I have too many buttons!

I see so many UIs (not even Hunter specific ones) that are cluttered with buttons, and I cringe inside. I'll admit it's no small feat to fit all your essential skills into two or even one and a half bars, but folks, it is possible.

That screenshot you see up there is one I had when I first dinged 70 and started raiding Kara for the first time. Fellow Hunters, you can probably make out what skills are on those bars. Looking back on it, I feel rather silly for having them there at all. Eagle Eye? Holy crap who uses that anymore?! See the icon next to Dismiss Pet? That used to be Ye Olde pet training window.

Later, when I was starting to look at minimalist UIs and reducing my buttons, one of the mods that helped make the transition easier was AutoBar. It works a charm right out of the box, with buttons for your Aspects, tracking, potions, professions and other things. Eventually as I got the hang of having less buttons on screen, I got rid of it altogether.

Of course, the one-button-tracking change from a few patches ago has helped with this. I'm not sure if anyone else remembers, but you used to be able to only change tracking from the buttons, instead of a drop down menu from the minimap.

Here's a few tips to help get your actionbars in shape.

• Remove Auto Attack and Auto Shoot from your numbered bars. With Auto Shot being unlinked, you don't have to worry about clipping anymore!
• Bind your most used abilities to where it is accessible with one hand. Things like Steady Shot, Serpent Sting, Explosive/Arcane Shot and Aimed/Multi Shot should all be within reach easily to facilitate an effecient rotation. It'll be easy on your hands too!
• Get rid of things you don't use. Aspect of the Wild? Check.
  
• Create bars that will only appear when you hover over them. Things you only use occasionally, but often enough to warrant a hotkey should come under this category. Profession panels, your Hearthstone, mounts and consumables are good examples.
  

UI ramblings

I've been itching to make a new UI on Toshi recently, and last night due to sheer boredom, I finally decided to do it.

It's still got most of the elements in the same place, but I did change my raid frames to Grid (just for looks) and switched the layouts on the unit frames. It was inspired largely by Mutiney and Skullflower's UIs which I found from posts in WoW's UI & Macros forum.

I'm largely pleased with it, overall. There are a few things that bother me, like the cast bars, and some of the actionbar placements, but I have no idea what to do with them for now.

I also redid Tora's tanking UI, but it looks too much like her old UI which I got sick of, so I might not keep it after all.

Achievements

No, not the kind that pops up on your screen and announces it to everyone. (Though those are fun too!)

I'm talking about things like soloing group quests, or collecting a full Tier set. Perhaps even class related things.

Here's what I want to get done.

• Get a full Valorous Cryptstalker set. I'm 3/5s of the way there!
• Finish the last Hunter quest for that epic quiver. I only need to kill Azuregos now. Damn dragon is never there when I knock...
• Solo some BC heroics with my Gorilla. For rep, for fun, and just cos' I can.
  

Soloing BC heroics 101 - a feral druid guide

I recently went back on my druid through some old Burning Crusade heroics, in order to get Badges of Justice for an Idol of Terror. (which, funnily, remains the best tanking idol) It was actually a lot of fun!

I didn't have the heroic keys for the Consortium/Lower City dungeons, so I could only do the Cenarion and Honor Hold ones. Most of the mobs in these dungeons can be stealthed past, except for a few guards which shouldn't be hard to kill anyway. I did a total of 3 and 1/4 dungeon's worth of badges in a day, which means 20 badges over 2 days.


The basic strat to bear-soloing is basically keep up Demo Roar and Faerie Fire. The rest is pretty much the same as usual tanking - keep up full stacks of Lacerate, and Mangle whenever possible. Having your panic buttons (potions, Survival Instincts, Frenzied Regen, etc.) at hand is also a very good idea. Don't be afraid to pop Frenzied Regen; 50% is usually a good time to do it. Berserk is also very helpful if you're clearing trash, or on bosses with adds, for the Mangle-spam extra damage. Barkskin is also very helpful.

It might take a bit of learning the mobs in the dungeons to successfully stealth past them - I died quite a few times when starting to solo Ramps because there was so many mobs that could see through stealth, and so close together.

I'm intending to grind some Lower City rep soon (I never did any quests while levelling in Outland... haha) so hopefully I'll be able to try soloing some Auchindoun instances!

Hunter gear best-in-slot list

I've been wanting to do this post for a while. Here's a list of the best hunter gear in the game. I base the gear off three things - their stats, their sockets, and their green stats (crit, hit, etc.) The best gear on the list will usually have the highest stats, sockets (where applicable) and hit, crit and attack power as their green stats. I'll also list where the item is dropped, and the best enchant for that appropriate item slot.

While I understand Haste is important - especially for Surv and MM - I value hit and crit above haste. So, without further ado...

Head
Unfortunately, there is no helm with my three valued stats, so we'll have to look at a few.
Hyaline Helm of the Sniper - The only ilevel213 helm with hit on it, you'll want to get this if you're still working toward the hit cap. Drops from Sartharion-25.
Valorous Cryptstalker Helm - Tier 7.5... really goes without saying. Drops from Kel'thuzad-25.
Blue Aspect Helm - Highest itemlevel mail physical dps helm, disappointing that it has less agi than the previous two mentioned. It instead spends the points in lots of attack power. Would be great for BM hunters, if only the haste was hit. Drops from Malygos-25.

Enchant: Arcanum of Torment from Knights of the Ebon Blade

Neck
Favor of the Dragon Queen - Gemmed with a 16agi, it is undoubtedly the best physical dps neck for any class. Quest item from Sapphiron/Malygos-25.

Shoulder
Valorous Cryptstalker Spaulders - Tier 7.5, again goes without saying. Drops from Loatheb-25 or bought with 60 Emblems of Valor. Upstanding Spaulders comes very close though.

Enchant: Greater Inscription of the Axe from Sons of Hodir.

Back
Drape of the Deadly Foe - As with the neck mentioned above, the best in slot for physical dps. Drops from Kel'thuzad-25.
However, if you're looking for alternatives... Hammerhead Sharkskin Cloak is pretty good and bought with 25 Emblems of Valor.

Enchant: 22 Agi. Contact your friendly neighbourhood enchanter!

Chest
Tunic of Masked Suffering - The boatload of Agi on this one makes it the clear winner, even over Tier 7.5. The tiered chest does have hit though, so if you still need that, the tiered chest is a close second. Drops from Noth-25.

Enchant: +10 stats.

Bracers
Slime Stream Bands - All of my favourite stats, a socket, and it's BoE to boot! A real no brainer for this one. Drops from Grobbulus-25.

Enchant: 50 attack power.

Hands
A bit of a toss up on this one...
Gloves of Calculated Risk - All my favourite stats, but no socket compared to Grotesque Handgrips and tier 7.5. Drops from Patchwerk-25.

Enchant: 20 Agi.

Belt
Torn Web Wrapping - Another no-brainer, despite the lack of socket. Also BoE! Drops from Maexxna-25.

Enchant: Not an enchant, per se. Get the belt buckle and slap in a 16agi gem in there.

Legs
Leggings of Failed Escape - All the good stuff, even compared to the tier 7.5 legs. Gothik has been giving me grief over these for the past few months...

Enchant: 75 ap, 22 crit.

Boots
Boots of the Renewed Flight - Unfortunately, it wastes some points on the armor penetration, but otherwise, because of the amount of agi and ap on it, it's the best. Crippled Treads from Noth-25 is a good substitute though. (and they look better!) Drops from Malygos-25.

Enchant: 16 Agi.

Rings
Strong Handed Ring - Awesome stats on these, even with the haste. Drops from shared loot table from first bosses in all four wings in Naxx.
Surge Needle Ring - All my favourite stats, and again, another BoE! Great for if you hate doing Malygos.

Enchant: (assuming you're an enchanter) 32 attack power.

Trinkets
Darkmoon Card: Greatness - 90 agility flat out from this trinket... what's not to like? Be prepared to spend a lot of gold on this one though... even I don't have it. Created by Scribes.
Fury of the Five Flights - Once you get the stack up to 20, it will keep refreshing itself throughout the fight. It's practically a free 320 attack power! Again, not just the best for hunters, but all physical dps classes as well. Drops from Sartharion-25.
Mirror of Truth - One of the first epic trinkets you will probably get. No brainer, really. Bought with 40 Emblems of Heroism.

Melee weapon (otherwise affectionately labelled stat stick)
Black Ice - I like this one for its hit, mostly. Drops from Malygos-10.
The Undeath Carrier - Since patch 3.0.8 opened up druid staves as viable hunter stat sticks, we've had more options to choose from just the usual two handed swords and polearms. This is probably the best for Surv hunters, who can take advantage of the Stam to AP conversion. Very nice amount of crit on it too, compared to Black Ice. Drops from Heigan-25.

Enchant: 110 ap.

Ranged weapon
Envoy of Mortality - You probably knew this one already! It has the appropriate stats for its itemlevel, and has the highest tooltip dps. My only complaint is that it doesn't have any hit. Drops from Kel'thuzad-25.

Enchant: 40 ranged crit.

Hope this helped, feel free to email with any questions. ^^