Ah, this makes much more sense than just dropping in through the queue and fumbling my way through! Thanks everyone 
Heh…no fumbling involved. If you sneeze, you may miss the whole fight. 
The down side is only 80s can do it. I’d like to be able to run a couple of my other alts through it, hoping for the Kodo mount.
I was in there with a 79, I think it is 75+
Okay, I feel stupid now. I bought my first piece of gear with Emblems of Triumph and the dungeon finder says I’m still too crappy to queue for a Heroic. Do I need to get another piece of gear?
Interesting. Doubt I could get my BoomTree up another 10 levels before the end of Brewfest, but…maybe.
No clue on the heroic queue problem. Seems like as soon as I hit 80, the option was there. Then again, I think I was able to get my first T9 piece, and a comparable quality pvp piece right after turning 80. I guess that could have made a difference…
While SFG is telling everyone how much she “mega-loathes” them for their accomplishments, I just want to say how precious she has been to me and the Wolk’.
I know I keep sayin’ this shit over and over, but I really could not have made it with me and Wolkie if it hadnt’a been for this thread, my friends, and Shot From Guns.
Thanks!
Q
I’ve never had that problem, kushiel, and the Light knows some of my 80s got there with unbelievably-crappy gear. What’s the exact message?
Keliraeda (my 80 blood elf paladin) killed Direbrew tonight and simultaneously got Brewmaster
I could swear the Drunk & Disorderly achievement (the "wear three pieces of Brewfest garb and dance in Dalaran one) was a requirement for Brewmaster last year, so I still thought Keli needed to do that, but I guess not.
Did Direbrew on all three of my 80s today, but got nothing by Frosties from the kegs 
Eilyssana got the mug-looking trinket on her first run, though, to go with the Mithril Pocketwatch she got last year.
So my WoW playing the last two days has been the following:
- queue for random heroic and get my frost tokens.
- queue for Direbrew and not get a mount drop
- queue for Heroic Gundrak and lag at a crucial moment so I don’t get Less-rabi
- log off in a huff.
grins
Well no brewfest mounts last night, but my pally did finally get the trink he wanted, then he had enough emblems for his second T10 piece (gloves), then he got the T9 tanking gloves from VoA25 because he was the only pally in the raid. I don’t have a second spec at this point but I’ll squirrel the gloves away in case I decide to add a tank spec at some point. Which is not terribly likely, since I already have a tank pally (72) and I don’t really like tanking much.
Check the general level of your gear. How long have you been wearing it? Is it blues or greens? Do you have any friends with crafting professions who could make you starter 80 BOE blues and purples? Did you check the AH for reasonably priced upgrades, especially for slots you can’t upgrade through badges?
Dawwwww. ‘T weren’t nothin’.
I think it’s because I have too many greens. No one told me blues were better than greens, so while I quested, I concentrated on the stats of the items. For example, I had a green dagger with higher DPS than any of the blue ones on the way so I kept with it. But Corin Direbrew put a lovely purple dagger in my keg last night!
Tonight I think I’ll look around the AH for blues.
The other thing that’s disappointed me is I respec’ed from BM to MM last night and I’m doing about the same amount of damage, maybe even a little less. The big change was that I lost my link with my pet that regenerated health, but gained a mana meter that lasts forever.
kushiel you’re right to look at the stats and not the color of your gear. If a green item has better stats than a blue, it’s a better item (usually a higher-level item than the blue is).
But by 80, you should have mostly blue (or purple) items with better stats than any greens you would find. You can get them in heroic dungeons, with badges, on the AH or from other players who can make them.
Remember, you can also run regular dungeons, not just heroics. The regular dungeons at 80 should be doable with questing greens, and you’ll quickly pick up solid gear for heroics.
I don’t remember if you’re in the BDL, but I think there’s still a fair amount of level 80 blue mail in the guild bank. (Also way too much tanking plate since no one seems to be leveling a tank (aside from Skammer’s very slowly leveling pally) at the moment).
Oh yeah! I just dinged 72, I should see if there’s anything in there to replace any of my cobalt gear.
Also, if you are in BDL, we have a couple tailors who can make you nice level-80 blues (and even purples with the right materials).
On the plus side, once you do get to heroics, you can probably have almost any of the loot that drops. Not many players left who would actually wear much of the loot in heroics these days. I run at least one per day for Frosties, but that’s it. Most loot gets disenchanted, at least in my groups.
Not all blues are better than all greens. The difference between an Uncommon (green) and Rare (blue) item of the same item level is their stat budget. A Rare item will have more “points” to spend (and therefore more stats) than an Uncommon one. It is entirely possible to have a green item that’s better for you than a blue one, if the green is higher level or if the blue is itemized poorly for your spec.
However, this statement in conjunction with the fact that you’re in a lot of greens suggests to me that you’re not looking at all the stats in conjunction and/or you’re focusing on the wrong ones. There are a lot of great Rare quest rewards, as well as BoP items from regular dungeons, and they should compose the majority of your gear by the time you hit 80.
I can’t get to the Armory from work, but maybe someone else could take a look at your character, see the class and spec, and suggest what stats you want to prioritize.
For example, in my Fury offspec, the stats I focus on are mainly Armor Penetration, Strength, Critical Strike, and a weapon’s top end/average damage (not to be confused with DPS). Other helpful stats are things like Hit and Expertise when I’m under the cap for them, Haste, Agility, and Attack Power. I use the addon RatingBuster to help give me a summary of all of the differences between what I’m wearing and a potential upgrade–it’s a lot easier than trying to do everything in your head, especially if you have Talents that modify base stats. (For example, I get extra Attack Power from Armor.) RB sticks a stat summary at the bottom of an item tooltip when you mouseover it–you can customize it to show any combination of statistics (including breaking things like Hit down into a rating, a percentage, or both).
Hunter isn’t my main class, but I’ve been playing mine for a while so lets see if I can get you started.
I’ve made up a new MM spec HERE I took the basic core skills from Elitist Jerks and went from there. Maybe one of our hunter guru’s can clean it up a bit more.
Glyphs. I noticed you don’t have any. They can be pretty expensive on the AH, so if you have a friend who can make glyphs pay him a visit. Major Glyphs you want are Glyph of Serpent Sting, Glyph of Steady Shot, and Glyph of Kill Shot. Minor ones don’t matter that much, I have Mend Pet, Feign Death, and Revive Pet in my slots.
Gear. Enchants are your friend, you don’t need the high level ones if you can’t afford it, cheap ones work just fine and after running several dungeons you should start stockpiling enchanting materials. Also run regular Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Trial of the Champion. All three of those dungeons have some very nice hunter upgrades. Boots and a trinket from Trial of the Champion, a nice hunter staff from Forge of Souls, and a nice gun from Pit of Saron to name a few. Triumph emblems also drop off the bosses in Forge of Souls, Pit of Saron, and Halls of Reflection so you’ll be gaining more badges to buy tier gear.
As far as stats are concerned you’ll want to focus on Agility, agility, and more agility once you’re hit capped.
I think that’s a good start. I’ll leave it to our expert hunters to fill in anything I missed. Dungeoning as BM is also pretty viable if you ever get dual spec. I run around as BM with my Devilsaur and put out some decent damage and it’s a lot more fun, at least to me.
Hunter? For some reason I thought kushiel was a warlock (hence my comment about tailors). Never mind! Although my leatherworker is slowly getting there…