Ding dong! The witch is dead!

Onyxia that is. Me and a few guildies and random friends of guildies went into onyxia's lair last night and gave her the beat down. I, like a fool, forgot to take any screenshots of our victory.

Gameplay notes

This is the first fight I've had since the patch where I actually needed to use viper to regen mana. It works pretty well, and I'm hopeful it will be even better once it goes partially passive in the next patch.

Removing the target limit of swipe for druids was probably about the best change blizzard has done. Our bear tank was able to swipe and hold most of the dragon whelps when they hatched. Before it would have been rather chaotic I think.

Also, the improved volley is awesome. Finally hunters can enjoy some of the AE fun that mages and 'locks have enjoyed for years.

Conclusion

I look forward to completing more of the classic raids and dungeons in the weeks to come, and maybe, just maybe, I can get the Zulian tiger mount.

Post 3.0.2 thoughts

Ret paladins are killing everyone, AV isn't just a race to the general, and guild chat is filled with achievement spam. Pets are more like a toon that you control and the options are overwhelming. My friend with altitis is trying to decide how he's going to spec his toons and my bear tank friend has been living on the boomkin side. In short Echoes of Doom has turned the world upside down and I'm loving it.

I weep for the future

This post isn't really about the beta. It's about what I'm seeing on the beta forums.
First I want to say that no, I don't have a beta key. I wish that I did but I don't. I look at the posts in the hunter forum and compare them to the Death Knight forum. The majority of the posts in the DK forum are detailed and most suggestions are logical even if they aren't all well thought through. The responses are mostly polite and constructive. Tempers flare just as they do in real life but generally the discourse is civil and the devs are treated with respect.
Then I look at a post like this. Right from the title the post is combative taking the position that Blizzard is out to get hunters. No wonder we have such a bad reputation as a class. /sigh
For love of all that is good! If you're in the beta try to give reasoned thoughtful commentary. Consider how the class has to balance against the other classes. Remember, most of the hunter changes haven't been implemented yet. Yeah, it would be nice to be super powerful but it wouldn't make anyone else happy. Also, try to be polite and considerate of others. Yes, someone may have said something stupid but that doesn't mean you should be insulting. When you compose a response pretend the person is sitting across from you and you're talking to them directly. It's amazing you your response will change when you imagine you're talking directly to the person.
I have some thoughts on the hunter changes as they exist at present and also some of the revealed profession changes, esp. alchemy, which I will post about in the future.

Useful hunter macros

These macros are not original with me. I am simply collecting the macros I use here for my guildies.

Shot rotation macro.

I use the following 3:2 shot rotation macro.
/cast !Auto Shot
/castrandom [target=pettarget, exists] Kill Command
/cast Steady Shot
/script UIErrorsFrame:Clear()/cast Arcane Shot(Rank 1)
/stopcasting

I use this one when pulling to trap in raids and instances
/castsequence reset=5 Distracting Shot, Arcane Shot
/stopcasting

Miscellaneous macros

Here are some miscellaneous macros I use

Pet Attack
/petattack
/cast Hunter's Mark

Misdirect to focus
/cast [target=focus] Misdirection

So, you're asking yourself, "Self. Why should I read this blog?". The answer is because, well, trolls are awesome. My main as you'll soon see in the sidebar is a troll hunter. I also am lvling a troll shaman for kicks. This blog will be about that. As well as huntery goodness.