I actually finished testing Kite the serpent, last weekend, but I haven’t recorded the stats from the screenshots I took. I know they should be the same as the other 0/0/0 pets, but I want to double check. I went and got a level 68 eclipsion dragonhawk rather than a 70 bloodfalcon, because, well, I hate PUGs.
Seriously. Al Queda’s hatred of freedom looks like love compared to my hate for PUGs.
A few months(?) ago I saw a blue dragon sinue on the AH, and finally got my epic quiver. However, I never got a chance to equip it since I’ve been using Don Santo’s rifle. With all the hubbub about growl getting to me, I broke out my Rhok and my quiver and told the maximize DPS gnome on my shoulder to bug off and let me have some fun. My character sheet is showing a big drop in damage and it’s definitely noticeable. But man, I love that bow.
Since Bliz seems intent to have growl scale with RAP (even if it doesn’t at the moment), I think it’s time to examine those formulas from that point of view. The current formulae are:
PAP Threshold: (28.14 x PetLevel) - 1235.6
Threat per PAP: 5.7
Gear that has Equip: Increases RAP and PAP by X all over the place.
A new aspect that’s actually cool. Viper may be useful, but it feels lame.
Ability to tame any beast for the purpose of using it as a mount. (Separate from our combat pets.)
Unlimited Pokeballs, err… pet whistles which can be stored in the bank, and up to 3 carried.
SV changed to increase pet survivability, pet healing, and threat generation making it the ‘pet tanking’ tree viable for any 5-man instances and OT’ing in raids.
Separate itemization from enhancement Shaman.
Separate itemization for each of the 3 trees: AP/PAP for BM, Int/AP for MM, and Agi/Sta for SV.
Not to look like a clown until I can get a complete set of epics.
My crab to be useful.
An orb of deception that I can use to always look like a worgen.
Community Managers that actually communicate rather than misinform.
Class representatives. Players that actually gather feedback for a particular class and post both what they’re telling Blizzard and what Blizzard’s response is to their feedback.
Rep-grinds/keys being for accounts rather than characters. I don’t want to have to grind to exalted on my shaman to get a drake.
The ability to get an Iced Venti Cinnamon Dolce delivered to my desk via an in-game system.
To be able to copy a character to a different realm rather than transfer.
A new bow.
So as everyone knows 2.4.2 was released yesterday and the patch notes included the line:
“The pet ability Growl will no longer scale with pet Attack Power and now scales with the hunter’s Attack Power.”
Of course it’s plain wrong. Mania verified it, I verified it. I think even Rend in UBRS knew that growl hadn’t changed, and he hasn’t been seen in years.
Probably not much news this week. I have to take Mon/Tues off to watch my daughter, and then actually do work for the remaining 3 days.
However, I would like you to know I made it on the test realms this morning and confirmed that whatever is going on with growl, has not changed TSA. I went from a 644 threat growl TSA off, to a 1409 threat growl with it on. So if 2.4.2 is released tomorrow, you’re most likely not going to get screwed with the new build.
Then again, Bliz could ‘fix’ everything without any external testing.
Enjoy BM now because in WotLK from 70-80 you’re going to want to be MM. That is of course if nothing changes, and we all know with an expansion, everything changes. Actually, there’s only 2 things that could reverse this: more talents/items that enhance PAP or they actually change growl.
Let me tell you about last night.
In my FAQ, I state BM is how you level, but my recent delving into threat mechanics has made me reconsider. In fact, tonight I’m going to spec 20/40/0 (I’ll figure out the last point later) for grinding out the last level with my Serpent, Kite. I’ll lay the path out for the newbies later, but I want to talk a bit about why MM is the new soloing build, and why I’ll probably use it from 70-80.
If you find this a bit hard to swallow, so do I. I’ve been a diehard BM since Beta. But at heart I’m a soloist, and I want what will allow me to do that best.
Short version
BiZzaRd -
wE Are hOlDinG oNe oF YouR acCoUntS hoStaGE. If yOu Do NOt mEEt oUr deManDs iT maY Be CancEleD (but probably not).
