EU+US MM Hunter and Resto Druid opinions!

[Robotnik]

I'm pretty much done gearing my MM Hunter / Resto Druid, at least what was possible in the few days of gametime I had left.

Now that it's out of the way, I got some questions in regards to playstyle. Low level twinking (20-29) isn't exactly rocket science for most classes, but I'm unsure on a few things when it comes to MM and especially Resto Druid.

MM Hunter:
Do you go with Lone Wolf or a pet? Lone Wolf seems to fit the burst job of a hunter well, but a cunning pet has great benefits as well (slow, mortal strike).
Does pathfinding (8% movement speed) stack with the boots speed enchant?
Which pet do you use, if any?

Resto Druid:
I used to play resto druid when intellect gave agility, so you could heal and then switch to cat for some mediocre-good damage. But that was long ago. How do you play a resto these days? Global cooldowns are precious, between dotting people with moonfires and rejuving your party. How do you approach your average BG?

 

[Psycher]

Lone wolf when you’re shooting people speed pet when you need to fc I guess, it’s not that useful since you have a mount

I think it only stacks with minor speed, not the other enchants

Mechanical pet so it can’t get sapped

Disclaimer: my hunter knowledge is based on 19s

 

[Chops]

Resto Druid:
I used to play resto druid when intellect gave agility, so you could heal and then switch to cat for some mediocre-good damage. But that was long ago. How do you play a resto these days? Global cooldowns are precious, between dotting people with moonfires and rejuving your party. How do you approach your average BG?

You can still do... decent cat damage if you pick up a Jagged Star mace from the AH. It's got caster stats but DPS damage. And while I'll sometimes open on people in cat form for laughs, it's not something I do if Im trying to be serious.

Mostly, I just try to be slippery. I havent played druids before this xpac but i imagine nothing has really changed. They arent the best healers in the bracket (priests, resto shaman) but they do good numbers, respectable damage and are incredibly hard to pin down. Theyre still the best FCs and are really good at healing on the run and drawing attention. Big splashy moonfire/sunfire graphics and green swirly heals tend to get noticed and you can help your team a good deal just by being annoying and then slipping away. Chances are youll get someone to over commit and then your team can eat them.

 

[Keeshan]

https://www.wowhead.com/spell=155228/lone-wolf all the way, but thats just a personal choice

 

[kkaabb]

pets with mortal wounds can help u take down some other twinks, hydras are the most common
u could search some pre bfa threads about this matter , ppl gave some good hints .

 

[Kageroo]

Lone Wolf if u r noob and cannot micro manage ur pet.

 

[Gmac]

Resto Druid:
I used to play resto druid when intellect gave agility, so you could heal and then switch to cat for some mediocre-good damage. But that was long ago. How do you play a resto these days? Global cooldowns are precious, between dotting people with moonfires and rejuving your party. How do you approach your average BG?

At this level, before any of the 45 affinity talents, your cat is almost useless for damage as resto. You only have Shred, so no rake stun or dots, no bite, still great for stealth and kiting, but if you find yourself in a melee fight, its most important that you maintain sun/moonfire on your target and try to play more like a boomkin. Usually, if I cant create distance with a target, I'll sit in bear and only go cat when I can afford to lose big chunks of hp. But the introduction of the affinity talents for druids, severely limited their toolkit.

 

[Neon]

Use pet with hunter

Play resto like boomkin moonfire/sunfire everything and heal players

 

[Robotnik]

Thanks or the responses, some useful info so far!

MM Hunter:

I think I settled on a Mortal Strike pet. The twink healers I encounter are ridiculously powerful (the hell is up with resto shaman??) so I tamed a Green Wasp for maximum visual clutter and irritation. Since someone said Hydra as an alternative, is the 5% extra health really so much better than 10% leech? Or whats the idea behind Hydra, considering that this is the 20-29 bracket?

This is my Hunter btw, if someone is interested:

https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-gb/character/defias-brotherhood/Allistor

Not Bis, but I couldn't do better before the sub ran out. Maybe you have still some ideas to improve if it's within Veteran account limits (I wish I had damage trinkets because Warriors eat me in a global anyway, but I only have access to the Haste Heirlooms and the Touch of the Void.

Resto Druid:
Dotting and healing, got it. Do you even bother with rejuv-blanketing the raid or just Regrowth spam + Swiftmend? The damage is often so bursty that it feels like a rejuv wont help anyone anyway and it eats a precious global cd.

So my thought process is like: Rejuv blanketing at the start of the fight, but once the fight starts only Regrowth + Swiftmend. If there is a flag carrier (which could be me) then Rejuv + Lifebloom. If I can breath, moonfire + sunfire spam.

 

[Kudzu]

I usually just run lone wolf. Hydra if I ever do want to use a pet.

 

[Tweakedirl]

Thanks or the responses, some useful info so far!

MM Hunter:

I think I settled on a Mortal Strike pet. The twink healers I encounter are ridiculously powerful (the hell is up with resto shaman??) so I tamed a Green Wasp for maximum visual clutter and irritation. Since someone said Hydra as an alternative, is the 5% extra health really so much better than 10% leech? Or whats the idea behind Hydra, considering that this is the 20-29 bracket?

This is my Hunter btw, if someone is interested:

.

If youre gonna use a pet as mm (I think lone wolf is best personally) the best by far imo is cunning + mortal strike. With minor speed and cloak + pet buff you have a constant passive movement speed of 120% which is ludicrous.

 

[Chops]

Resto Druid:
Dotting and healing, got it. Do you even bother with rejuv-blanketing the raid or just Regrowth spam + Swiftmend? The damage is often so bursty that it feels like a rejuv wont help anyone anyway and it eats a precious global cd.

So my thought process is like: Rejuv blanketing at the start of the fight, but once the fight starts only Regrowth + Swiftmend. If there is a flag carrier (which could be me) then Rejuv + Lifebloom. If I can breath, moonfire + sunfire spam.

I like to think of myself as an assist healer, so like Im not trying to maximize my GCDs, I'm trying maximize my teams other healers GCDs (unless Im the only healer or only twink healer, obvs)

So I'll toss rejuvs and lifeblooms at folks just to keep them topped off, so my other healers can worry about the warrior that went and leaped into the whole enemy team. If the other team starts pushing, I'll keep some preheal hots rolling on my other healers, so they dont have to worry about themselves. Same goes for damage output. If someone jumps one of the other healers, Im gonna try and do enough damage that they have to worry about me instead. Anything to make the other healers lives easier (assuming there are other healers, of course)

 

[Laernyth]

If Im healer bursting, Ill be in max AP/Crit gear and not using a pet.

If Im just in a general damage role I'll have a fair bit of haste mixed in and Ill use a Raptor or a Wasp. Mostly Raptor in this case, but also neither cause I'm a filthy RPer and I like to have my Owl/Sabre out.

Your pet is useless when your target is Frosted/Scattered, and when your target is CCd haste becomes much less meaningful as you can take your time.

Muck around with mixing what works with a good role identity to play with. If you have more fun pretending to be a stealthy sniper and want to hit hard then do that. If you enjoy the classic Bow+Beast then do that.

A character you don't play because you don't enjoy it does zero dps.

 

[Tweakedirl]

your literally losing 10% damage by having a pet as mm and hoping youre little retard animal friend wqho can bartely navigate a set of stairs can bridge some of the gap

 

[Laernyth]

your literally losing 10% damage by having a pet as mm and hoping youre little retard animal friend wqho can bartely navigate a set of stairs can bridge some of the gap

Not true pre-78. In the time it takes you to mark and charge up an Aimed Shot your pet could have already done enough damage to offset the Lone Wolf bonus.

You cannot attack an out of LOS target, but in most cases your pet will be able to, and the MS debuff is essential in many different situations.

 

[Rockastansky]

It depends on your gear. If you have on a full glass cannon set and you are trying to just focus people down with Aimed shot and your friends... if you don't take Lone Wolf you are just a stupid person.

If you don't have a glass cannon set and don't have friends then your Aimed shot will suck ass by comparison and you should use a pet.

Again, gear and blizzard love makes twinks before skill is a factor (it does not matter how many people are butt hurt by this statement), so just spec/pet in relation to your gear... if you don't have all the old grandfathered chants/gear you are not glass cannon... you are some hybrid vers/crit pile living in denial.

 

[Iild]

real hunter gods will get their pet to stand on stationary healers in mid fights to soak traps


fokin noobs

 

[Kageroo]

Pet is mainly for utility, not the dmg..
How else you gonna find rogues after sap without using trinket, keeping people in combat, deffing flag in AB while CCed, etc..?

 

[Robotnik]

Got to ask about the speed buffs again, it's not really clear to me what stacks and what doesn't.

So, the vanilla "Minor Speed" adds 8%, the cloak enchant adds 8% and Pathfinder adds 8%?

And the hybrid enchants (Boar's Speed etc.) add 8%, but they DONT stack with Pathfinder and the cloak? If that's the case, why would anyone ever use hybrid enchants when it means losing 8% movement speed (which is huge).

Any pro can elaborate?

 

[Tweakedirl]

minor speed + gift of verse/haste/crit (cloak) + pet buff stack

one thing im uncertain of is whether the defiler boot speed increase stacks, assuming defilers replaces minor speed tehn defilers + gift of (cloak) + pet buff may work. MAil boots are kinda trash anyway so it doesnt rlly matter