WoWGrrl's World

I have two toons at 70, and while my Hunter was the first to 70 and the first to get a cool ride, she languished since September in the gear I had used to solo her through Outlands to 70.

I remember doing my Netherwing quests and seeing a fellow Hunter mow down three Dragonmaw Transporter guys in the time it took me to finish one, and I had to drink after every second fight and let Dragonmaws fly by.

Then, joining a Gruul's Lair-geared party that was nailing down the Ogri'la reputation quest chain (I had no idea it opened that reputation line at the time, but it sure was fun!) and looking for one more DPS - and seeing how completely pathetic my gearing and damage capability was in comparison to the group.

I had already decided by the time my Hunter hit 70 that it was my then mid-50s Mage I wanted to advance thoughtfully through Outland, now that I was familiar with it and ready to take on the new Instances with PUGs again (not having enough guildmates to pull together). So, I've spent most of my time levelling up, rep'ing up and gearing up my Mage over the past few months.

My Mage is now sitting at +750 frost damage, with a hit rating of over 100 and 7.2k health unbuffed, and has been doing Heroics since mid-December when I had +450 damage and a complete lack of understanding of spell hit-vs-spell penetration. I've been invited to multiple 10 and 25-man raids that have been a lot of fun, but raiding is not where my interest lies.

So, my attention has turned to improving the gearing on my Hunter, getting her ready for Heroics.

Where I Am Now - PUGs and Gear

Over the past two weeks I've gotten into PUGs with my Hunter after a long, long time of soloing or just using her as a farmer or guild/friend helper, and I've seen my "fears" lessen quite a bit about my ability to trap well, keep up to a swift-moving group and not pull aggro all the time during fights.

I've gotten a few gear upgrades from the 67+ dungeons as I've worked on improving my reputation well enough to get Heroics keys, but when I hit 70 I hadn't done a single Outland instance, and therefore the only Heroics reputation line I had at Honored was Cenarion Expedition, since quests alone can get you there. I've since done enough PUGs and guild runs (we actually had a few of those, amazing) that I have four of five heroics keys, missing the Keepers of Time one for now.

My gear consists of mostly dungeon blues 67+ and the crafted Felstalker set, with a little bit of Season 1 PvP gear which I bought from the PvP vendor for battleground tokens and general honor

Spec?

I didn't do enough reading before I went and spec'd myself Marksman/Survival after levelling to 70 as Beast Master. Once I did some reading, I realized that a Beastmaster/Marksman spec would be quite acceptable for Heroics. Right now, however, I've gone BM/SV to get improved traps, hoping that'll make my CC job easier in exchange for some DPS output.

I will probably re-spec a billion times over the next month as I continue to gear up and PUG and compare myself to others around me for learning purposes.

Stats?

Unbuffed and without any Aspects up, I'm at 8.2k health, 5.9k mana, 1k ranged attack power, and a 12.73% chance to crit. Not quite Heroics Geared yet, and certainly nowhere near a respectable resume for Karazhan, but it's getting there.

Keying Progress

After getting Kara keyed on my Mage, it was another month before I finally got the key to Shadow Labyrinth and Shattered Halls, which seems kind of backwards as I was able to do Heroics versions of them before I even had the key...

So, I'm trying to key up those other ones on my Hunter more quickly this time. Shattered Halls key quest chain was easy enough to do solo (with the assistance of the guards outside Thrallmar to help down the Fel Reaver), but Sethekk Halls doesn't seem to be a dungeon I get asked to join parties for, and therefore the Shadow Labyrinth key still eludes me.

My Hunter was able to pick up the first fragment of the Kara key in Shadow Labs last night in a partial-PUG, but since I'm not Heroics geared yet nor itching to get into Karazhan on my Hunter, I'm not in a rush to secure the second and third key fragments and will get them as I PUG my way through rep-grinds and gear-ups.

Reputation Grinds

I have yet to decide where to spend time grinding reputation, other than the ones required to get Heroics keys.

I think I'll probably focus on Cenarion Expedition reputation afterwards, however, as they have "the good arrows" from my understanding.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Related posts:

1. Gearing Up For Heroics
2. The Heroics Divide
3. 70 Hunter Gets New Crossbow from Arcatraz