I just dinged 40 and want to try survival line for wyvern sting, but is it worth trying or should i just stick with MM?

I have a 70 SV hunter and he's not anywhere near 800 agility, but he does extremely well and I'm near the top the bg charts most of the time. The point is man stick to BM till 70. Then try out BM, MM, and SV and figure out what spec you like best. That's how I discovered my build that I love 15/5/41. It suits me lol but I honesty think you should wait to respec.

Vandelin
Azgalor

SV is a crowd control spec.  And is best used in dungeons and raids.  Like the previous post said, u need very high agi to be effective in dmg.  And I also agree that u should stay BM until 70 and once u get there, test out the other specs.  Spec, respec, respect again.....until u can find something that is effective for ur play style and group.  BM is higher total damage (not dps = damage per second) but is a bit tuffer to manage since u have to rely alot on ur pet and have to monitor it closely.  MM is burst damage (DPS), they can top dmg charts but the hunter has to be very good with shot rotation.  SV is mainly CC and survivability, and is probably a lot harder to master than the MM and BM.  But if u learn how to use a certain spec then they can all be just as effective.  There is no "dead" or useless spec.  SV has a bad rep b/c it takes more work and the top gear and item enhancements, it just demands more than the others.

actually multi-shot is the most powerful shot for a BM.  Think about it....how often can u crit 1k+ with steady shot? (not many).  Now look at multishot...BM can crit 1.8K with just one of the 3 shots.  then if there is more than one target, u can possible crit all 3...i do this regularly.  sure u may aggro but just pop FD and continue with ur shot rotation.  say u crit steady for 1.5K, well if u crit with all 3 from multi u can get between 3K and almost 6K dmg with just one shot.  if u are say something is more powerful based on dmg it can do, then multi-shot is the most powerful shot no matter which hunter spec u go.  Also judging by  ur arguement of steady shot, u don't use multi-shot in ur shot rotation.  multi isnt intended for only hitting groups.  U can use it on a sigle target and it is an instant cast and is a great way to fill in down time (if any) in ur rotation.  My shot rotation is:  steady shot, arcane, sting, multi, then start over again.  I usually get in 3 auto shots in this rotation.  It very efficient and powerful...lol. 

i would usually try to explain the whole dps thing but i dont have the time right now.  feel free to comment back.  but plz try to be mature and not bash.  i could easily go off on some ppl's posts but i dont.  i calmy and maturly explain my side or point out errors.

Apparently u did not read the part I put in about shot rotation.  The reason for a shot rotation is to go around using ur other shots while another is on CD (for example, arcane and multi, and aimed if u have it) and to maximize dmg output and try to conserve mana.  In my opinion it would not be wise to conitually use steady shot.  My reasoning for this is that even tho steady does not have a CD it has a charge time (even tho its only 1 sec, it still wastes time).  Either way u are waiting to get a shot off. Then foresay you are getting hit by something else, ur casting will get slowed down just a lil bit.  You cannot be interupted with and instant cast (multi-shot).  So just to clarify incase u didnt understand, let me explain what u are saying and what I am saying.  U say that steady shot is better or more damaging b/c it has no cool down.  Stating a shot is more powerful b/c it doesnt have a cool down is, for a lack of a kinder word, stupid.  By ur reasoning and "vast knowledge" of hunter shots, you are pretty much saying that Steady Shot is more powerful than Aimed shot b/c Aimed shot has a cool down. Go state that in chat and see how many times u get called a noob.  Now what im trying to get across to u is that a shot is not determined by how fast it is shot/casted or by its CD.  A shot is deemed powerful by the total amount of damage it can do in one shot.  Multi-shot has a 10 sec CD with a rotation of Arcane, sting, multi, then steady, and then back around again to start rotation again, by the time u get to multishot it will be ready.  u also have to take into acount that a few auto shots will be thrown into the rotation.  So 10 secs is no problem.  But if u want to spam steady shot over and over, then go ahead, im not going to stop u.  Steady shot, steady shot, steady shot, steady shot....thats just not smart.  But im sure, i at least hope, that u are not doing that.  I know how a hunter works very well. I use Recount as my damage meter...i know exactly what each of my shots does.  the avg damage of my multi is greater than that of my steady.  I might get off a few more steady shots but thats b/c i dont want to pull aggro of 3 mobs from the tank.  But the damage of multishot is greater than steady shot.  But hey from what u say im a noob and dont know anything. But yet i have been using my noob knowledge to take down lvl 70s since i was a lvl 59. /shrug  oh well peace out and good luck with ur steady shot spamming.  If anyone else needs advice about SURVIVAL (the orginal topic), then post some questions and ill use my "noob" knowledge to help out.  lol laters

Actually .. Nanny .. Not dissing your shot rotation at all, cause I see your point.  Your shot rotation is good, but very mana dependent. I use Steady Shot, auto shot, steady shot, with the occasional stings, multi shots, and arcane shots.  The rotation is awesome and very mana efficient. Multi and Arcane which Is in the 150-200 + Mana range .. spamming those when the cooldowns are up is a waist of mana. Yeah LOTS of dps at the start, but drained after a good couple of minutes or so.  Now, im saying all this referring to long boss fights and stuff, such as the bear boss in ZA .. hell, all the bosses in ZA, Gruuls, The Eye, ect ect.  Now .. When it is just a normal pull .. then I am totally all about blowing all my shots when they are cooled off.  But .. Anyways spamming Steady Shot, Auto shot, Steady shot .. Your only useing 99 Mana and if your geared well .. that's a LOT of crits in itself.  :)  Thats my 2 cents for today.  Take care.

Us sv hunters are rare because of the time it takes to learn how to play. I've been sv for a good while now and still learning new tricks. Now yes the 800+ agility is a huge boost in the end but anyone with decent gear pvp or pve can use sv IF they know how to use it

i am a mm but my agility is just around 300 and i cant wait to get 800 i like survival much better but hard to really bring up the damage.

just to end this.....Lex u are right.  im sorry for putting in my advice.  U are correct in everything u said.  I dont know what im talking about.  u are the greatest there is.  the only thing i was trying to do is help someone out that asked for advice.  I saw nowhere on the original post where it said to critque other ppl's advice and bash their advice which works for them.  im worng and ur right.  but one last thing i wont to say to u lex, why do u have to be so rude and call ppl stupid or dum @$$ b/c they ask a question or give advice that works for them. Good luck to you and Happy hunting.


now to Suga about the mana situation.  not bashing ur input or anything, just want to point out what i do.  u are right about my rotation eating mana like crazy, i really didnt realize it until u mentioned it but ill explain why i didnt realize it.  before i go into a dungeon or even questing, i stock up on elixirs, pots, buff food, and scrolls.  I always have 30 int elixir up and the lvl 60 int scroll (not sure of the int bonus) and as spirit scroll, plus i have aspect of viper up, so having enough mana has never really been a problem with me.  I also carry 3 sets of gear:  1) a stam set with mainly huge stam stats for BGs (more health u have in BG, the more dmg u can do...thats my BG  strat, it works for me), 2) I also have a set, mostly "-- of the Eagle" (stam/int) for questing or running lower lvl buddies thru instances since I eat thru health and mana keeping mobs off buddies, 3) then my dungeon set, where it is mostly agility, int, and AP for max dmg output.  I try to use the rotation i posted regularly but as we all know, things go wrong and we cant stick with it all the time.  I make sure i never have less than 6K mana in my pool but with buffs i usually have close to 8K.  Now the only time i ever run out of mana is against long bosses where i have to use every mana heavy shot and then traps.  Yes i use traps but that too is my play style and works great...especially snake trap that interupts casting.  Again these are all my personal preferences and game style/play.  These strats and ideas i have posted have been very successful for me and that is why i gave the advice.  Now maybe others won't use my plan exactly the way i do, but maybe it will give ppl some new ideas to add to their strat and make them better.  Only trying to help out....not trying to fight and argue.  Good luck to all and happy hunting.

Same here I always have atleast 10 mana pots on me at all times, as well with Major Agility Potions. 

hunters are mana eaters theirs no getting around it....u might as well be prepared.  Things go wrong and u have to use more mana than planned. get elixirs, pots, scrolls, buff food, and any other buff that a group member can give u.  They help way more than most ppl think.  Buffs are usually the difference in u dying or u taking out a mob.  I understand these items can be expensive, but check out the AH every once in a while.  U'll be surprised at how cheap a lot of the really good items are.

SV can do the damage u got the same stuff like BM and MM just like no aimed shot or trueshot or pet stuff but u still shoot and stuff with less power But 1.Sv can melee which is nice 2. U can make so much havic in PvP with ur impoved traps and stings and stuff 3. how much its pisses people off hwen they get u in melee range to find u can melee and kill them.


I love SV it good IF U KNOW HOW TO USE IT
MM and BM is still grat

Ahhhh...SV takes time, but I find that it's quite worth it. Getting your agility to the 600-800 range is quite difficult and requires lots of investments in chants and armour, but until you seriously pvp then it isn't a prerequisite. Also, the talents inlcude means to up you agility, up to 15% I believe...And it's more that a CC class; it gives you more options than you'd think =_=;;;
A good way to practice is to solo SM; a surv hunter usually has a better time of it that most. Also...you ever want to fill another character with mutderous rage? Wyvern shot them in a BG...
Good luck man...

survival is a beautiful spec which many players don't understand. The reason why no one goes this route is because of how gear dependant it really is. There is so much more you have to really work for when you're a SV hunter. That being said I feel Survival is the most rewarding because of all the hard work it takes. You spend great deals of time getting money for enchants, running countless instances and raids trying to get that one piece of armor that has like 5 or 10 more agility then what you got, or even having to deal with the knuckle head hunters who say surv is for noobs and BM is the way to go. It's a beautiful thing when one day you're in SSC or gruuls or something and that boss meets one of your crits and starts to die that much faster from the 200+ attack power boost they just got. Or when you're in a BG and you just wyverned that damn priest healing the crap out of that mob all the while throwing down one of your uber frost traps. Or when dueling that rogue and all of a sudden you start to dodge and parry every bloody attack he throws at you and he's stuck in your frost trap trying to run at you all the while you're firing away as your pet is nipping at his heals. Oh survival how I love you

Thank you thank you thank you. That is the beauty of sv. It is an amazing class