MM Hunter (5.9k GS) LOW DPS

Hey, I'm an MM hunter. I've been having problems with my DPS since I started doing Heroic Dungeons but I didn't pay mind to it because I wasn't the best nor the worst. However, I am now at 5.9k with a few BIS items (Wrists, Legs, Rings) and 4 t10 (hands sanctified) set items and everything is gemmed (basically all ArP, meta in head, nightmare tear in legs and one hit in my neck) and fully enchanted. I have WFS and Herkuml as my trinks.

Using the Heroic Training Dummy, unbuffed, I'm doing around 5.6k to 6.2k dmg (it usually gets up to around 6k stays for a bit and then drops to around 5.6k, staying there until I run out of mana). I noticed that naturally, the proccing is constant in terms of how often they proc and so every time I test my DPS it isn't the same (even tried with different gear, switching out t10 and using different trinks like banner of victory and needle encrusted scorpion) but the DPS is quite inconsistent, varying between as little as 5k DPS to as much as 6.4k DPS.

I've even noted my DPS in raids (ICC, OS, TOC, VOA) against single target bosses, and it's ridiculously low and that's with multitudes of buffs, flask of endless rage, fish feast, pet treats (spiced mammoth) etc.

Another thing I tried was switching out all my ArP gems to Agility ones (I know, what a waste of gold but it had to be done) and that just made my DPS abysmal. I understand that ArP soft cap is around 700 - 800 without gems. But with ArP gems in almost everything I was barely hitting over 700 ArP.

So, questions:
1. How can I get more passive ArP? (because I would say I have pretty decent gear)
2. What the heck am I doing wrong that makes my DPS so laughably low?

Appreciate any kind of solution, thanks!

1. The more ArP you can get, the better. But if you can't make it high, settle with soft cap. With NES I think it's 722. (1400 - proc value = soft cap)
2. Hard to say if it's gear alone, or is something wrong with your DPS aspect. What's your rotation/priority? Do you use any macros? How about your talent build, is it appropriate for your gear? DPS rotation? Have you checked if your recount/skada includes your pet DPS? Wolf pet? Tracking right target type?

Okay, so my talent build is 7/57/7. I start with Hunter's Mark, Misdirection and then use Serpent Sting. Then Chimera shot, Aimed shot and spam Steady shot until CS or AS are of CD. Then once kill shot is available, that's priority. Depending on the target too, I'll add Silencing Shot in the mix.

I tried using some macros but they weren't working too well so I don't use them now (think maybe I just don't know how to type it in lol). I'm always tracking whatever I'm faced with, which is mostly undead and dragonkin, but tracking is always on.

I am using a wolf, so furious howl is always on, not sure maybe I shouldn't have it on auto cast whenever it's of the CD? Most of my pet abilities are on auto cast so not sure if that's good either? My recount does include my pet's as well.

I do use Rapid Fire and Beserk but mostly it's just against bosses. I also use the double MD against bosses in raids. But I also noticed there's a bit of a delay with my casting and maybe macros would help that?

Rotation seems fine.. minor thing would be to macro silencing shot into something else since its off gcd like:

#showtooltip Chimera Shot
/cast Chimera Shot
/cast Silencing Shot

for MD I used to put MT on focus and use this macro
#showtooltip Missdirecton
/cast [target=focus, nodead] Missdirection
/cast Missdirection

But thats nowhere near significant change.

You can track anything - it should count as long as you have any tracking on.

Having pet autocast is fine (except its version of taunt).

You should use Rapid Fire pretty much on cd in dungeons, in raids make sure to have it for bosses. You can also double cast it with other cooldown (forgot name, sry).

If you have abysmall dps..
Maybe wrong aspect? (make sure to use dragonhawk one, try to swap it on and off)
Did you learn all spell ranks? (visit trainer)
Also what is your ingame latency?

As a whole if you truly want a useful reply to your issue you need to link Armory at a minimum (which will show extreme issues, like bad gear/talents, wrong arrows etc). Best if you link your gameplay as a youtube video or a combat log. However a couple of things to consider.

First off having a few bis items does not mean your gear is good, if your weapon is weak and your trinkets are bad, and atleast one of them is since NES is truly nothing to write home about, you will do less dps than a hunter with bis weps and trinkets, but worse wrists par example.
Second off basing your dps understanding on target dummies is a pretty bad idea , my hunter
http://armory.warmane.com/character/...ecrown/summary deals around 7.2k on a dummy at 1-2 million damage dealt, but scales to a respectable 16k in icc with the 30% buff and other class buffs. (Disclaimer I'm not a great hunter just decent enough)

If however you notice bad dps inside of ICC/RS/TOGC, then that is most likely due to you poorly executing your rotation, moving too much, missing CDs because you're stressed, overusing or underusing viper aspect etc. and the only way past that is experience and a good user interface that allows you to use your spells to the best of your ability. Assuming you have read http://forum.warmane.com/showthread.php?t=327458 and http://forum.warmane.com/showthread....ks-and-tactics you already have all the information you need, but properly executing what is detailed in this writing will take more than a little practice and getting used to. Hunter is not the easiest class of the bunch due to minimum range providing a rather unique challenge, but if you take your time with it you can do amazing things.

If you link your armory, it'd be easier to see all the tiny details. How much arp do you actually have? Because of the math involved with armor/arp, arp gets better the more you have. As in, doubling your arp more than doubles the benefit (up to the 1400 cap ofc). For hunters, you need 100% (1400), go fully for arp without dropping the hit cap. The soft cap for hunters is simply the point where you drop the Arcane Shot (and the Imp. Arcane Shot talents), since that skill does spell damage, it doesn't benefit from arp and you're better off with another Steady Shot past that point (iirc, that's 400 arp). But gemming/gear wise, you gotta tunnel arp till 1400. I would personally stick to the FoS and ToC arp trinkets for now. Arp is so important because around 70% of your damage is physical, which is reduced to around half without arp.

Jendah's macros are great, Silencing Shot doesn't have a gcd, and you can build it in macros with multiple /cast, I personally have it on all standard rotation skills (sting, chim, aimed, steady - didnt bother with kill shot). In fact, i bound several things to each. Admittedly, engi haste in there is a bit of a lazy move.
This is my chim shot, the others are all the same. And because I raid a lot with friends and we tend to troll each other, I added a hop cancel too. You can skip the /petattack part at BPC, so you can keep it on the kinetics.
#showtooltip chimera shot
/cancelaura hand of protection
/use 10
/cast silencing shot
/cast kill command
/startattack
/petattack
/cast chimera shot

And here is my "pop the cooldowns macro", followed by other random macros and tips, as they come to mind
#showtooltip rapid fire
/cast rapid fire
/cast furious howl
/cast call of the wild
/use 10

Always use Dragonhawk aspect, don't switch to Viper unless you are completely OOM (I assume you do know that viper aspect cuts all your damage in half?)
Watch your "swing timer", as a hunter, when moving, you must stutter step. This means that you move while your normal attack is on cooldown, and quickly stop to shoot the next auto attack, basically lift your finger off W for 0.1 sec. That's just a tiny optimization for fights where you need to keep moving.
Use this macro for your aspects (replace the aspect with whatever you want). Don't forget the !, it's what prevents you from cancelling the aspect when you double click it.
#showtooltip aspect of the dragonhawk
/cast !aspect of the dragonhawk
For misdirection, I currently use this:
#showtooltip misdirection
/cast [@focus, help, nodead][@targettarget, help, nodead][@mouseover, help, nodead][] misdirection
It first tries to md your focused target, assuming it is a raid member who isn't dead. If this fails, it attempts to cast it on the target of your target (which should be the tank). If that target is also dead or not a raid member, then it tries to cast it on whoever your mouse is on (no need to select). If all this fails, then it tries to cast it on your current target. It does require you to be a bit attentive, so you don't accidentally a dps that just pulled aggro, in the end macros are up to each player's preference.
Here's another neat macro
#showtooltip hunter's mark
/run for i=1,GetNumTrackingTypes() do local n, t, a, c = GetTrackingInfo(i); if string.find(n, UnitCreatureType("target")) then if t~=GetTrackingTexture(i) then SetTracking(i); end end end
/cast Hunter's Mark
This one is neat, because upon cast, it also attempts to change your tracking type to the target (where possible). Since you gain 5% dmg bonus if your tracking type matches the target, it's important. I always forgot to do it :D
While dps'ing, never wait. Let's say you got 1 second left before you can use chim / aimed, but your aimed cast is 1.74 (that's mine with no effects active). Do not wait for the chim, cast another aimed, and let chim sit while you finish the cast.
I strongly recommend learning JC/Engi as professions, Engi is just so good in pve, and JC gives you 52 extra arp. You could also consider BS for the extra 2 sockets (so 40 arp), but overall I prefer JC+Engi over JC+BS.
Misdirection does glitch the GCDs a bit, so that's just the way it is. If you need to double MD, remember to pop the cooldowns before your Readiness, so as not to waste a Rapid Fire. Make sure you don't clip rapid fire either (don't cast the 2nd while the first is still going).
Make sure you're using your best arrows/bullets (the crafted ones).
Try to get the hardest hitting ranged weapon you get your hands on, it's the one item where I'd pick even a block (tank) weapon over one with arp.

That's what comes to mind right now. You're welcome to message me on Icecrown whenever, Praxia on Horde and Vrael on Alliance.