I may never be prepared

I know the patch is coming, I just can not bring myself to get excited enough to be prepared for it this time.   But do I really need to worry this time?

Is that a sigh of relief or was that a meh?

As hunters there really is not a whole lot we have to do to get ready for 4.2.  There are no huge talent or ability overhauls.  There are no sweeping nerfs or balance shifting buffs.  Hunters will basically be the same class when the servers come back up as they were when they went down.  This unusual calm in the recent patch-to-patch roller coaster ride for classes is a bit of a welcome relief for some of us who have to help fix the error of our raid companion's ways.

Don’t Stockpile Valor Points

 

Unless you want a 4k Justice Points.  All Valor Points currently in possession are becoming Justice Points.  So any Valor you have when the patch goes live will not get you a head start on ilvl 378 Valor purchases.  The extra Valor isn't converting past the normal 4k cap on the PTR, so anyone whose Valor and Justice Points sum to a total over 4k will simply lose the excess points.

If previous patches are any indication this new patch will be a great time for gearing into ilvl 359 and quickly getting alts to fill in holes in raid teams.

Do Stockpile Crafting Materials

 

If you are looking to have the new agility BoEs made quickly.  The new crafting recipes for the ilvl 365 gun and the  ilvl 365 agi two-hander will require expensive materials and they will only go up in price once the patch hits.  So start gathering up any mats that you will require now.   The demand for materials will force existing crafted items up in price as well so you might be able to save some gold by buying your new leg armor pre patch as well.

The role of Chaos Orbs (the gun and polearm both require five) remains uncertain.  Blizzard has merely said that they plan to make the orbs BoE in “a future patch” and not 4.2 specifically.

Tenacity Pet Intervenes as a Viable Raid Tactic

 

In 4.2 Tenacity pets will only take up to 50% of the their health as damage resulting from the use of Intervene.  Why does this matter?  It means that tenacity pets can successfully and repeatedly be used to soak spike tank damage, such as Chimaeron’s Double Attacks.  Previously our pets would just die, but with the 50% cap, Intervenes can possibly save lives in encounters where spike melee damage on tanks is a greater concern than hunter dps.  Turtle is very excited about this change.  He never gets to raid.