Cataclysm Pre-Raid Gear

MMO-C had an article today previewing some of the craftable items that we'll be able to make and buy in Cataclysm. I suspect for many hunters these items will serve as the foundations for our pre-raid Cataclysm sets.

One thing you'll notice is that they are all item level 359 (200 was the entry level item level for epics in Wrath). This is significantly higher than the 264/277 gear a lot of folks are sporting now. Translation - it is highly unlikely that we'll be raiding with our current wrath gear.

Here's a rundown of some of the items that will be of interest to hunters. Please note that this is beta information so all of this is subject to change.

Item	Profession	Notes
Elementium Poleaxe	Blacksmithing
Elementium Shank	Blacksmithing	2H weapons will probably be preferred, but depending on hit needs dual-wielding these might be good.
Corded Viper Belt	Leatherworking
Dragonkiller Tunic	Leatherworking
Razor-Edged Cloak	Leatherworking
Overpowered Chicken Splitter	Engineering	As a dwarf I'll for the gun, but what a great name.
Finely-Tuned Throat Needler	Engineering	Fal'inwhat?
Kickback 5000	Engineering	Where are the green stats on this?
Deadly Bio-Optic Killshades	Engineering	Engineers only. I've always liked the goggles.

Additionally Engineers are getting some nice options. Just like in Wrath they'll be able to craft epic goggle. This time around though they'll be able to fit them with a cogwheel socket and hydraulic pump socket.

Item	Notes
Fractured Cogwheel	+132 Mastery Rating
Quick Cogwheel	+132 Haste Rating
Smooth Cogwheel	+132 Critical Strike Rating
Rigid Hydraulic Pump	+132 Hit Rating

By the way Engineering is looking like it's going to be a lot of fun in Cataclysm. I regret dropping it in favor of Blacksmithing and am currently gathering the mats to level it up and plan to be an Engineer again come Cataclysm.

Of course these aren't all the items we can get, and I suspect that there will be reputation rewards as well as drop from 5-man heroics that we'll also want for our pre-raid gear set.

Happy Hunting!

Patch 3.3 - Ammo

The speculation appears to over.  The latest PTR build has brought hunters new epic ammo.  It will be made by engineers, but available to all.

• You need to be honored with the Ashen Verdict to purchase the plans.
• Bullets require Goblin engineering and Arrows require Gnomish engineering.  This means that a single engineer will only be able to make one type of ammo.  I will probably be Goblin engineering, so please don't ask me to make arrows.
• They appear to be cheap to make (and hopefully cheap to buy).  One stack of bullets required two crystallized earth and one stack of arrows requires two crystallized shadow.
• The ammo does 91.5 dps.

New Ammo In Patch 3.3?

I was going to do a post on some of the new hunter gear coming our way in patch 3.3.  As I was doing my research I ran across what appears to be engineering recipes for new arrows and bullets.  I couldn't find anything on the finished products or the mats required to make them.

The recipes themselves are tied to the new Ashen Verdict reputation. What's also interesting is that arrows require Gnomish engineering to make and the bullets require Goblin engineering to make.

It looks like engineers may have a new source of income.  We'll have to see how this plays out.