Does this make sense?

[Gabrion]

My first time as OT in Kara with my guild. We get all set to start and the raid leader asks the MT if the group set-ups are fine.

In group 1 are basically all casters, including the 2 healers, a Spriest, and an ele shaman. And a hunter.

In group two are mostly melee (including myself) except for a destro lock. There is an enhance shammy in this group who plans to be using windfury totem for the MT (warrior), rogue, and (lol) me.

So I piped up and suggested that the hunter and I be switched, pointing out that a) being in the group with wrath of air would help my aggro and b) Spriest would make sure my mana stays full in case I'm not getting enough dmg to heal it full.

Raid leader says "well I have the hunter in that group so he can keep full on mana from the Spriest."

I'm not one to fuss so I just roll with it. I mean I have about 320 spell dmg so I don't have to do a ton of fighting for threat and any time it matters my mana stays full from heals. Never the less, the decision left me scratching my head. Maybe I don't fully understand hunters, but I guess my theory has always been to build groups to help the tank.

Just checking here to find out if I'm crazy or not.

[ulushnar]

Having played both a Beastmastery Hunter and a Prot Paladin, I can say that a shadow priest is a massive DPS boost to a Hunter, since there's a definate lack of mp5 on their gear and Steady Shot spam's a massive mana hog.

If there's a Shaman/shadow priest going spare I'll usually ninja them when I'm tanking, but generally I prefer to prioritize the DPS. The faster mobs die, the faster we can move on.

[Katerina]

Having played both a Beastmastery Hunter and a Prot Paladin, I can say that a shadow priest is a massive DPS boost to a Hunter, since there's a definate lack of mp5 on their gear and Steady Shot spam's a massive mana hog.

If there's a Shaman/shadow priest going spare I'll usually ninja them when I'm tanking, but generally I prefer to prioritize the DPS. The faster mobs die, the faster we can move on.

True as all this is, dps can sit and drink while the pally tank chain pulls. Makes Kara go a lot faster.

I'd probably switch the pally to get the spriest for trash and the hunter for bosses if I were running the raid. Just my 2c.

[Gabrion]

Thanks for the replies...my question is answered.

Basically as long as there was a real advantage to keeping the hunter in that group I don't mind. I guess it could go either way in this situation. If it were me I would probably prioritize threat and make the hunter deal with BoW rather than BoM, but then again maybe there's a reason I'm not leading raids.

[Amirya]

For me, it would depend on the hunter. Was he BM or MM?

Trueshot Aura would be a load of help to the rogue and the enhancement shaman, and the hunter would still get mana return, assuming the shaman threw down a mana spring totem.

And Windfury totem would be useless to you, with your wizard oil.

Of course, the other deal breaker is, do I like or hate my party?

[ldeboer]

OT'ing kara as a pally is such a pain in the butt there is just not enuf damage to make it work or suddenly there is a crap pull or someone agro and you have to much and you just know you really should have kept that avoidance gear on >.<

[ulushnar]

True as all this is, dps can sit and drink while the pally tank chain pulls. Makes Kara go a lot faster.

I'd probably switch the pally to get the spriest for trash and the hunter for bosses if I were running the raid. Just my 2c.

That works in theory, but in practise, when I've had a Shadow Priest in Kara it hasn't significantly increased my pace. It could be the alt-level quality of the shadow priests I've had on badge runs, but it's not been a great factor. In practise, non-boss mobs die too fast for the VT to have much effect on my mana pool, and I'm rarely in danger of ooming on bosses.