I had a different stragegy.  When I hit 70, I didn't run to the AH to buy myself some sweet gear.  Why not?  Well, first of all, I'm a bit of a penny pincher. I rarely buy things on the Auction House, I'd much rather grind mats and badges and instances to get drops or crafted items. Second of all, when I hit 70, I was automatically in "saving for my epic flyer" mode.  The first time I saw someone zoom past me on a Netherwing mount, I was determined to be just like them!  I don't have a problem with people gearing up using the AH, I mean, that's what it is there for.  But I thought I'd give a few additional pointers for other sources!

First of all, if you are a leatherworker it is time for you to start rounding up some mats for an [Netherscale Armor] set.  Between the Bracers, Belt and Breastplate, you'll net yourself a nice +20 hit rating.  Your first goal as a newly 70 hunter is to achieve the hit cap, attack power, agility and crit will come along in time, but hit rating is really important to work at, and has a set maximum to get to.  These three pieces of BoP leatherworking pieces lasted me straight through until the later part of T5, and I'm still wearing the chest.

If you aren't a leatherworker, then your best bet is to find one and have them craft up a [Felstalker Armor] set.  This set also the same +20 hit bonus, but the stats are a little less in areas like Stamina (which is pretty important for a new raider).

For a weapon, I can't recommend the [Hellscream's Will] more.  Do a bit of rep grind for Mag'har and this beauty is yours, and you can even get a pretty mount at the same time!  I have grown to hate it, only because this electric guitar had been strapped to my back for a full year before I finally got a replacement.  The hit rating on this is godly (+42!), and will make it a tough one to get rid of.  If somehow hit rating isn't an issue for you, two other great weapons are the [Sonic Spear], which drops from Murmur in regular Shadow Labyrinth (but refused to drop for me) and also the [Blackened Spear] (what I'm using now) from Thrallmar rep (Revered), which has more agility and less +hit.

For a ranged weapon, [Valanos' Longbow] is probably your best bet for a bow.  If you are of the Gun Lovin' variety though, I'd have to say you may want to spend the time and/or money to grab a [Ornate Khorium Riffle].  But if you happen to pick up a [Recoilless Rocket Ripper X-54], from Steamvaults (you'll probably be running this to rep up for your Glyph), it's nothing to scoff at either.  In fact, this has got to be one of my favourite looking weapons in the game!  +10 points for aesthetic!

One trinket that I sure hope you held on to is the [Bladefist's Breadth].  A quest reward from a level 63 quest on a 70?  You bet!  This is a great AP boost trinket, and there aren't many you can replace it with.  Another trinket that I might recommend as your very first badge purchase is the [Bloodlust Brooch] (41 Badges).  And be sure to use it whenever you can, it's a handy boost that really will make a difference.

The best ring I can point you to is [Angelista's Revenge] - but it's a bit pricey at 60 badges, so I'm sure you'll want something to hold you over until then.  Some options are the [Ravenclaw Band] from Sethekk Halls, and the [Ring of Umbral Doom] from Botanica (both available on regular).

The boots I wore for the longest time, in fact I believe they were my last remaining greens - were the [Duro Footgear].  These are from a Netherstorm quest and they're really decent.  Of course, if you happen to get [Boots of the Endless Hunt] to drop from Warp Splinter (Bot Heroic)... good for you, hope he also drops the neck piece [Jagged Bark Pendant] as well, so you can fill two slots with one kill! :)  But be prepared to stick with the green ones, as there isn't a whole lot in between.

What am I missing... ah, head gear.  [Dream-Wing Helm].  This lasted me through til I got my scary-looking drop from Shade of Aran.  You can pick this one up off of Abmassador Hellmaw in Shadow Labyrinth! Edit: Rilgon Arcsinh was nice enough to point out that one of the best helms you can get is the [Surstrike Goggles 2.0], which only Engineers can use.  So if Engy's your thing... get on it!

For gloves, your best bet is [Handguards of the Steady] from heroic Mech.

Oh and if you didn't pick up Bloodlust Brooch as your first badge loot, you'll want to grab [Blood Knight War Cloak] for your back, in fact I'm still using this... and also for your neck, [Choker of Vile Intent].  These are both great pieces, and at only 25 badges each, they're a steal!  Grab 'em up!

And if you are lucky on drops and such, the Desolation Armor (Dungeon 3 set) and the Beast Lord Armor set have some nice pieces, they are nothing to scoff at!

If you're not lucky on drops... well, hit up the Auction House.  Or do some PvP, there's lots of excellent BG and Arena gear that will get you where you ought to be!  I didn't cover the PvP stuff because I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to it, personally.  OR just try to get in on a few Karazhan runs and see what you can pick up from there.  even just Attumen drops a few nice Hunter pieces, and luckily the most important gear you need to be a successful hunter in Kara is SKILL!  So get some practise, read some guides, and I wish you happy hunting!

* Added on behalf of the Padding The Ground For Obvious Falling After Ego Bloat Moments: Sometimes the answers are "Yes and yes, ooh, wait a minute, no! Eeeeep!" and various other combinations. Yes, I have moved while Flame Wreath was up.

But at the tanking station, bad group members have like a neon sign above their heads. With best friend Bupu at the back healing, we have both ends covered, and have started keeping a friendslist of "good PUG people", really, really bad ones get put on the ignore list. Seriously. I have been known to get enormously stressed out while tanking, not in the usual run of things, the "when things go right" run of things, but the other times. The other times like when the mage takes it upon herself to decide it's time to pull, at this point I have no rage. At all. And use a Pyroblast to do it. This actually happened! To make it worse, she then tried to make out like I was the "nab".

Mage: Well why don't you just get aggro after I pull?

Me: *blink* *blink* *blink*. Because you're, like, using a six-second cast uber-fireball to tell them that we're here! Hello? I ain't a paladin, lady! Druid. Drooo-id.

We teamed up with one hunter for Auchenai Crypts who was a disaster in all ways, but turned up again in a group for Shadow Labs and he looked to be shaping up to a promising hunter, I walked him through his first Misdirection, the first one he let the buff run out before firing but he got better, as for the Crypts shenanigans, who knows, people have off days. I know I do.

I'm getting better, and calmer, at the tanking though. It's going very well, thank you. Did Botanica tonight and only suffered one wipe. That's pretty good going!

Weird thing that happened today. Out with Bupu doing the quest line to get an Arcatraz key and clearing up some of the demon pooches around that area, one dropped Valanos' Longbow. Nothing strange about that, true enough, I won the roll and we carried on. The next mob? Dropped Valanos' Longbow. I won the roll again but gave one to Bupsy so we could both enjoy the warm glow of the auction monies. I might actually see if that promising hunter wants it...

(picture by Kody and was the winner of Big Bear Butt's design a t-shirt contest a while back).

Meet AdventureQuest Worlds. You may think this new MMORPG will be the perfect game with the perfect community; it seems that way so far. But the reason for that is because only paying players, meaning the ones who have upgraded either their AdventureQuest, DragonFable, or MechQuest accounts, have been able to play, and the vast majority of them are kind and considerate individuals who want to have a great time playing a great game with like-minded players. But as soon as AQWorlds opens up to the general public, those RuneScape jerks I was talking about will inevitably find their way here, with their sole objective to ruin your gameplay. And in the case of every other MMORPG, there's nothing you can do about it. Try as you might to ignore these people, they will still be there ruining your gameplay, and it has forced many a player to quit these otherwise fantastic games.

Meet AdventureQuest World's hidden solution: Instances. The original intent of instances was to avoid areas from overflowing. Only 20 players can be in any designated area (Battleon, Swordhaven, Sewer, Yulgar's Inn, etc.). And if you happen to choose to join an area through the Map feature, you will join an instance that is not overcrowded, but with people nonetheless. But there is another way to join a new area: Through /join <location name>-<instance number>. In this way you can join any instance number, whether it be 1 or 1 million. In this way, you can get away from everyone else. If you aren't in a social mood or you don't feel like dealing with some immature players, just join a high, random instance and you'll be all alone, and have the area to yourself.

And this is why AQWorlds will be different, and better, than every other MMORPG out there: Because all other games' greatest weakness is not the case in AQWorlds. Those bad communities that haunt games such as RuneScape does not have to be the case in AQWorlds. And that, my friends, is not only what makes AQWorlds unique in its nature, but a better game for it.

For the countless hours I spent in instances of the 40-60 bracket, I wanted to make sure I can help them with quests and whatnot. With that goal and my own achievements in mind, I went ahead and got a lot of the items attributed to certain instances.

• I'm not sure how many people now carry the [Mallet of Zul'Farrak] now that Jintha'Alor is no longer an elite sub-zone. I went through the trouble of getting it before Patch 2.3 removed the challenge of going through an uninstanced elite area. It was the single largest concentration of elite mobs outside an instance. To this day, I still find it one of the highly demanded items if people want to finish the quest to get [Carrot on a Stick].
• There's also [Yeh'kinya's Scroll], which I found useful last night so that a guildmate could get more drops from an extra boss in Temple of Atal'Hakkar. Of course, the hard part is killing trolls successively so that you can unlock the rooms in the second floor of the temple. Countless hours spent in this instance proved useful to me last night since I still remembered how to navigate the place.
• I've not had anyone ask me for a boost through Maraudon, but the [Scepter of Celebras] can prove quite useful in teleporting party members to the center of the instance.

When Wrath of the Lich King is released, we'll also be saying goodbye to a lot of the dungeons we've come to know quite well. Over time, all the intricacies of these dungeons will become lost. Who will keep their keys to places like Shattered Halls, Arcatraz, and Shadow Labyrinth? Who will keep the urn to summon Nightbane in Karazhan? How many people will actually gain enough reputation to get heroic keys to these Outland instances as they level their way to Northrend?

They will rely on us older players to have these items. Imagine boosting a new death knight at level 80. Will you remember how each of the boss fights went? The problem is that Outland instance boss encounters were designed more uniquely and creatively than the older instances. Will it be possible to actually boost people if you may need more to ensure the encounter goes smoothly?

Consider what you will leave behind in Burning Crusade content.

Two reasons for it really. Not that either justify staying in such a mind numbing tract of contradictory land.  How can such a small area have so much distance between points?  The first reason was to level up herbalism, which turns out that weeds sell better than funny looking dust (ie enchanting), and Silverpine is great for that.  Every single herb from skill 1 to 100 grows there.  The other reason was to try and get the Robe of Arugal from Shadowfang Keep (Still no luck, got the belt though).

But wandering around that geographical embodiment of cynicism looking for small bits of root to sell off, you have a lot, A LOT, of time to think.  So how exactly would you, from a role playing experience, justify doing a dungeon more than once?  How many times can you write off the dark evil as not extinguished but merely wounded.  Is it possible to explain why no matter how many times you kill a level 21 elite, he keeps coming back? I mean, at the endgame level, you can usually justify anything by simply saying, "Dude. It's ILLIDAN! Of course he came back. Do you really think we could take down ILLIDAN?"  I'm not saying that it's that believable, and you would be beaten to death by your fellow RP-ers by saying 'dude,' but it's a little bit better than saying that a grumpy evil wizard just doesn't want to die.

How would you do it?  I can only liken it to tuning into to the next season of a network one hour drama (No, I can't name one. I only watch cartoons. /flex ) and finding it has suddenly turned into a sitcom.  That's My Aku'mai.  Leave it to Van Cleef.  My Three Adds.  Where the boss busts in the door to thunderous applause from the studio audience and shoots off his trademark catch-spell, and the audience laughs.  Every week Illidan is chewing Kael'thas out for one of us wacky hijinks to get more demonic power, while Vashj burns the roast.

Now that I think about it, it makes a lot more sense to view instances like that.  They weren't getting the ratings they wanted at the black temple to they switched target audiences by dropping the attunement, Illidan almost instantly jumped the shark and here comes the spin off, The Sunwell.  That would make the old world instances the same as TV Land, a fond sense of nostalgia but not quite as edgy or challenging as the new stuff, although the new stuff is simply re-using all the plot lines that we've seen a thousand times already from the TV Land, Pre-TBC stuff.

My god, I think I've stumbled upon the key to figuring out all of WoW...

Watching some of the best badminton players in the world makes me think how similar their gameplays are to a DPS race. Badminton now is not the same badminton from the last summer Olympics. The game has been modified to make it more fast-paced and suitable for television viewing. As such, you have more quick shots and attempts to force the opponent to commit errors. Every time you make a mistake, not just when the opponent makes a scoring drive, you give a point to them and have to make up for it. Just like with every death against Gruul, you have fewer people to keep up with his Grows.

These high-powered matches will keep up at the edge of your seat, just like the feeling that your raid will make the enrage timer with just seconds to spare. You look at the enrage timer; you look at the boss' health; you look at the timer again.

What can we take away from these players?

The key to the DPS race is momentum. Try not to step back on your DPS because you will have to make up for it harder and faster towards the end of the fight. It's like an unpaid debt that you pay only the minimum amount each month. Over time, it becomes unmanageable. On the other hand, you should also never tell the raid to "step up the DPS" if you are perfectly on target. Stepping up DPS puts more pressure on the damage dealers. Casters will burn through their mana faster, forcing them to rely on mana potions to keep mana up and may unconsciously impose a mindset to conserve mana. Your brain then has a conflict between spamming your macro more often and a mana conservative macro (i.e. 1:1.5 rotation versus 3:2 Steady/Auto rotation).

You technically can't "DPS faster". That phrase is counterintuitive to DPS and misleading. The DPS that you do on a normal raid is the DPS you will have. You can't DPS faster than what you already have without better gear. In addition, accelerating DPS means you were wasting time in the beginning of the fight and letting that enrage timer gain on you. When you accelerate your gameplay in badminton, your opponent will always try to counterattack by slowing down the returns. In the end, you made no gains except by tiring yourself out.

So the key point is to keep your DPS steady. Fluctuations in DPS upset your balance and throws off the entire momentum of the fight. Slow and steady wins the race, well maybe not always the "slow" part.

1. Don't be Afraid to Speak Up: This is probably my biggest problem in a PUG. Most of the time when sometimes drop which I can use, and it would be an improvement, but I can survive without it, I just roll greed. I usually have a hard time speaking up about rolling need on a green. If you don't say so, this BoP blue might become vendor trash, or that BoE becomes someone else's profit. I lost my opportunity to get Rethilgar's Shoulders not once, but twice, to the priest, who is either DE-ing them, or vendoring them because I didn't speak up.

2. While in Combat, Focus on Combat: Don't start looting things the second the first mob of the group is down. Not only is it frustrating to see the loot rolls on my screen, the group is either losing dps, a tank, or healing because you have to see what <insert mob name here> dropped. To a lesser extent, this applies to skinning/mining/professions in general. I am guilty of this one unfortuntely. I will run around skinning mobs, while the group moves on to the next pull. If you are going to gather or craft something, make sure you tell the group.

3. Just Because You Have the x Profession, Doesn't Mean You Get the Loot: I'd like to hear what your opinions are on this one. I'm getting annoyed at how everyone seems to be a JC and thinks they can roll need on all the jewels which drop, and some even go so far as to loot on any ore which is found. I couldn't care less about them looting some copper or tin, but I like to stockpile the jewels up and either AH them or send them to a JC in my guild. And with this priest from SFK, I suspect she wasn't even JC. If you agree with this, how far can you take it? I'm sure there are some over-zealous enchanters who have rolled need just to DE stuff.

4. I Don't Care About Your Alts: This one bothers me so much. I hate it when people start to brag about their other toons. Big deal about having 5 70's, it doesn't make up for your crappy dps. The only time I'd want to hear about your alts, is if you are going to get on one to give us a free run, or because it's around our level and it will better complement our group than the current character. I've been in groups where there is a huge debate between which person is better, based on how many 70's they have. All that means is you have more time on your hands, or have been playing longer. Longer playtime != more skilled. Any sentence that starts with "I have a level 70 <insert common dps>, and this is how you need to play your class.

5. Attempt to be Civilized: The PUG group never benefits from you making a lame your mom joke, or perpetuating the anal <insert skill here> fad. Comments like, how does my rogue have more hp then you in bear form, also never help. I never openly humiliate someone in party/say/guild chat. If I feel the need to crack jokes, which happens often, I do so in whisper mode, or just to myself. If someone feels like they are being picked on, they won't be happy, and the group is going to suffer. Offering them advice can be tricky, many players don't like being told how to play their class. And berating them in party chat won't help them see your point of view.

6. Know What to Expect: Let's face it, you are in a PUG. You're going to get stuck with all kinds of people, some good, some bad. Your tank might afk during the middle of a fight, your healer might be passive aggressive and let you die on purpose, you might have a hunter who wants to melee, or a mage who thinks wanding is their best form of dps. You have to roll with it all. If you want to control the unknowns, then get a group of trusted friends or guildies, don't rely on the LFG system.

So that's my two cents on lowbie PUGs, I guess it's probably much different at the high levels, so maybe there will be a followup once I get to some new instances. What tips do you guys have for PUG Manners.

The first thing you need is a group. For the Deadmines (and all other instances) it generally requires that there are five members for an instance group. If you are in a guild, most likely the other members of the party will be other members of the guild - this type of grouping is highly desirable as guild parties generally make for a much more cohesive team. On the otherhand, you might need to look for a group and run with random players in a party termed a PUG (PickUp Group).

Whatever type of group you select to go with, try to find one that offers a balanced party. Specifically:

• One player is the "tank" - this player is usually a warrior, paladin or feral druid with the responsibility of holding down a mob for the entire group. The tank is a very important member in a hunter's calculations and it is one of the hunter's job to assist him in killing mobs.
• A healer - usually a priest, shaman or druid, sometimes a paladin.
• DPSers - hunters, rogues, shamans, mages or warlocks usually making up the balance of the party.

This is an ideal grouping and is not always possible to get, and variations will work as long as there is someone to tank and someone who can heal. My huntress has been on instance runs without tanks, wherein her pet served the role, but this is not an ideal situation as pets do not necessarily make good instance tankers. However, in a pinch and with close supervision of the pet it can work fairly well in lower level instances.

Do not be afraid to bail out of a random group if you instinctively feel that it does not offer a good balance of roles or if you are uncomfortable with the other players - badly balanced groups are prone to wipe and this can be very frustrating. If you do decide that the group is unsuitable, leave before the group enters the instance. It is not fair to the other members of the group if you just decide to leave during the middle of an instance run.

Preparations for running an instance (for hunters):

Even when running the Deadmines, my huntress takes this as a serious venture and prepares accordingly. This is to ensure that she and her pet can perform their roles efficiently to the benefit of the group as a whole. So ...

1/. Bring adequate supplies of:

• Food
• Pet food - especially pet food (like how many times has my huntress been asked by another hunter if she has meat to spare for his pet? FYI - my huntress carries TWO full stacks of pet food ALWAYS).
• Drink - yes you need mana too - right?
• Bandages  - In combat my huntress uses MEND PET, out of combat she uses BANDAGES to heal her pet - why? Because bandages don't expend any mana. Additionally, she can use bandages on herself and if necessary some other member of the party (if they would quit moving for a moment already ...)
• and especially AMMUNITION - let's spell this one out as it is really really irritating to hear another hunter say to the group that they are out of bullets - so FILL UP EVERY SLOT IN YOUR QUIVER or AMMO POUCH with arrows/bullets.

2/. Make sure your gear has been fully repaired.

3/. Make sure you have time to run the entire instance - nothing is as irritating as a party member having to bale out of the group because they have to ... go to bed ... go out on a date ... cook dinner ... etc.

4/. Adequate bag space - you want room to carry out the goodies that you will find right?

Basic Concept:

Running an instance involves multiple fights with trash mobs (random mobs/guards/etc) and boss fights.

Each fight is generally situationally different but the approaches to each fight almost always involve:

1/. Someone pulling the mob

2/. Someone tanking the pulled mob

3/. Everyone piling in and trying to kill the mob except the healer who is trying to keep those in the frontline alive.

With reference to 3/, for hunters, this means generally that they are SHOOTING the mob and not meleeing the mobs alongside the tank. It is the pet that should be along side the tank (if he is even in the fight at all) which brings up the next important hunter concept - managing your pet.

Managing your pet:

Due to a lot of hunters not properly controlling their pets in instances and causing wipes (the whole party dies), hunters and hunter pets are often not welcomed in instance runs. Especially with PUGs. If you join a PUG that does not even allow you to use your pet (and this sometimes happens) ditch the group. Pets DO have a place in instances and if you are put into a situation where your companion is excluded from the group, in effect they are adversely affecting your efficiency as a hunter.

Pets that run instances should be:

1/. Placed on PASSIVE - it does nothing unless you SPECIFICALLY tell it to do something.

2/. GROWL is turned OFF - this is because generally you do not want your pet to compete with the tank for aggro. A player tank (assuming they know what they are doing) will ALWAYS hold aggro better than a hunter's pet. But when dealing with multiple mobs within an instance, a pet on growl could:

• pull some of the mob off the tank and then lose aggro and the fight gets out of hand
• b. growls at the wrong mob bringing additional mobs into the fight

There are exceptions and these are very situational but from my huntress' experience she will turn growl on when:

• The tank is obviously in trouble (too many and the healer's mana is depleted) and she turns on growl to take pressure off the tank.
• When the pet needs to off tank - extreme example (but likely to happen in the Deadmines) - a wandering patrol comes up from behind and the everyone is focused at the front. The huntress will need her pet to hold down the patrol until the rest of the party are free to deal with the additional threat from the rear.
• To intercept a mob headed for the healer (or other spellcaster) who accidently pulls aggro off the tank.

Note1: It should be pointed out that the pet is held in reserve at my huntress' side so that it could deal exactly with these types of contingencies. My huntress usually does not send her pet directly into a fight at the beginning unless it is very clear that the is no threat of additional mobs entering into the fray (such as during the final boss fight).

Note2: Pets don't jump off cliffs (for example). If your party decides to take a short cut that you know your pet cannot/will not follow - dismiss it and call it back later. Or if you are clever use Eyes of the Beast and manually take it to where you want him to go and make him STAY until you catch up. This prevents the pet trying to find its own way and aggro'ing a lot of mob that it may encounters enroute.

Point being - if in doubt - dismiss the pet and recall it after you get to your destination.

A word about healers:

It is not the healer's job to heal YOU. If your hunter is carrying out his role correctly, he will rarely get hurt much. The healer is there to support the tank and other frontline party members. A good healer will throw you a quick heal if it really becomes needed but you should not be acting in a manner that requires them to focus on both you and those others fighting at the front.

It is not the healer's job to heal YOUR PET - that is your job, after all you have MEND PET, so make liberal use of it as needed.

This is why you brought a full stack of bandages into the instance in the first place, to heal yourself and your pet.

It is your job to protect the healer (first) and other spellcasters (second) - with perhaps an exception being made for mages that cannot control their AOE attacks and consistently pull mobs on top of their good selves.

This is one of the reasons why my huntress' pet has his own fan club and even receives fan mail. People mail him ... tada ... pet food. Why? Because he is always there to run intercept on mobs that makes it past the main tank and rush for the healer or over enthusiastic mage. So when a mob rushes for the healer in my huntress' party it will get a growling angry hunter's pet in its face before it ever gets near her. As a backup, this is where DISTRACTING SHOT has a functionality. Use this to grab a mob's attention from the healer and intercept them with your pet.

Warlocks usually have their own pets so are less dependent on hunters for protection, but do not bet on this as later on warlock pets are not as effective as protection for their masters. Warlock pets tend to be specialists and good warlocks will bring out which ever pet they need for a situation. Only the Void Walker and Doomguard have provisions to hold mob aggro in the manner of hunter's pet (and in general they are not as good as hunter's pets in this regard). The Imp, Succubus and Fel Hounds are specialists which do not have aggro holding talents. Additionally, although admittedly Succubus are a warlock's crowd control pet, their ability only works on humanoids.

If you are running Deadmines with a warlock in the group, make a note of which pet he or she has out and make provisions according:

• Imp - the warlock is in full DPS mode. Your pet does not generally have to be reserved for any special role here. Deadmine mobs will not last long in the face of a warlock/imp combo.
• Succubus - just make sure your pet does not break her the enchantment on mobs she has seduced.
• Void-walker- if the warlock as this pet out ... hmmm tough call .., it depends on the warlock, if they are good, you need do nothing. If they have poor pet management, then you may need your pet to run interference for mobs directly targeting the warlock.

Situational Awareness:

Your hunter above all others in the party needs to be aware of his/her surroundings. This is why as much as possible my huntress is shooting from the back, monitoring her mini-map, keeping one eye on the healer/mage and NOT at the front trying to out melee the warrior.

Another hunters job in an instance group is to provide CC - crowd control, and the majority of hunters are clueless as to what this is - and there is a misconception that this is largely the realm of SURVIVAL spec'd hunters. This is not so, all hunters can use traps for CC effectively

So ...

You have traps. Especially useful are:

• Frost Traps - used to hold down adds or mobs that are to be dealt with later - so if the tank tells you to CC a target think Frost Trap. If you are really good, you will be able to Frost Trap two targets at a time.

Tip: You can also drop a frost trap at the healer's feet as a 'just in case' if you know there is nothing else that needs to be seperately CC'd. Some healers will ask for this, so go ahead and do it if they do.

• Immolation Traps and Explosive Traps - run up to the tank and drop one at the mobs feet and move back to the rear to continue shooting the mob. Used for causing additional damage to a targetted mob.

DON'T DOs when running instances:

1/. Use MULTI-SHOT with the utmost care - if in doubt don't use this at all. Multi-shots in confined spaces can accidently hit mobs that are outside of a fight, which when hit will immediately aggro on the party.

2/. Don't pull mobs off the tank - nothing irritates a tank than having to run back to grab back aggro from the mob that the hunter pulled.

There are exceptions to this and my huntress has deliberately pulled (extra) mobs off tanks when she sees them obviously struggling. These mobs are instantly intercepted and "off-tanked" by her pet or pulled on to a frost trap to be dealt with later.

Looting:

Become familiar with looting ettiquettes - establish loot rules before embarking on an instance especially if you are running with a PUG.

Don't NEED ROLL on everything - if you need something - ask BEFORE NEEDING. And especially DON'T NEED ROLL on something that either you cannot use (like hunter's can use shields?) or something else that could be of equal use to someone else in the party. It is always advisable to clarify the looting rules BEFORE starting an instance run. Sometimes people will tell the party that they are specifically running the instance to get item "x" - respect this. If you want something that someone else wants make this clear beforehand so that it is clearly understood that you will roll against them if the item is dropped. (Honestly, my huntress has bailed parties even within instances if people are constantly need rolling on everything without asking).

Hunter's Pulling Instance Mobs:

Hunter's are the best pullers in the game - period. Not a lot of people know this (including many hunters) and most tanks believe that their class are better pullers (not true). My advice, offer to do the pulling (if you really know how to), but don't press the point. Especially for the purposes of running the Deadmines its not worth the argument as hunters won't really shine as pullers until they are in their level 30s.

[This is a whole subject unto itself and will be covered in a later article]

But if you really want to know ... my huntress can in the right situation pull a single mob out of a group without aggravating the rest of the group ... yes hunters are that good at pulling. No other class can do this.

Final Advice:

 As indicated above, hunters have multiple functions within an instance group. The Deadmines is a great introductory instance to get your feet wet if you have never done instances before. Respect the other members of the party, but at the same time you are deserving of the same respect if you are carrying out your role(s) correctly. Many people playing other classes may be biased against hunters due to prior bad experiences - you have an opportunity to set the record straight if you handle your pet and your hunter well.

Hunters are not, as some people would like others to believe, WOW on easy mode. Especially in instances, hunters can and do fill multiple functions in an instance group, and good hunters will always be valued by their parties.

Have fun ... and btw ... when your hunter is around level 35 ... he/she can solo the Deadmines. At level 50 and higher, your pet can solo the Deadmines.

A young party comes up to the huntress in Stormwind and asks: "can you run us thru the Deadmines?" She looks at them and smiles and says: "Sure, just follow my pet ...".  "Huh?", "JRead my lips, just follow my pet"... the next day ... her pet gets more fan mail (sigh).

Maybe there is some truth after all about hunters being WOW on easy mode? Then again, maybe, just maybe, this huntress knows what she is doing ...

-Lukar

I wanted to link my armory page, but I'm not on it apparently. Maybe I leveled too quickly for Blizzard.

Last thursday, I joined my final gnomer run, yes! The acidic walkers dropped, and I could get out of the boots I had been wearing for over 15 levels. It was frustrating, I had two huntards in my group. One of which, sadly, was from my guild. He chose to melee the entire time, his pet was never healed by him, and he was wearing quite an assortment of gear. I plan on helping him in the future, but I could barely keep my mouth shut while I watched him melee for the entire instance. I find that since I have played a lot of the classes to level 20 or so, it helps me understand their abilities, and it makes me more aware of when I need to pay attention to them.

So I've had a lot of trouble getting into groups lately, there isn't as much interest in SM or RFD like there was for VC, SFK, BFD, and Gnomer. Does it get better or worse for lfg as you level up? If it's going to be like this until I get to 70, I think I'm going to respec shadow, and solo my way there.

-Bremere

Also, I was messing around on my human mage last night, got him from 5 to 7, and used up all his rested xp, I didn't find the class to be that much fun, aside from making my own food. It seems like once the mob gets to melee range, I have no tricks left if my health gets low, I guess on I can freeze or blink it will get better.

Well yesterday I ran my first two parts of the Scarlet Monastery. The Armory and the Library. So far I think they are my favorite instances. I'm still waiting to do the Graveyard and im only lvl 34 so i'm not high enough to do the Cathedral. It seems like all the instances for my level are in horde territory. At SM there are always high levels camping at the meeting stone (I'm a Gnome Warlock). And I think I'm just unlucky but it seems that when we have a group ready, the healer always leaves. Luckily when I ran the library yesterday the other warlock left. I hate being in groups with other locks. I feel that there is always some kind of competition. Well we were able to 4-man it and I got a new robe and staff and all the other stuff I greeded I put in the Guild bank. The only instance I don't like is Gnomeregan. I'm glad I have no more quests for that place.

Pj221

...I thought I was done with Ramparts when I had the belt and the bracers, but then I grouped up with another druid for Blood Furnace and she had the pretty Ursol's Claw strapped to her back. Naturally I asked her where she got it and, of course, my Cartographer loot information doesn't say what's in the chest after downing Nazan and Vazruden.

After a few more empty runs, I'd even resigned myself to not getting it and instead went to grind rep with Sporeggar to get the Staff of the Wild from the "Now That We're Friends..." quest.

But tonight, after grouping with the intention of doing The Furnace but ended up back in Ramps because of sheer, unashamed laziness at the distance from the meeting stone, it finally dropped. There. I hope I never have to see the inside of that damn instance again. Seriously.

Unlike the first time going through Outland with Anj and Alysha, when it was pure questing to get the most from the rest time, the instance-heavy route is gearing up Wintersong quite well. :D

So I'm questing along in Duskwood, and I get a tell saying, SM Yard, so I assume he is asking me to heal for this instance. I say yes, and the leader quickly gathers a party. Our "tank" is a ret pally, which should have thrown off some red flags, but I assumed he knew what he was doing - big mistake. So the leader and the pally both announce that neither of them are going to help summon. So I offer to, and a mage comes along. We finally approach the stone after a lengthy ride from SS. Surprise surprise, plenty of horde here, and our summoning party was crashed. I guess I took the summoning stone for granted, we spent almost 25 minutes waiting for it to be left alone, eventually it was just a 29 Belf pally, and he chose not to turn his flag on. We managed to sprint into the instance, with only one of party being killed by the horde outside.

Now the fun begins, as my heals are almost equally distributed to everyone but myself. I also noticed the main curse being applied to everyone reduces healing effects by 75%, and I'm not exactly ok with that. So we wipe once, before entering the mausoleum part. The one good part, I got some leg armor, Blighted Leggings, which dropped off of a rare spawn. So now we enter the mausoleum, work through the first pull. Then the pally goes down a flight of steps, as a pat comes around to greet me. We wipe, the tank blames me, and hearths out. Luckily we replaced him with a rogue, who happened to be nearby. The mage mentions that he can decurse, I didn't want to tell him how to play his class, and offered to help with the 75% reduced healing. He only would decurse himself, which was slightly helpful I guess. We manage to work our way to the boss, the shammy goes down, then the mage, then me, and the two rogues manage to finish the boss off, loot drops, but I can't use. Ok, thanks for the group guys, I'm outta here.

So I will do this instance again, if not just to see the rest, but I think I'm going to take a day or two off and just quest a few levels out. Are most SM runs this bad? Or was it just a bad group?

And it feels like the first time
Like it never did before
Feels like the first time
Like weve opened up the door
Feels like the first time
Like it never will again, never again

-Foreigner

Dag, was that like high school?  No, earlier.  Classic stuff anyway.

And it's what we did tonight, Msaker, that is.  Going into Blackwing Lair with the guild on a lark.  We started with 10 to get the attunement (20 minutes UBRS run), and wound up with 12 killing Razorgore and 14 killing Vael in BWL.  In the old days of the 60's it took 40.  Who says gear doesn't matter?  And you can go back and visit places like this.

Amusing.  Have fun with it.

Selection

There are several ways to approach pet selection when you are a Marksmanship hunter.

One way is to go the traditional tanking pet method where your pet should be generating enough threat that you will not have to go into melee combat or reposition yourself. The problem with this group of pets lies in the fact that after some time, all the mitigation these pets have will not become useful if they cannot hold aggro in the long run. The longer the fight, the more likely you yourself will pull aggro and turn the role of the hunter around.

In a PvE environment, selecting a pet with an ability that can be used as a focus dump is essential. It is generally acceptable to use a Cat or a Ravager because both Claw and Gore, respectively serve as focus dump abilities with a cost of only 25 focus. When used with Go for the Throat, focus dump becomes more important for a pet so that it can sustain its damage output. Windserpents are also viable for marksmen because Lightning Breath scales with attack power.

Utility is one of the most important aspects of a PvP environment. If a pet has any ability that can impair the enemy, it's very preferable.

The Numbers

As a marksman, you have several talents at your disposal to make your pet a more valuable companion. Let's compare using Armory Light two sample hunter profiles: one a beast master, the other a marksman.

Remember that a pet's attack power scales with the hunter's attack power. Because a marksman usually has at least 200 more ranged attack power due to Trueshot Aura and talents like Combat Experience, Careful Aim, and Master Marksman, the scaling of pet attack power is much larger for a Marksmanship hunter. This data is obvious when you are using Armory Light to see the profiles of a hunter. From the two sample hunter profiles (approximately equivalent, though the Marksmanship hunter has slightly better gear), you will notice the significant difference in Pet AP.

Synergy

The key to using of a pet for Marksmanship hunters is to minimize the length of a fight with an enemy. The longer the fight, the more problems you will have in management.

Because Growl no longer scales with the pet's attack power after Patch 2.4.3, Marksmanship hunters will experience more occurrences where they draw more aggro away from their pets. It's important for our pets to get at least several seconds of head start for Omen Threat Meter to read at least 1000 threat generated by your pet. Usually this is achievable within the first 3 seconds of a fight. Your attack power and damage are your assets. Use your highest damage abilities first (i.e. Multi-Shot, etc.), then slowly increase the damage output using other special shots. By doing this, your threat is actually more manageable. The reason being is that when you put your highest damage shot out first, you will dramatically increase your threat to nearly the same level as your pet's.

Ranged attackers will draw aggro when they have achieved 30% more aggro than the "tank". If you were to start shooting with Auto, Steady, and Arcane, you will incrementally build damage in the beginning and risk the chance that a critical strike on Multi-Shot puts you way above the 30% mark and immediately draw aggro, forcing you into melee combat. Incremental increase of threat following an attack of massive threat will reduce that risk. Your pet will more easily sustain its threat generation if you are using lower threat abilities towards the end of the fight. It is also somewhat noticeable that because your pet has more attack power than normal, it will easily pick up an enemy again if you suspend of hold back your attacks temporarily. Splitting the attention of your enemy minimizes damage to both at the same time.

In the PvP environment, our pets are not as much of an annoyance as a big red beast clawing at your enemy. Marksmanship PvP hunters are well known for their utility and ability to manage with just about any class. Beast Mastery hunters can keep their big red pets. One of the most common PvP pets is the Scorpid family. Using a scorpid allows the use of Scorpid Poison, a Damage over Time ability much like Serpent Sting. Using these two makes yourself a formidable opponent by maximizing what you can do with a pet. Night elf hunters can also use Shadowmeld and activate their cats' Prowl ability to surprise unsuspecting enemies. By stacking your abilities with those of your pets', you will be able to work as a cohesive team. Again, the Marksmanship hunter makes short of his job with the help of a pet. Aimed Shot a healer, dispel using Arcane Shot, interrupt with Silencing Shot, and stun with Improved Concussive Shot. Manage your pet well while using all your abilities as needed, and you can very well hold out against many players.

Final Thoughts

While we do not provide our pets with as many abilites as Beast Mastery hunters do, we can work just as well with our pets. I recently moved my talent points in Improved Aspect of the Hawk to Endurance Training, and the survivability of my pet is much more noticeable. 10% of health increase towards pets while trained with the proper resistances greatly improves raid performance.

Marksmanship hunters must see their relationship with their pets as a two-way road. You contribute to each other's performance. Beast masters will always send in their pets first into the chaos, but we have to analyze when is the perfect time for us to use our pets. We can't risk sending them into a dangerous environment if we are using Focused Fire. It's like a protective parent who can't risk sending a child into battle. I'm more than willing to take the force of the attack if my pet is in danger.

Whether you are a beast master, marksman, or survivalist, you're still a hunter, and you need your pet regardless of your preferred talent tree. Learn how to manage your pets, and you will be on your way to becoming a successful hunter. If you find you have some problems, a bit of Misdirection also helps.

Introduction

What are you expected to do while in a five-man group? What is your role in an instance? This is important for you to know in order for a quick, easy run.

Examples of Roles

Healing

In no way are you expected to heal other players. This is because you have no spells to do so. However you are expected to look after your pet. You can heal your pet using the spell Mend Pet. This is because in most situations the healer will most likely have their hands full enough, without having to worry about your pet.

Tanking

You will never be expected to tank in a group. However, in some situations, you may be required to use your pet as an off tank. This will only have to be done if you face a group too large for your tank and your total group crowd control to deal with. Although not greatly effective, with some heals, it can buy your group time to kill the first target, allowing the tank to pick up your pets target.

Single Target Damage

This is the Hunters primary role. Stick to a target and get it down as fast as possible. Hunters are about the top class to fit this role and can do it extremely well. Your target will generally be marked as the first to kill and will be in control of your tank. Your main aim in an instance is to make that target drop quickly without taking aggro off your tank.

AOE Damage

Hunters are fairly weak at this and are generally not expected to deal with large groups. If you are asked to help with groups, you will generally have to pick off a target at a time.

Crowd Control

Hunters are known for their trapping ability. You will be expected to have one target trapped, for the first minute or two of the fight, if taking on a group. You also have the ability, although generally not expected to, to take any targets off the healer, if they are being attacked, then try helping the tank regain them.

Pulling

Hunters are the best class to pull tricky groups. Tanks will pull most groups as it makes their lives easier gaining threat as well as generally being quicker. However Hunters can pull the groups that the tank can’t without risk. Once you gain the spell misdirect, any pull, which isn’t particularly easy, will be your job. This is because, with the spell, you can gain the tank a large amount of threat very quickly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Hunter’s main role in a group is to kill the main target as quickly as possible, keep one target trapped for the fight and pulling when asked. Although you may be asked to help out in other ways that won’t be your main role, you should have the ability to do them.

Still, I'm fishing for polite words to do so: Do I explain before the first pull? What do I do with people who are too impatient to listen, or for that matter, implement the request to please, please let me pull and assist? What do I do about not being given group when I'm tanking? I feel rude just dropping out on people because they don't know better, but on another hand, my patience is thinning. Then, I suppose it can only get better as I level up. But some of the people just stink.

I'm thinking of that tremendously annoying level 14 (what the hell did he get invited to group for over that cute lovely gnoguette who I happen to know rocks? D: ) warlock who kept going "blah blah" every time I tried to tell him to PLEASE stop dotting up and shadowbolt spamming the thing I wasn't on. Sure, I'm a paladin. I can keep aggro on two things. Or three or four. But if you want to hit them all, why not just AoE them nice and evenly so I don't have to keep jumping targets confusing everyone else? Or the hunter who kept swearing growl was off on her pet and had never been on ... but girl, I've got a combat log and eyes in my head! Who of the melee people do you think was taunting, the rogue or your kitty?

:( I just seriously wish people would at least make an effort to play it well.

But then, some do - like the aforementioned gnoguette who was only in the runs for the fun in it, rarely drew aggro, almost always assisted, admitted that she wasn't so sure about whether she could sap something and then tried it very carefully and did it anyway. Or that kick-ass priestess who seemed really surprised when I complimented her healing.

All in all, the PuGing got the absolutely expected mixed results, and I'm glad for the new people I've met - after all, the more I level up, the more I can just invite people off my friendlist and the less we need to fill up from LFG. ;)

This blog may have become more of an alt.place these days, but I'm still a hunter at heart, I still adore the class and I still won't put up with any reasons to keep the term "huntard" in existence. The next hunter I see doing any more than two melee swings is going to be on the receiving end of a Feral Charge. Preow.

The good part of the whole ZF experience was, having just slipped into level 48 the night before going to the top of Zintha'Alor for the Mallet, the combined XP total of one and a quarter runs (server restart forced the quarter) and seven quests to complete while in there took me all the way to 49. Hail to the night! The easiest level I've ever completed. I even managed to impress myself and the healer by having Innervate easily accessible even when shapeshifted to cast during a particularly bad pull before going back to bear. Not bad for a beginner, even if I say so myself.

WoW Insider has an interesting piece about the expectations of women in WoW, the glass ceiling, the opinions of stupid boys, the Don't Make Me Put On My Feminist Hat... It deserves reading.

Clars le pyromane, Baldov le fier et un personnage mystérieux prennent d'assault les MinesMortes

It can look something like this:

You can get Omen here http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/9101/

Please get it all, it will make the life of Padme, our tankie, so much easier.

Also sometimes some of the MuMu's were getting nervous because there health was very low. Among many many other things Healbot can fix the mentioned problem for us:

• HealBot can track health of all partymembers.
• Multiple HealBots in a party/raid sync incoming heals.

You can get Healbot here  http://wow.curse.com/downloads/details/3802/

Please get it all, it will make my life as a healer so much easier.

It is by the way still possible I will not heal you when your health is low (in other words: When your dying ;) ), I have a priority list to make sure the group isn't wiped. And here it is:

1. Padme, no tank => wipe.
2. Me myself and I, if I'm dead I can't heal others. (If the fight is almost over and other party members are dying to, I will sacrifice myself and use my spirit form)
3. All others.

While I'm talking about group dynamics in a dungeon, here's some reading that is very handy: http://www.wowwiki.com/Instance_grouping_guide And again: Please read it all, it will take only a little time and it will make our lifes as a team so much easier en most important more fun!!

Well, now I do. This seemingly useless special shot "attempts to remove 1 Frenzy effect from target". What's Frenzy you ask? Frenzy is different from Enrage in that it increases attack speed, not the attack power or damage.

This past weekend, I had to use it more times than I ever used it in an entire year. Tranquilizing Shot was mostly used in endgame instances in pre-BC, so you really wouldn't get to see the use of it until you start doing upper level Outland instances.

Zul'Aman was where I used it first. One of our guild tanks was nice enough to put together a run for those who wanted to see the instance but can never get into the weekly speed runs. Unfortunately, we missed the timer on Nalorakk because one person disconnected from a power surge, and another got lost on the way back from resurrection. I also had to learn how to pull the Amani Tempest using me pet so that the Akil'zon gauntlet would stop coming. We 2-shot both bosses and made progress by learning slowly, especially since it was my first time there.

Halazzi was where Tranquilizing Shot was needed. In one of the shapes he shifts into, he goes into Frenzy every so often, and you would have to tranquilize him. We would have had him on the third try, but it was getting late on Sunday night, so we called it.

I picked up [Akil'zon's Talonblade] out of the run.

Yesterday, I went to Heroic Black Morass for the first time. I had been responsible for adds on normal mode before, but I've never done it on heroic. Fortunately, there was no big difference except that the waves of dragonkin had more health. We barely made each rift keeper after finishing adds.  In this instance, Tranquilizing Shot is used on the last boss Aeonus. I actually had completely forgotten about him even though I've read about it before. Fortunately, the raid warning called out a frenzy alert.

I've never tried the shot on a Beast Master's pet that has Frenzy active, but it should work.

So the bottom line is, Tranquilizing Shot is highly situational. More often than not, you won't use it, but try to keep in the back of your head when you can use it.

Logging in as Anj I joined the LFG for a group to heroic Slave Pens and quickly found one. "We doing the whole instance or just Ahune?" quoth I, "Whole, since it's the daily". Ooh! *Gets quest*. So off we went. Now, with my brain all filled up with alt controls for the last few weeks, to say I was clunky to start off would be Understatement of the Year, but we marched on regardless. Boss one fell down, hey, hang on, isn't Ahune... back there somewhere? Aah, we'll be doing the instance and then coming back for Frostychops, yep, that's what's going to happen, don't question it and for the love of Elune stay focussed on the task at hand.

After Quagmirran, the party started the quintessential "gr8 job" platitudes and started a portal back to Shattrath. ?!. So there you go. No Ahune for me, I should be less quiet during instances I think. All was not lost though, handing in the daily brought my Badges count up to forty-one and, hey, hang on, doesn't that Bloodlust Brooch cost about that? Why, yes it does!

So, woo! No Ahune, but I don't care. I'll do him with Powdor and Ghem tonight or something. Bloodlust Brooch! Go me! /dance.

To further celebrate, I've dipped my purple toes into the waters of the Outfitter Trinket Queue to swap between the Brooch and Bladefist's Breadth depending on whichever is available. That's on probation but should work out. Extra critical strike for equipping the Breadth or extra ranged attack power for the Brooch is a tricky choice, so the cooldowns can be the sole arbiter of that decision.

Here are the pioneers (L to R): Cm, Jl, Wj, Matt, Frank. (There's something wrong with wordpress, I can't post screenshot) Next, Zuh (we miss you, our uber tank!) and Jun joined in too. Grats to those who got the phat loots. Yes, that means only you, Frank, haha.

<3 you guys,
Wj

Heroic Sethekk Halls was not that bad. We were pretty smooth until towards the end, when our shaman off-healer friend had to go raid, so we picked up another feral druid. The priest healer was a bit slow and sloppy, so we wiped once on Anzu and twice on Ikiss. But I got what I needed out of it, and the daily heroic was also there.

After taking a break, we decided to look for a group for Heroic Shattered Halls. At first, we picked up an Enhancement shaman. We weren't sure if my friend should tank because he might not be geared enough, and I've usually gone to Shattered Halls with a protection paladin. But alas, there was a shortage of tanks as usual. So after picking up a guildmate as a healer, we took a mage and an Arms warrior as off-tank (because the shaman went offline).

It was also my first time marking mobs in a heroic because my friend had never been in Shattered Halls before. I'm so slow at it! Apparently there's a macro that you can use to mark mobs, but I have no idea what it was, and I didn't have it. So we just took it slow at first so that my friend could get used to the mobs (and how hard they hit). We wiped once on a sloppy trash pull and once during the first boss fight. The gauntlet took us a while to get through after about 3 or 4 wipes. The pace of the movement varied depending on each try. My friend kept dying when we got to Blood Guard Porung. Fortunately, everyone was patient and understanding enough to keep trying.

When we finally got past the gauntlet, everything got a bit easier. Even pulling 6 elite mobs with a druid tank was a lesson in group synergy. As long as all the crowd control held, and our warrior could off-tank one of the mobs, we held our ground. Trap one, sheep one, off-tank one, then burn them down one by one. The wipes stopped happening. Everything went smoothly all the way to Bladefist.

Then my friend's UI started messing up, so he had to restart WoW twice. At this point, there was about 4 minutes left on the timer for the prisoners. We started up the Bladefist fight at about 3 minutes and went all out. The adds came, and warrior picked them up once again. After 2 mobs or so, too many were coming too soon, and we had about 2 extra mobs running around. The mage died, and we just kept hitting at Bladefist. I popped Rapid Fire and all my trinkets at about 15%.

And then he was down! We breathed a sigh of relief. A quick Redemption to the mage, and we saved the prisoners. Everyone was happy with badges and an extra 24 gold for the quest reward. The warrior picked up [The Bladefist].

It was probably the most fun and nervewracking Heroic run I've ever been in, thanks to a patient group and an awesome learning tank.

So once I go into Karazhan this weekend, I'll be Exalted with the Violet Eye.

In the meantime, I'm still hoping I can hop onto a Magtheridon raid so I can get my Champion of the Naaru title. I managed to get into Heroic Arcatraz earlier this week when a group asked if I could join them for the last boss. It was perfect since it was the daily heroic also. The long wait is finally almost over.