Monday, October 26, 2009

Fuck Anub'arak's Hitbox

We'll be spending two adjacent raid nights on HM:Anub'arak (last night and tonight), simply perfecting our strategy. While only ~200 some guilds have downed the big bad beetle, we are approaching the fight with patience and motivation, and we are finally hitting P3. This doesn't feel like the same grind on Twins, rather it has the air of Yogg - getting through the earlier phases doesn't mean much, anything can still go when he's below 30%.

The hunters (for the most part) have our duties in between the Volley spam. One of us is bringing down the orbs. Yours truly is on OT MD duty, preserving the MD charges for the back two adds. It is an interesting job, made difficult only by Anub'arak's fucking dragon-sized hitbox.

Seriously, this is Anub'arak:

And this is is hitbox:


I'm generally standing at min range, my eye on the add timer and my minimap, waiting for the adds to pop. Then I target off Anub, hit the MD macro to the OT, target an add, shoot, target the next and run, backpedal, strafe, somersault, anything to make sure I don't autoshoot one too many on one of the adds. It's a full proof system, assuming I can click on the bloody adds.

I've discovered little tricks. I can't guarantee tab targeting gets the adds I want, so I try to click on less obvious areas of their model, like their hind legs. It's always the first mob that gives me trouble, too, as I run towards them. Click, still Anub. Click, still Anub. Click, still Anub. Click, finally! Do a fast strafe away, turning my back to the mob so I don't autoshot. Click the next mob, fire. Run back to original position and volley away. I don't want to start out there (out of range of the healers and volley range), nor do I want to be with the rest of the raid. It's a tricky little balance of finding that sweet spot/area to get the MD off while maintaining AoE/single-target DPS on the boss. I pop my first Rapid Fire just as the adds go down, giving me exactly enough time to use the entire CD before the next add waves comes. It will be up again for back-to-back for P3.

The other little annoying problem I've discovered is a tendency to accidentally target someone and make them my focus, just as I'm about to MD the adds. I'll click off of Anub to prepare the MD rotation, unknowingly target someone (last time it was the other hunter, standing next to me), hit the focus/MD macro, and then, bam, I'm screwed. The MD is late, and some healer has his face eaten off. It's a simple solution - use two macros in the place of my combined - but it doesn't change the fact that it's a stupid problem to begin with.

Tonight I expect many attempts at P3. Big bad beetle go boom.

17 comments:

Prosean said...

You do a fantastic job at MD'ing me

<3 Tro

Rilgon Arcsinh said...

What is it with Hunters adding sharks to EVERYTHING?

Stupid Mage said...

Does your MD target change often during the fight?

Negathle said...

@ SM

Only by accident. It should forever be on the OT.

@ Rilgon

Dude, those Land Sharks man... they come out of NOWHERE

Fig said...

The hunter class will never be complete until we get a tameable shark. Just sayin'.

Kheldul said...

I was tired of panning upward and looking for little orbs and (a) having frost disappear under my feet and not noticing, and (b) targeting the behemoth instead. So I:
/console cameraDistanceMaxFactor 5
and I zoom out and pivot the mouse down. The orbs are below me, and are the first thing to click instead of Anub.

The same may work for the adds.

Anonymous said...

"The hunter class will never be complete until we get a tameable shark. Just sayin'."

Pet shark + gun that shoots lasers = half of the hunter community submits paid name changes to DrEvil.

Fig said...

@ lyraat

If we were able to mount the gun on their frickin' heads.

Criven said...

Would a target X macro help with the adds? It should give you the first one on a platter anyhow.

Nefernet said...

I use a MD macro on my focus too, but not very often : I usually forgot to set up my focus, or the RL forgot to tell me I was on MD duty and I must MD on the fly.

For that I use a mouseover macro binded to my mouse (button 5 just under the thumb). I just have to click on oRa2 or on the raid frame to MD, with the enemy targeted.

For the targeting problem, yeah, it's really annoying, on spheres duty too... And the targetting macro will never select the one you want.

Unknown said...

I think your illustration of Anub's hitbox is a little small. It takes up the entire room!! :p

Great blog btw.

Criven said...

@Nef, from what I know about the target command - it will give you the nearest eligible target - so the closest add in your front 90 degrees.

I could be wrong about that (I normally use it for the orbs rather than the adds) but that has been my experience

Spitt said...

I have never run a full on Raid. I have joined a few PUGs, but always find myself dying on the first boss, and realizing that I either sux at raids, or possibly the healers sux - I think it's the former rather then the latter. In any case after reading that I wonder if you couldn't just enter in your macro whereas if the focus is one of your group members, that it doesnt focus on them?

Argon said...

Have you tried something like /stopattack ? That works to stop melee autoattacking. Hopefully there is an equivalent for hunters.

Negathle said...

@ Spitt

Yes, it's just easier to keep it a focus macro for any changes instead of having to write it in for specific fights.

Unknown said...

While I still have my focus macro, I mostly use VuhDo and the Private Tanks feature. Started when we were doing Mimiron-10 and I had to help our hunter tank keep aggro over me, converted completely since as my 10s Raid Leader doesn't use the Main Tank designations.

Right Click on the tank entry to Misdirect, Mouse Button 4 on the party frame for Master's Call. SO much easier.

And, at least for me, the target macro has always managed to pick up the nearest Frost Sphere... EVEN IF IT"S BEHIND ME /facepalm

-Fluffywumpki of Kilrogg

Negathle said...

@Argon

Faster to just turn away and keep running to prevent the autoattack than to press another macro.