Time to Put the Dual in Dual-Spec

Time to decide on my second spec, my first of course being MM, although the specific spec will be changing a little. Actually I will discuss that first. I am currently specced 7/57/7, which is cool but our DK tank just switched to Blood tanking and I am wasting a point in true-shot aura. I might just move that point into Silencing Shot, which was taken off the GCD in 3.1, which can be macroed into every shot for free DPS, this will destroy my mana though. Hmmm, may require more thought.

Instead of respeccing tonight, I may just fill out my second spec with a BM spec. Our survival hunter will be coming to Ulduar so I won't have to bring Replenishment, (one of my thoughts for a second spec). I could give BM raiding a try and let loose the Spirit Beast (still need a name for it). Of course I will than have to acquire a new set of glyphs, macroes, blah blah blah. I'm guessing it will depend entirely upon what time I log on, if I get on early enough I will go BM, if not MM.

I am also shopping for a new UI. This is a frequent occurrence as I get bored or frustrated with mine and like to switch it on at least a monthly basis. I've had this one for a couple of months and while I was never totally satisfied I have been content. Now I'm bored with it and I find that I don't use/look at some of the screen items taking up valuable real estate. Perhaps I will do a post exclusively about addons later today or tomorrow, work is slow so I have time to research.

Hmm, things to do:

• Figure out a good BM spec
• Check my gear for possible improvements with a BM spec (remove haste for better dps)
• Come up with a name for Spirit Beast, and Wolf for that matter
• Research UI's and addons, decide what to change
• Change MM spec
• Think about Maui, ahhh 3 more days
• Try not to think about no WOW for 12 days while in Maui, I think copious amounts of pineapple and sunshine will help with the shakes

Post 3.1 Post

Well, 3.1 has dropped and for the most part Altar of Storms was pretty stable, I was pleasantly surprised. I specced MM as planned and pulled my Wolf out of the stable. Our raid group was slow in getting underway as most people were fiddling with the dual-spec system and getting used to the new stuff, I did not go the dual-spec route as I am very poor, although I will probably get it this weekend.

In reasonably short order we were standing inside the Ulduar instance taking in the scenery. The beginning of the instance is all vehicles and destroying towers and good, good fun. I was piloting a Demolisher with Ellevis riding shot-gun, I suspect much to his chagrin as I have little sense of direction. In my defense however when there are four possible directions to go, "Go that way!!" is not very helpful. :) After clearing all the trash and getting used to our vehicles, we engaged the boss, Flame Leviathon. Well, technically we engaged a bunch of large brutes in front a door, and after we beat them down the boss crashed through said door and engaged us. After a few tries and figuring out stuff, we managed to down our first boss in Ulduar !!

After that we moved on and wiped several times to the trash in front of Ignis, and wiped 3 times to Razorscale. It was awesome to not actually breeze through content, and to have to think and play well to succeed (hope I can remember how.)

After the raid broke up, I went and checked out the Argent Tournament. There doesn't seem to be too much to it, but it is designed to get more in depth as you go on, needing three days of dailies to advance to the next phase. I didn't try to joust another person which I suspect will be more interesting.

I will give more impressions as I am able to play more, but I am very optimistic about the raiding.

Obligatory 3.1 Post

Things have been a little quiet around Azeroth in the Taxiderm stables of late, with 3.1 going live probably tomorrow or a week from tomorrow, and no real chance at Glory of the Raider; I have been doing more preparing for my trip to Maui on the 23rd and my trip to fatherhood in July.

That being said, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what 3.1 has to offer and the direction it will take my hunter. Specifically, I mean professions, specs, pets & alts. And for those that just cringed with the mention of alts I have no intention of changing mains again, despite seeing Rhubarb finally venturing into the Howling Fjord.

I will start with the bombshell that Blizzard dropped on me last week, finally making Engineering a viable PVE profession. For those that don't know, the Hand Rockets have been taken off the Global Cooldown (GCD). This means that they can be used without having to replace a spell or ability, they can be macroed into your existing spells to be fired whenever they are off cooldown. This is huge !!! I have been a very big fan of engineering since I began playing, every single 1 of my characters (except Taxiderm oddly) have been an engineer at one point, Rhubarb still is. That reminds me, I should add a link to my armories on the side, you know, really shout out my shame. What makes this announcement especially irritating is the fact that just a couple of weeks ago, I dropped skinning, for ... Alchemy. I had been debating going Engineering or Tailoring, you know for the mounts. Tailoring was potentially providing a small PVE DPS increase in 3.1 and of course Engineering was at that point a DPS loss for PVE. Ellevis suggested Alchemy which would provide a nice DPS increase and save me money on my consumables (we'll see if it ends up being enough to offset the cost of levelling it). I just recently hit 435 in Alch and can make all the Flasks, I am ready for Ulduar in that regard. I was tempted to switch to Engineering but in the end I realized I couldn't afford it, and left it to my pally. Tough though.

This brings me to alts. I have been levelling my pally so that I could have a source of bullets, Rhubarb being mining & engineering. I also plan to make her my non-raid Achievement whore. Between Wrath going live and the onset of the Achievement system, I did almost nothing but collect Achievements with Rhubarb, old dungeons and exploration type stuff. In hindsight I probably should have just made her my main from day one but whatever, hunter action is now where its at. I also have a thing for soloing old content, or at least trying to, Chickenpox was fun for that and I will probably be speccing her for that purpose alone.

The mention of specs brings me to the really big question, what will be my 2 specs ? And how will I afford them ? Cost aside I would like to maximize my use of the dual spec system. My plan is to spec MM as my main raid spec, I really like it and it will be competitive in 3.1. I had intended to spec BM for my second spec and I probably still will, since I have (in my opinion) the best looking pet in the game, the Spirit Beast, Loque'Nahak. If BM happens to be a better DPS spec than MM, I may make BM my main spec and just go MM for pet unfriendly fights. The problem is Survival is really fun for PVP, which I don't do a lot of, but I enjoy Wintergrasp. Hopefully my chosen specs will be fun too.

Now for pets, I plan to use my Wolf for MM or Surv and my Spirit Beast for BM. If I need to tank something for some odd reason I have a Worm for that purpose, although that would require a 3rd spec if being serious about it. *Sigh* Dual spec will definitely NOT save me any money.

I would really like 3.1 to drop tomorrow, mostly for selfish reasons, I leave for Maui on the 23rd and I would like to go into Ulduar before I go. I will try to log on in Hawaii, but I would definitely not raid, or really do anything but see what it feels like to enjoy my favorite hobby from my favorite place.

Upcoming posts will either be about 3.1 that has just dropped (fingers crossed, plz, plz, plz), or I will go into more detail about my intended specs.