Wrath of the Lich King is coming out in one month and the 3.0.2 patch is out so now is a great time to jump back on the bandwagon! I know there’s a lot of news that has arise since my departure but assuming that there are so much blogs out there that have some much info, I’m not really going to go into details. Of course, this blog is about the best hunter pets in the game: the crabs!

After a long patch download, I eagerly waited to get to Aidem and Stra. I spec’d Aidem into Beast Mastery of course (which I will get into in a future post) and quickly called out Stra. I hadn’t seen her for a while. It put a smile on my face to see the mighty crab once again. I opened up her talents and spec’d her. I don’t want to get too much into what I spec’d her as I’m still experimenting with her build.

Finally I was done. There she stood, the mighty red crab. The question now was, what exactly did the 3.0.2 patch do to her? She still looked the same. What new abilities did she learn. What did her stats look like? And of course, how could she handle the situation. It was time to bring Stra on a test run. I brought her up to Netherstorm. Flying above, we found the mighty Apex (67 elite) roaming around. A great practice target. I landed and buffed myself and Stra. We were ready. I sent Stra in for the attack. Suddenly, Stra sped up to a tremendous speed at Apex. My jaw dropped to see this little crab charge at her enemy. Almost instantly Apex was getting a beating. Numbers began flying out and very little did Stra’s health drop. I threw a misdirect and mend pet and fired away. The battle intensified when Stra became the Big Red Crab! Great numbers flew into the sky as Apex dropped to zero health. Stra barely got a scratch. Not once did I pull aggro off of her. She was one mean tanking machine. How did this crab do so well? I just had to check out her stats. It was then I couldn’t believe my eyes.

I quickly ran to a safe area and opened up our stats. I couldn’t believe it! Unbuffed, I stood at 9,290 health. Stra, also unbuffed, stood at 8,920 health. She also had over 13k armor which doubles myself. There had to be a twist. I looked at our damage and it stood at 250-275. It may not be the best, but it sure did the job. I know that once I gear myself up and I reach level 80, Stra will be one unstoppable force. I’m sure glad I tamed a crab!

Like that story? Feel free to share your crab stories in the comments below. I would love to hear from them. If you don’t have a crab yourself, I hope that this blog will inspire you to go out and tame one.

World's Fast Crab!

Tomorrow at 9am (Pacific Time), my subscription to World of Warcraft ends. This means this is the finally farewell from BigRedCrab for now. Of course I’m so excited for Wrath of the Lich King that when it comes out, I’m renewing my subscription. When that time comes, I will be more than happy to begin blogging once more.

But wait? Didn’t I give my farewells in the last post? Yes I did. Why then am I putting out another post? Have you checked out the picture at the beginning of this post? Look carefully at Stra’s Attack Speed.

This is not a doctored screenshot (other than the cropping) and this was taken in an official World of Wacraft live server. In other words this is not fake, it’s the real deal.

How did I manage to do such a thing? I will tell… when BigRedCrab comes back! Until then, I will leave that up to you to figure out.

(Just in case people were wondering, of the time of the screenshot, Stra was Content (not Happy) so her Damage and DPS are lower than it should be. Being Happy, her Damage would have been 155-188 which would have brought her DPS at about 417 damage per second.)

Aidem's Subscription has been cancelled

If you haven’t noticed, I haven’t posted anything on the blog lately. With the sudden surge of WotLK data, you’d think I’d be posting my opinions left and right. Unfortunately, I have some bad news (and some good news):

The Bad News: I’m actually attending my senior year in college at the moment (I attend a year-round college) and my current class is the most difficult class of my entire program. I need to shift a lot of my attention off of WoW and into this class. In fact, the whole project the class is working on together is a week behind (which is definitely not good). I’ve also prioritized my finances and WoW is (unfortunately) at the bottom of the list.

I’m not saying these two factors are the major reason why I cancelled my subscription. Just as the pass expansion, WoW becomes a bit boring. Aidem is a freash level 70 with only three epics and all the rest greens with a few blues. To spend time farming battlegrounds or the arena is not worth it at the moment. This leads me into the good news.

The Good News: There’s a fairly good chance that I’ll be renewing my subscription when Wrath of the Lich King comes out. I’m very excited for the expansion.

Before I head out, I would like to give my final thoughts about the expansion:

• Death of Rare Pets – As much as I’m happy that the leveling of lowbie pets have been fixed, I’m a bit disappointed also. The main reason why I love Stra, my awesome crab, is because not too many hunters put the time and effort to level a crab to level 70. Now with a swing of a wand, any pet will only trail 5 levels behind the master. With each family with a unique ability, the rarity of pets will thin out. I’m not 100% if crabs will be a popular pet, but I know a little part of me will die whenever I see another hunter with a level 70/80 pet crab.
• Pet Talents - I’m excited! I was actually hoping to have access to all three talents as we do. I was a bit disappointed that Stra will only have access to one. I’ve messed around with the pet talent calculators but I haven’t decided anything officially until we get near live.
• Exotic Pets – If anything looks or relates to crabs, I’m on it. I wouldn’t mind a dragon pet but that’s pushing it. My guess is they will open a few current untamable to BM hunters.
• Greens > Epics – Overall, I’d rather want to keep my current greens than get decked out in epics for WotLK. If I enter Northrend decked out with epics, they won’t be replaced until around level 75. The part of experiencing new content is experiencing the new quest rewards and gear. I want my gear to be replaced right at level 70. That’s just me though.

One of the biggest thing to come out of the Worldwide Invitational for hunters are the Pet Talents! This means no more Training Points. I’ve always hated Stra’s Training Points and I tend to respec her every week. According to what has been said, each Pet will have their own unique DPS, Tank, and Utility tree. I’m predicting that the DPS tree will be the number one end-game tree. The Tank tree will be for those who are leveling/soloing or have a pet specifically for tanking. The Utility tree is probably going to be used for Raids (shared with the DPS tree). If that was confusing, here’s a little summary:

Solo: DPS/Tank Build
Group(Non-Tank): DPS/Utility
Group (Tank): Tank
Raid: DPS/Utility
PvP: DPS

The question I have about the Pet Talents is exactly how are they going to be made? In WotLK, the level cap is going to be raised to level 80. This means that our characters will have 11 Tiers per tree and 71 talent points to spend. To tell the truth, that’s A LOT for a pet. Not only that, but there will be three 11 Tier trees per pet family. There are currently 23 pet families in the game. If we had the Pet Talents implemented now, that would be 69 different 11 Tier trees. That’s near triple the amount of talent trees currently in game (for characters).

My speculation is this:

Currently, for every level, a pet receives 5 Training Points (if Best Friend loyalty). I’m assuming in WotLK, for every level the pet grows, it will receive 1 Talent Point. Like us, pets will start receiving talent points from level 10 and up. By level 80, a pet should have accumulated 71 Talent Points. Basically the pet’s Talent System will be the same as ours, but with one difference.

Lets go back to the Training Points. Lets take a look at pet’s ability Great Stamina and lets look at the hunter’s talent Endurance Training. The hunter’s talent Endurance Training (among the other talents) goes up to 5 ranks. the pet’s ability Great Stamina goes up to 11 ranks. I’m predicting that unlike our talent points, the pet’s talent points will go up to 10 ranks (double of ours). For example, one of the pet’s talents could be 0/10 Great Stamina. To max out Great Stamina you would need 10 (out of 71) Talent Points. Since the ranks are doubled, the pets wouldn’t need 11 Tiers of talents. The highest talent would be around Tier 6 or 7.

Some else worth noting is the Active Abilities for pets. If you haven’t noticed in some of the Alpha Notes, Blizzard has changed some of the tooltips/descriptions for the pet abilities to be more general. For example:

Charge - Description changed to read “animal” instead of “boar”.

Even though that Blizzard claims that the Talent Trees will be different for every family, I’m pretty such that they will share a few abilities. Boar will most likely keep Charge, but other pet families may gain them. Bears are probably going to be on of them (since Druid bears can charge, why can’t pet bears?). Since Training Points are going to go away, this means that these Active Abilities will be learned from the pet’s Talent Tree. This means I no longer need to tame other beasts to upgrade Stra’s Claw! Since pets will have a DPS, Tank, and Utility tree, this means that the Active Abilities have to fall somewhere in one of these three trees. Here’s my guess where they’ll fall into:

DPS Tree
Bad Attitude
Bite
Claw
Fire Breath
Gore
Lightning Breath
Nether Shock
Pin
Poison Spit
Prowl
Ravage
Scorpid Poisond
Sonic Blast
Tendom Rip
Wing Buffet 

Tank Tree
Charge
Dust Cloud
Growl
Shell Shield
Snatch
Thunderstomp 

Utility Tree
Cower
Dash
Dive
Furious Howl
Screech
Serenity Dust
Spore Cloud
Warp

These are all speculation. I’m very excited to see the 3 Talent Trees for Stra!

Okay, Aspect of the Crab is not a new WotLK ability, but I had to think of a post title. I just wanted to let those know who haven’t done much questing with the Midsummer Fire Festival to check out the new crab quest! The quest itself is a three quest quest-chain. Once complete, two additional quests are offered. Here is a quick run through of the three quests:

Keep in mind that Ashenvale is Neutral Territory. This may be a pain to have fun on PvP Servers so I recommend doing so at slow times.

Unusual Activity

To find the quest-giver, you’ll have to search for the big bonfire within any of your major cities (I choose Ironforge for no particular reason). Once given the quest, you are sent to the west coast of Ashenvale. It took me a while to figure out what I was doing because I didn’t quite read the quest. In order to complete the quest, keep killing the Twilight Cultist at the entrance of Blackfathom Depths. You don’t have to enter the temple, you can find the cultist outside on the shore. They’re easy to kill. Keep killing them and they’ll eventually drop an envelop. Once looted, use your totem that was given to you to call a wolf spirit.

An Innocent Disguise

The wolf spirit will continue the quest-line by giving you an orb. This is what makes this quest shine. Once activated, your character temporarily turns into a blue crab (as you can see in the picture above). You may also notice that all Twilight Cultist are now friendly. Your mission now is to head up the coast to a little camp. There will be a bonfire, a cultist, and some naga (no tents so don’t search for a “camp”). The area you’re searching for is near the edge of Darkshore and Ashenvale. Stick around the area acting like a crab and listen to their conversation. Eventually the mission will be complete. You can either run away and use the totem to call forth the spirit wolf or you can continue to play as a crab.

The orb can only be used on the west coast of Ashenvale and isn’t consumed so you can keep using it as long as you’re on the quest. For fun, before turning into a crab become in combat with a nearby creature. This will take our your weapons. If you use the orb and turn into the crab, your weapons will still be out.

Inform the Elder

Simple, the spirit wolf will send you back to the elder that sent you to Ashenvale. From there, the elder will send onto two addition quests.

First off, I’d like to welcome everyone who has just arrived from Mania’s Arcania. I already knew that BigRedCrab was on Mania’s blogroll (which from my stats brought in a few visitors), but I wasn’t expecting to be presented on the Coummity Round-Up. Anyways, again I’d like to welcome everyone. BigRedCrab is still fairly new (this only being the 7th post) but hopefully as time goes on, I’ll have a nice collect of topics.

For those who were wondering about the Claw Experiment, I just want to clarify that I know it’s basic common sense to train Claw if it’s the only ability available to the pet. The purpose of the experiment is not to sway hunters to train Claw, but to get people a “wake up call” on how much a pet’s DPS is increased with Claw. Most people, such as I, just train and auto-cast Claw and forget about it. So how much increase does you pet’s DPS receive with Claw? 33% It was most definitely a wake up call for me.

Other news, Stra finally ran her first Karazhan. It all started while I was in the Bone Waste trying to finish up some quests for some gold when I decided to jump onto the LFG Karazhan window. There were to Karazhan groups currently running. Almost instantly, I receive a whisper from the Raid Leader (RL):

RL: Stats?
Me: 8k Health, 5k Mana, 1.1k AP
Nothing…
Me: I’ve ran Karazhan before on my Warlock. This will be first time on hunter.
Nothing…

Not even a reply telling me sorry. I was kind of bummed out that I wasn’t able to get into a PuG for my first Karazhan run with Stra. I thought I wouldn’t run Karazhan that day so I went on with my quest but kept myself in the LFG Karazhan window. After about ten minutes, I get a whisper from the Raid Leader in the other raid:

RL: Hey, up for Kara?
Me: Sure
RL: Okay, one sec.
Me: Just want to let you know this is my first time on my hunter, but I’ve ran Kara a dozen times on my warlock.
RL: No problem. How much health do you have?
Me: 8k unbuffed.
RL: Sweet.
RL: We’re at Illhoof atm. That okay?
Me: Sure.

After a few moments, I get and invite and a few moments after that, I get a summon. There I was, down the stairs just outside of Illhoof’s room. It was my first time in Karazhan with my hunter, but wait! Where was Stra? I’m sure she would love to see the raid… but would the raid love to see Stra? I called for Stra and the red crab appeared…

CRAB!

One of the raid members saw the crab and yelled it out to the whole raid. There soon came a flock of “LOL”s. Was I going to make fun of? Was I going to be kicked? I never told the raid leader about my crab. Nope, they all finished they’re laughs and begun to buff up. They through a few buffs up on me and Stra. There I sat with about 9k Health and Stra 7k health. She was one meaning killing machine. I got a Ready Check and we went in.

ILLHOOF

As a warlock, I’m use to spamming Seed of Corruption. I wasn’t quite sure how to fight Illhoof this time, but there was another hunter in the group and after watching him, I got quite into it. I sent Stra in at Illhoof and she fought her heart out. I threw a Mend Pet out a few times (I’m not quite sure why or how she was receiving damage) which in turn drew aggro from the horde of imps, but she survived. I had to pop two mana potions, but we were able to down Illhoof with ease. No deaths… not even the pets. Fortunate for me, Girdle of the Prowler dropped and I was the only roller for it. My first epic on my first Kara boss kill.

SHADE

We fought our way to Shade which only consist of one group of mobs. As we sat at the door, the Raid Leader explained the fight to those who were new. I already knew the fight so I prepared myself and Stra. The warlock popped out some healthstones. As I went and grabbed one, I saw the doom my crab was to face in this fight. Stra’s 13k armor was not to protect her from Shade’s extreme spell damage. It was a fight I was sure Stra would not survive.

The raid leader was just about to wrap up everything and send out a Ready Check when someonne (I think the druid) got a little too close to Shade and pulled aggro. Everyone quickly recovered and got to their positions only to be pulled to the center instantly. Stra and I ran for the wall. I made it to the wall and turned around ready for the blast. BAM! I was okay but I heard Stra shriek in pain. She was not out of the blast radius and took heavy damage, but she survived (15% Health). I quickly threw Mend Up on her and sent her to fight. Soon after, a Blizzard came my way and I circled the room shooting as many shots as I can in the process. The Blizzard went way, the danger was still in air with Flame Wreath. The Raider Leader called everyone to stop moving and they did so. Once the Wreath was done, everyone went back to their positions. The fight looked like it was in control and Stra may actually survive.

BAM! BAM! Stra’s health started dropping quickly. BAM! Stra shrieked for help. I watched in horror as Shade begun casting Arcane Missile on the young crab. Stra’s shell frizzled with hot arcane magic. I quickly threw a Mend Pet up. Any more and Stra was for sure to die. I attention then swayed to the Blizzard that was on a direct course at me. It was either me or the crab. It was a tough choice. I threw up last Mend Pet up and quickly ran. As I circled the room, I watched as more Arcane Missiles flew at Stra. There was nothing I can do. Finally, it ended. The arcane missiles ceased. I glanced over to Stra’s location. There she was, alive still giving all she got at Shade. Shade had angered Stra and released the Beast Within. Nothing could stop Stra, not even Shade’s elementals. Suddenly, Shade fell and so did the Steelspine Faceguard. I again was the lone roller of this epic loot. It makes me proud whenever we down Shade before his Mass Polymorph

NETHERSPITE

Netherspite was not going to be an easy task, especially with people new to the encounter. As a warlock, I tanked the blue beam. Now, without any beam duty, I was pure DPS. During the banish stage, I can feign death and not even be targeted. The question is, will Stra live through this encounter? Stra got lucky during Shade, will her luck save her from Netherspite?

Encounter One Foreshadow…

We engage Netherspite and the portals pop up. Everyone grabs their beams and I send Stra into battle. The first part went perfectly. Netherspite banishes himself and I call back Stra and have him stay out of melee range while I feign death. Netherspite spins as he starts throwing out his spells at the other players. Stra and I are unharmed. Unfortunately, I can’t say that for the rest… Once Netherspite leaves his banishment, massive portal chaos arise. The red beams jumps between people as Netherspite downs them and the green beam heals what damage we’ve done. Realizing that this encounter was wipe, I ran to the door and feigned death. The raid members began dropping like flies. Eventually, Netherspite reaches Stra on the threat chart. To my amazement, Stra not only survives one hit, or even two hits… but takes on three hits before the crab falls (to be all honest, Netherspite missed Stra on the second hit).

Encounter Two

After the raid regrouped, the raid leader clarified who had which beam. Right in the middle of the clarification, one of the raid members got to close to Netherspite. He took out too many of our members too quickly for us to counter the attack and just as it was a wipe, I feigned death. Unfortunately, Stra was one of the many victims of this premature pull.

Encounter Three

The main tank went AFK and to prevent another premature, I sat behind the door. As we waited, the Raid Leader explained the fight in the slightest detail. As we waited, the shaman in the group sent me a whisper:

Shaman: Where did you get the crab?
Me: I got her in Durator when I was level 10. Had her ever since.
Shaman: That’s sooo cool! I think that’s awesome that you have a level 70 crab.
Me: I’m happy then. I’m happy now
Shaman: It’s not everyday I see a crab in raids.
Me: This is her first time here too  
Shaman: I want to work on my hunter. I want a crab too! 

When the main tank came back, they initiated a Ready Check and buffed up. The main tank went in and engaged Netherspite. Like the first attempt, the portals came up and everyone took they’re place. Everything went smoothly except for one death (due to the lack of attention to the black voids). The banish stage began and everyone ran to the walls. I called Stra back, place her on Stay, and ran to a corner to feign death. Netherspite sent out a few breaths out but nothing serious. Once the portals opened up again, everything took their spots. A perfect execution. I sent Stra back to Netherspite and she started being him. Netherspite was almost dead and the banish stage was about to begin. I called back Stra and had her stay at the door while I feigned death in the corner. As I layed there, I saw Netherspite had targeted Stra. I could see her all by herself as the Netherspite’s breath bounded her. Breath after breath after breath. It seems that Stra was the only target available for Netherspite. I was amazed to see Stra still barely standing after three Netherbreaths.

Netherbreath: An attack hitting everyone in a cone out from where Netherspite is facing at the time for ~4.5k arcane damage in addition to knocking them back ~20 yards. Will be cast very frequently during Banish phase. Cast time: 2.5 seconds. -Wowwiki

There was nothing for me to do. If I came out of feign death to save Stra, I would be an available target. I laid there watch Stra breath heavily from such exhaustion. Luckily for her, the banish stage was over and we were able to finish off Netherspite. Stra had once again survived the beating of a raid boss.

PRINCE

Prince was fairly easy as a warlock. In fact, I always ranked Netherspite or Nightbane as harder. There wasn’t anything too special about Prince. No epic battle for Stra, no near death experience. In fact, the encounter went smoother than any other encounter I ran with this PuG. Luckily for me though, the T4 Helm dropped and yet again… I was the only roller. Stra… you served me well.

Hopefully next time I run Karazhan, I will record the boss fights just to show how a crab does things in raids

UPDATE: I’ve been getting reports that the pet growth rate stops at level 60. Fixed the blog post.

You’ve may seen level 70 cats, ravagers, or raptors everywhere. They can get pretty big and with Bestial Wrath, can get huge! However, there haven’t been many sightings of level 70 crabs going around. How big can a level crab get? Not too many people know. Fortunately, I made a chart just to show how big a crab can get from level 10 all the way to level 70, including when it’s in it’s Bestial Wrath state.

Crabs can get pretty huge too. Trust me, I’ve seen Stra so big at times that I’ve been able to hide an army of gnomes in Battlegrounds. Although Stra, or crabs in general, are still not the biggest pet at level 70, it’s something be amazed. Imagine minding your own business and suddenly a big red crab between the size of a dwarf and orc coming at you.

If you are unaware of the size rate for hunter pets, it’s about 1% size increase per level (up to level 60). Whenever you tame a beast within a particular family, it shrinks to a size compared to it’s level. The formula is:

Current Pet Size = (Base Pet Size + (Base Pet Size * Pet Level * .01)

The Base Pet Size is the base of which the pet grows from. Basically, the Base Pet Size is the size of the pet at level 0. We literally can’t see a pet at level 0, hence we can’t visually see a pet in game at it’s Base Pet Size. From that, for every level the pet dings, it will grow at a rate of 1% (or .01 in the formula). However, the growth rate stops once the the pet reaches level 60. The 50% (or .5 in the formula) comes from Bestial Wrath if it’s activated. Although I’m not 100% sure of a pet grows by 50% during this state, the size of Stra compared to the size of the Bestial Wrath crab on the chart are very similar. Since your pet has an increase of 50% on damage, I only guess that it also gains a 50% in size.

Please note that the sizes on the chart are not EXACT compared to the game, but a VERY CLOSELY related. During the leveling process with Stra, she matched the size of the crabs in the chart at each levels very closely. The chart is more of a relative guide. If you wish to actual size the of any pet at level 70, I would recommend taking a look within the game.

Also keep in mind that with the upcoming expansion, WotLK… all pets (yes, including crabs) will be able to gain another 10 levels. Therefore, we can expect to see another 10% increase in pet sizes. I can’t wait!

UPDATE: I’ve been getting reports that the pet growth rate stops at level 60. Fixed the blog post.

• New line of pet spells called “Smack”. Equivalent to Claw except with different name.
• Tendom Rip (Rank 1) – 25 focus, Next melee, 20 second cooldown. “Damages an enemy for 3 to 5 and reduces movement speed by 25% for 8 sec.”
• Spore Cloud (Rank 1) - 50 focus, 10 second cooldown. “Inflicts 2 nature damage to nearby enemies every 2 sec for 6 sec and reduces armor by 15%.
• Dust Cloud (Rank 1) - 50 focus, 20 second cooldown. “Kick up an obscuring cloud of dust, lowering the chance for enemies to hit by 30%. Effects last 8 sec.”
• Serenity Dust (Rank 1) - 75 focus, 2 minute cooldown. “Heals the pet for 510 over 15 sec.”
• Bad Attitude (Rank 1) - 25 focus, 3 minute cooldown. “Snap back for 5 damage at any target that strikes you for the next 2 min.”
• Nether Shock (Rank 1) - 30 focus, 20 yard range, 6 second cooldown. “Instantly lashes an enemy for 17 to 19 Shadow damage. Also interrupts spellcasting and prevents any spell in that school from being cast for 1 sec.”
• Ravage (Rank 1) - 80 focus, 1 minute cooldown. “Violently attack an enemy for 4 to 6, stunning it for 2 sec.”
• Sonic Blast (Rank 1) - 80 focus, 1 minute cooldown. “Emits a piercing shriek, inflicted 4 to 6 physical damage and stunning the target for 2 sec.”
• Wing Buffet (Rank 1) - 40 focus, 30 second cooldown. “Blasts the target for 4 to 6 damage and knocking it back.”
• Snatch (Rank 1) - 40 focus, 1 minute cooldown. “Grab the enemy’s weapon with your talons, disarming them for 10 sec.”
• Pin (Rank 1) - 80 Focus, channeled, 20 second cooldown. “Pins the target in place, and squeezes for 20 damage over 12 sec.”

Exactly how important is Claw (Rank 9)? Is it worth investing 29 Training Points in? I asked that question too and with the help of the handy addon Recount, I did a little experiment. In fact, the ending results were a bit more unexpected that I thought. On average, Claw (Rank 9) was near 25% of Stra’s damage (not including Kill Command).

The experiment went like this:

I wanted to find out how much damage and what percentage Stra was doing with Claw (Rank 9), so I flew over to Shadowmoon Valley. Since I was doing this solo, I decided to hunt for a mob at level 70. Raid bosses are to equivalent level 73, but I doubt Stra could hand such a beating with the experiment I had in mind. While flying over the Netherwing Ledge, I found some air elementals level 69-70. I flew down for the pickings.

EXPERIMENT ONE: 
Stra Alone w/ Claw and Growl
 

For my first experiment, I wanted to see how much Claw would be used if Growl was also being used. I knew Growl also uses focus, therefore Claw would have to share. Another factor in this experiment was the absence of myself. Without my aid, Stra didn’t benefit from the talent Go for the Throat. Without any focus, she wouldn’t be able to use Claw which leads to a lack of damage (because of a lack of cast). How much damage could Stra without the aid of myself?

As expect, Stra very quickly ran out of focus. Every few seconds she would regain a little, but not only was it used by Claw… it was also used by Growl. This led to a 16.4% of the overall damage.

EXPERIMENT TWO:
Stra Alone w/ Claw
 

For the next experiment, I wanted to see how much more damage Claw could do without Growl. Without Growl sucking up some of the focus, Claw would have the chance to be used more often. This experiment would be the first actual pure focus dump. However, as before, I would not aid Stra in battle. This again meant the talent Go for the Throat would no help her whatsoever. Once Stra uses up all the focus, she would have to wait until her next Claw.

Of course, that’s just what happened. Stra’s Claw drained all her focus and as it regenerated, it was depleted just as quickly. However, without sharing the focus with Growl, Claw was able to be used more often and presented 24.5% of her overall damage.

EXPERIMENT THREE:
Stra & Aidem w/ Claw & Growl
 

Stra was starting to get quite a beating. Fortunately for her, the experiment now called for my help. As seen before, Stra would do excellent until she ran out of focus. Without any help regenerating her focus, she was barely geting a Claw in. Especially with sharing focus with Growl, Claw was having a tough time. This experiment, I would aid Stra in combat with only my auto-shot. As I shoot, my crits would quickly regenerate Stra’s focus and hopefully she could Claw a lot more often. The real question with this experiment would be to see if sharing focus with Growl would still make a major impact.

The question was answered with a higher increase in damage from Claw. With focus being regenerated at a much higher rate, Stra was able to use Claw and Growl more often. Even though the two abilities shared focus, Claw ended up having a 27.9% of overall damage.

EXPERIMENT FOUR:
Stra & Aidem w/ Claw
 

The first two experiments showed that deactivated Growl caused Claw’s percentage of overall damage to raise and the third experiment showed that with the aid of myself, Stra’s Claw’s percentage of overall damage rose again. Would this mean that with my aid and Growl deactivated, Claw’s percentage would raise again once more? If so, by how much? Once again, this experiment called for myself to only use auto-shoot and have Stra only use Claw. The main worry about this experiment was having myself pull aggro off Stra, which would ruin the test run. I was already on a good test streak, I wouldn’t want to mess this up at the end.

Apparently my logic before was incorrect. Even with Growl deactivated and myself aiding Stra which kept the focus up, her Claw’s percentage of overall damage was at 28.0%, only .1% higher than the third experiment. In fact, Stra’s focus was never depleted with Claw and Growl both using it. There was nothing preventing Claw from being used and therefore had the same results as the experiment before.

CONCLUSION

How important is Claw (Rank 9)? If you think an 25% 33% increase in pet damage is important, than yes. According to the results of the four experiments, Claw is a very handy ability in need and should be trained. That’s if, you have a crab. Many other families have unique abilities which may out perform Claw and I would recommend using those also. However, if training your pet crab or any other pet that only comes with Claw, I would recommend spending 29 Training Points.

For the full benefit of Claw, the hunter must aid the pet in battle. The Go for the Throat ability is very important make Claw a very effective focus dump. Even with Growl taking some of the focus, Claw is still very effective. Does this mean Growl should be left on while in groups? In a sense, yes. However, there may be a chance for your pet to actually pull aggro and Claw is useless for a dead pet. If you’re pet is meant to be an off-tank, feel free to slap that Growl on auto-cast. Just be sure keep that Claw going at all times.

Just added a new page to the blog called “FAQ”. It has plenty of questions about Stra. If you are interesting in asking more questions, feel free to comment to this blog entry or on the “FAQ” page. I’d love to answer more questions about Stra, or even anything concerning the hunter class in general.

Please enjoy the following questions I get asked a lot:

Q: Why tame a crab?
A: Why not? In all purpose, I wanted to tame one of the rarest tamed pets available. At first, I wanted to tame a Sporebat, but the lowest one available was at level 60. I wanted a rare pet that I could tame at a very earlier level. Upon browsing through Petopia, I saw the crabs. Crabs are rare and appear weak (I mean come on, they’re crabs). Being an Alliance character, I decided to go with the red crab since most of them can be found in Durator.

Q: What exact crab did you tame?
A:  The level 8 Surf Crawler. The highest level red crab before level 10.

Q: Where did you get the name Stra for you crab?
A: It’s an inside reference to my real life. My friends know it; and if taken the time, it can easily be figured out. 

Q: What do you feed your crab.
A: She likes grapes. When running with a mage, she loves the biscuits. 

Q: How big is your crab?
A: When Stra was level 8, she was no higher than my dwarf’s knees. Now at level 70, she’s between about chest and shoulder height. That’s not including Bestial Wrath.

Q: Bestial Wrath? How big is your crab then?
A: Much bigger than my dwarf. Stra stands about shoulder height with a human character. That’s why this blog is named BigRedCrab, in honors of her mighty Bestial Wrath.

Q: Does your crab cause attention?
A:  Yes, both wanted and unwanted. While in the big cities, there are plenty of travelers that will stop observe Stra. There have been times when Beast Lore flashes above Stra’s head. I’ve gotten a few whispers and plenty of compliments from players all around. Only in rare occasions do I get bashed on (usually by other hunters).

Q: Any other unwanted attention?
A: Owning a pet crab instantly flags you as a “Casual Player”. On a PvP Server, this has made me an easy target for enemy players. During the course of leveling, I’ve been jumped more players around my level than any other character I’ve leveled up with. Of course, this comes with benefits. As a crab owner, I appear weak. In reality, I’ve been able to turn around countless of ganks. I downed a warlock ten levels higher than me who tried to gank me in Strangethorn Vale. Usually though, I try to book it before they come back. They won’t treat me as an “easy target” next time.

Q: Do you have a difficult time looking for groups?
A: Not at all. I usually keep my crab hidden or unannounced from the group until we all have entered the instances. Even when I call Stra out, there may be a few comments about it, but nothing negative. They all enjoy seeing a crab by their sides.

Q: How well does Stra do in instances?
A: I don’t have an damage chart so I can’t really say where she is damage wise yet. However, she does out-dps the tanks. She makes a great off-tank. There are plenty of healers who have been saved by the big crab.

Q: How about raids?
A: I have yet to run a raid with Stra.

Q: How about battlegrounds?
A: I’ve only ran battlegrounds a few times. At the start, there are people who joke around with the crab but nothing negative. I tend to sick Stra on the healers in the back of the fight. It’s great to see a Flash Heal take six to eight seconds to cast. Early in the battlegrounds, Stra is basically ignored due to her being a crab. Unfortunately, she does cause LOTS of trouble for the enemy players. Eventually, Stra becomes a common target and by the end of the match has died countless of times. In fact, she dies more often than I do. Usually Stra and I fall within 5th-10th place overall damage.

Q: How about arenas?
A: I have yet to run any arena matches with Stra.