be scarce at times. The Arakkoa Feathers make these camps popular for level 70 rep grinders. Still, I find Veil Shienor, just northeast of Tuurem, to be the better choice over the others. If you are alone, you will soon find your own "rounds" in the camp without waiting for respawns.

Fourth: The Hewn Bog (Zangarmarsh) - around 33,33 and as far as the ogres go
Mob level range: 62-64(?)
Mobs: Melee and semi-ranged casters with fire nova totems. A named quest mob. The melee ones enrages on low health. The casters are slow patrollers, but not enough to be a problem.
Common drops: Silver, Netherweave and Runecloth.
Between both alliance and horde towns, these ogres are close to both and a good grind. The distance between them tends to be big if you cleared out an area, and they don't respawn as fast as the arakkoa in Hellfire and Terokkar. Low health and easily downed if you got a good gun. Still, you hardly get your rythm going because of gankers and other questers killing the mobs.

Part 4 - Conclusion

So there you have it. That's how you can level any pet of any level to level 60 and above with (hopefully) minimum amounts of pain as far as soloing goes. Great thanks to... umm... Blizzard for making this game and my Ashmane Boar Borka for staying with me. He's been level 70 for some weeks now, and now it's the Noxious Plaguebat Greywing's turn!

Other stuff

Some nice to know facts:

- You and your pet shares the aggro range, regardless of level. That means the pet won't aggro pull because of its low level.
- All pets will are able to learn Cobra Reflexes. No need to level King Bangalash just for that skill.
- There are no beast-class (tameable) boars above level 60.
- For most pet-related questions, see http://petopia.brashendeavors.net/
- Cower sucks.

Update: Added an "Other stuff" section and a link to pet skills.
Update 2: Added Firewing Point to "Places to grind".
Update 2: Edited some "nice to know facts".
Update 3: Minor reprasing some places, moved Firewing Point to "Preferred place" position.