Cataclysm Class Preview: Hunter

[Rhyela]

.....the armored boars could disappear completely.

Noooooo! Don't even think such a thing!!!

Crap, now that's got me worried about all these pets that might go the way of the dodo. I just can't release any of my other pets right now except maybe that owl I tamed last night. I think if there's any pet out there that I should probably get just in case, it's the Strider Clutchmother. I always wanted her but just never got around to taming her. Hmm.

[Protego]

Beast Mastery Exotic pets are gonna do more damage than normal pets. It's not like Exotics are going anywhere. I can't wait to see what Exotic pets there'll be in Cataclysm! I'm glad there's gonna be alot of Spirit Beasts in Azeroth. I hope more Spirit Beasts get a Skoll-like effect or a Loque'nahak-like thing added to them! And I like that we're finally gonna start out with a pet.

[Kalliope]

I am now a bit uncertain if Northrend will become as dead as outland as we aren't getting a 'whole new continent' and level caps are only going as high as 85.

I think it depends on where the new leveling areas are and how appealing the new quests and such are. We know there will be new daily quest hubs and such. I expect that's where people will be, rather than Northrend.

You're talking about hard-core-raiding, we are talking about the every-day-use and fun for casuals -- the latter will be removed completely from engineering.

I didn't mean my post. There's still rocket boots, cloak slow fall, bombs of various types, etc. Remember, before Cataclysm, you had to wear the lowbie engineering cloak and boots for those abilities. I still find the new enchant method far more fun than the old option.

Even if Northrend does clear out during the Cata launch, that would make Northrend exotics easier to tame. But, don;t forget that everybody will be heading back to Azeroth to level to 85..... which means the areas where the orange/gold worms will be highly played again (I am ssuming). So, it looks likeit will be a "give-and-take" type thing. Some areas will be less played, making the exotic rare spawns in those areas a lil easierto locate. but, other areas are gonna become a lot more populated (maybe even changed or done away with), making the rare spawns in those areas much harder to get. You may wanna get your Azeroth rare spawns first. in the long run, they could be the hardest to find.

THIS is an excellent point.

All that assuming that some Azeroth rares aren't deleted, former unique skins made way more common etc. Gotta remember that Azeroth is going to take a beating, so some skins may not be where we're used to finding them afterwards. Who knows, Humar may "die" and leave a pack of black lions wandering around somewhere, Grubthor and Oozeworm may migrate to Desolace and Feralas, the armored boars could disappear completely.

Also I don't think that any of the lower level areas will get much more traffic than they have now, it's probably the 80-85 zones that are going to be the busiest places while Darkshore will remain the quiet place it is today.

And this.

Basically, beat the rush and grab Azerothian pets before Cataclysm - indeed, even before the big pre-xpack patch if you can - to beat the rush/possible moves.

[Saturo]

I also think they stated somewhere that they won't add any more major cities, so Dala might still be the main hub.

Who knows, those mages might even move their city again...

[Golden]

Who knows, those mages might even move their city again...

To the Batcave! No wait.. *ahem* To Azeroth!

Maybe they'll move back to Hillsbrad. :P

Edit: Yay, my sig finally updated itself! Welcome to the gang, Indeady and Ghera.

[Kalliope]

Who knows, those mages might even move their city again...

To the Batcave! No wait.. *ahem* To Azeroth!

Maybe they'll move back to Hillsbrad.

That would all kind of make sense, since Arthas is dead and there's no more reason to be in Northrend.

The only problem with that location is that it would be right next to the worgen starting area. Poor lil' alliance on PvP servers....

[Saturo]

Don't forget it's the Worgen tough. Twilight fans beware!

[Palladiamorsdeus]

I THINK I remember a blue stating that Dalaran wasn't going anywhere, it's lodged firmly in Northrend. Things change, maybe they'll change their mind, eh?

[Karathyriel]

Moving Dalaran to Northrend was no big deal, as you couldn't enter it anyway!
It was just some pink bubble somewhere near Undercity.

Moving Dalaran right now would take away the only place were Lvl80 toons could get their dailies and whatnot.
I think, Dalaran is pretty much nailed to its current spot, no matter what!
Or do you really think they'd redesign a whole new city and have all the level 85 people come back?

Nu-uh! No friggin' way!

[Kalliope]

Getting back to the original point of Dalaran still being people's home city (and I like that it will be, since it's not the big empty shell that Shat was), that doesn't mean people will be flying around Northrend on a regular basis. It's possible to have a home city you only use as a travel hub.

[Helio]

Sooo... This means that BM hunters will now be able to be used in raiding and whatnot on the same level as MM hunters?

[Rhyela]

Sooo... This means that BM hunters will now be able to be used in raiding and whatnot on the same level as MM hunters?

Eh, I don't know about on the same level as MM (though ideally having all three specs about on par with one another would be...well, ideal), but I would imagine right about at the same level as survival. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

But heck, that doesn't deter me from raiding as BM right now anyway. Then again, I'm not exactly progression-driven. I'm more interested in the group aspect more than the end-game part itself.

[Gimlion]

I'm not sure about the current changes, but as of right now, my Max DPS in my current gear is with my BM spec, NOT my MM spec.

Also, something that could be implemented as a BM-only mechanic is a new Aspect. We are BEAST masters, it would only make sense that we know how to take on more animal aspects than a MM or SV hunter. I think something like a combo between Hawk and Beast aspect would be extremely useful, and very neat.

[Dweezill]

So, has anybody heard anything about hunters taming their mounts? I would really like to ride around on Ukh'Lok. That would be pimpin.

[Dragonpuff]

There hasn't been anything even hinting at that possibility Dweezill, sorry. Though I think that would be very cool to, it also wouldn't be very fair to other classes, and it would take a lot of work on the Devs side to create a mount model for every beast out there.

[Vephriel]

Yeah...as awesome as it would be, I'll have to side with Dragonpuff here and say it's probably never going to happen.

[Palladiamorsdeus]

Nor should we EVER be able to tame our own mounts. Sorry, but that'd be the height of unfair.

[FuzzyDolly]

Yeah, but you have to admit a Skoll or Loque mount would be very cool. Oooo Or a devilsaur mount. Ooo or what about a.......... lol

[cowmuflage]

well the devilsaur would make sence for a mount as its big but a spirt beast? unless its like a ghostsaber.

[Dweezill]

You mean unfair like Druids getting a 40% speed increase at level 16 while ours is only 30%? lol Or unfair like warlocks, death knights and paladins all getting class specific mounts? lol I know it prolly won't happen, but I thought I heard the thought being thrown around not too long ago and thought I would see if anything on the subject has been heard. WoW is full on "unfair"..... thought maybe the pendulum would swing in our direction for once.