Continued from Part One:
Part Two: Minor Glyphs
Hunter Minor Glyphs are a tricky subject because there aren’t too many that are going to help you out in a PvE situation– it’s the PvPers who get luckier with them this time I think. Let’s take a look at all of them:
Glyph of Feign Death:
What it Does: Decreases the cooldown on your Feign Death by 5 seconds
Why it’s good: More Feign Death is never a bad thing. Even though I find myself using it less these days because WotLK tanks are monsters (in a very good way, of course!) I’m sure there are going to be situations in the future in raids where it gets resisted 99.9% of the time like it did for me in Burning Crusade *mutters*
Overall, a very nice little glyph.
Glyph of Mend Pet:
What it Does: Every time you use Mend Pet your pet gains 20 happiness. It’s a one-time thing (i.e., your pet does not gain happiness per tick.)
Why it’s good: Even though pet feeding is less and less needed these days what with pet talents available that almost make it a moot point, that doesn’t chase away certain scary memories in my head. Scary memories of starting a long boss fight and then watching my pet go from “Happy” to “Content” about ten seconds later cause I forgot to feed him before hand. That’s a big DPS loss and you can’t feed him until you’re out of combat.
Another scenario: a hard fight and your pet dies mid-action. You rez him and send him back. Previously you’d have had to send him in “Content” (and possibly even “Unhappy”). Now you just pop your Mend Pet a couple times and he’ll be good to go.
A hugely helpful glyph and an absolute Must-Have for Beast Masters.
Those are the two glyphs that I currently have in my spellbook. Let’s take a look at the others.
Glyph of Possessed Strength:
What it Does: Increases the damage done by your pet while in Eyes of the Beast by 50%
What it’s For: When I first heard about this glyph I think my reaction was akin to “… … … *blink*” But I’ve actually heard of hunters who are really into the whole gorilla-tanking-instances thing who this to generate threat. So I’m going to toss this one into the “Unconventional Solo Uses” category.
Glyph of Revive Pet:
What it Does: Removes pushback when you’re casting this spell
What it’s For: My pet rarely dies when I’m out solo’ing and chances are good that if you’re reviving your pet in an instance or raid, you’re not being attacked, because either you’re still mid-fight and the tank is taking the damage, or you’re recouping after a wipe. So this strikes me as being almost purely a PvP glyph. Especially seeing as pets seem to be everyone’s new favorite target in AV (they were the last time I was there, at least >.>)
Glyph of Scare Beast:
What it Does: Removes most of the pushback when you’re casting this spell
What it’s For: This would be really handy at low-levels when you’re cruising through the Barrens/Ashenvale pre-Freezing Trap. After that, though, this glyph seems to be basically for one thing, and one thing only: druids and hunter pets in PvP. And let me tell ya, this would be a pretty nice glyph for that purpose.
Glyph of the Pack:
What it Does: Slightly increases the range of your Aspect of the Pack.
What it’s For: Running back after a wipe… realliy I can’t think of any other circumstances where I use Aspect of the Pack, I’m afraid.
The Verdict:
So for a lot of us, we are left wondering what our third glyph should be. I don’t think there is really a wrong or right answer here and you should go with what you think will fit better for your own playstyle. If you PvP a lot, Glyph of Scare Beast has a lot going for it. Myself, I think I will probably wind up with Glyph of Revive Pet. I don’t feel like I need it, but I don’t see myself as having many more good options and I don’t PvP enough these days to warrant Glyph of Scare Beast.
And that’ll do it for my little dissertation on hunter glyphs. Hopefully it answered some questions for you. As always, lemme know if you have questions or if I’ve made a mistake or error. (And if you had a question for me on my last guide and I haven’t answered it yet, I will answer it when I get home from work. >.>)
Speaking of ‘situations in the future in raids’, there is a fight (Anub’Rekhan, quite possibly the first fight you’ll see) in Naxxramas that is much easier with an Aspect of the Pack. With that in mind, that’s not a bad filler glyph.
I ended up using the +swim speed to aquatic form one on my druid for my third slot… wtb minor glyph of actually useful, pst.
Glyph of Scare Beast is what I’m going for.
You never know, they might make another Oz boss, and the fear could be useful.
*sniff*
Please don’t look at me like that!
I CAN HAVE HOPE!
LOL. The only minor glyph I have right now is Mend Pet as it is the only seemingly useful one that I have found. Given your comments on Feign Death I may add that one to my second slot. Man I wish glyphs were a little better or more useful for hunters.
Yea, as a whole, our minor glyphs are extremely bad. 20 Happiness from glyph of mend pet isn’t a lot and you’d have to spam mend pet a few times for it to actually get that happiness back up. Ferocity pets you don’t even need it if you have bloodthirsty, tenacity pets have guard dog (turning on growl in a raid isn’t a good idea though) and cunning pets have carrion feeder. 25 second FDs are nice. But the rest, I mean, seriously? Where’s our fun glyphs at? D:
Overall I think the hunter minor glyphs are kind of lame. At least give us something to make our pets change color or sparkle or something. Mages get to have penguins. idk, I think this whole profession is a bit of a let down.
There is a limited bonus to the revive pet. Normally don’t run into it but I have….so I am using it. It is this, there are some fights were the mobs and/or boss do AoE attack. Trying to rez a pet during this can be irritating….if there is nothing else you want for that last minor…..might think about it for a just in case. Not normally much help but there it is, for what it is worth. Anyways, good luck and happy gaming.
Gunsnbutter Excelsior/Uther
I don’t consider Glyph of Mend Pet useful because I always spec the beastie to have Bloodthirsty, and I presume would use the equivalents in the other trees. Or are the Tenacity/Cunning equivs bad?
@Mister Adequate: Yes, they are. The Tenacity one requires the pet to Growl, which is NOT something you want them doing in a raid environment, and the Cunning one is on a lengthy cooldown and requires a corpse to use. Plus, even if your pet has Bloodthirsty, the extra little bit helps. 🙂
@Pike: Thank you so much for doing these posts! I haven’t even looked at glyphs for my hunter yet, but this will make it a lot easier to choose. (P.S. Let me know if you need any of these on VeCo. :-D)
@Shagrat: Having taken inscription on my main, most of the minor glyphs for every class are kind of useless. I’m noticing that the only handy ones are the ones that remove the need for reagent; druids seem to have a handful of useful choices, but everyone else just kind of got novelties.
The Glyph of Mend Pet is also good for when you aren’t in combat for extended periods of time. While I do always carry food for my pets, I very rarely need it.
While I agree that many of the minor glyphs are somewhat lack luster (For everyone, not just Hunters!) I really enjoy the little bonuses that they add.
Even if they are minor…
I’m really enjoying them on my Warrior, though. 🙂
@Rilgon: I see! Well in that case, go for it with the Mend Pet glyph! (Though to me the more obvious answer is to have a pet from the best pet tree :p)