Aspect of the Fox-New Patch Notes July 22

[Shade]

"Aspect of the Fox is a new ability for all Hunters.

Aspect of the Fox: Party and raid members within 40 yards take on the aspects of a fox, allowing them to move while casting all spells for 6 seconds. Only one Aspect can be active at a time. 3 minute cooldown."

From: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/134234 ... id_utility

Anyone else confused by this?

Okay, I was and still am pretty miffed that they are taking away mobility for casters-ie my elemental shaman is no longer able to cast lightning bolt while moving unless I use her spiritwalker ability which has a stupid-long cooldown. I understand that they are trying to lower the amount of move-while-casting abilities, but that is a pretty painful one. And I haven't seen them make mage's huge arcane explosion uncastable while moving-but that is another rant for another time.

I am super confused by this buff and what it is going to mean for hunters. We are not spell casters, and as far as I know, we are still going to be able to shoot while moving with no trouble. But now we are given a 6 second movement buff with a 3-min cooldown. Am I the only one reading this and thinking it is just another thing for use to have to do while in combat-watch the casters for when they have to move and pop this ability?

Am I the only one thinking this is a really silly buff to be giving to a non-caster class?

Has anyone logged into beta yet to check this out and can provide feedback on it? Just reading the ability in the patch notes has me confused as heck.

[WerebearGuy]

It's a utility buff. Hunters are Batman to Blizzard's Justice League. It's not meant JUST for Hunters, but to help the raid. It looks like a solid cooldown for fights that you can't stand still on. Can't wait for the raid leader yelling "Pop fox now!"

[SpiritBinder]

Personally I think, that on all fronts and all round, it's pretty good.

Originally blizzard said they were going to give hunters a new MINOR raid/group cooldown. Is this a major cooldown... or even medium? Answer = Not really in the hands of an average group/raid, but it's a good minor one.

Thematically i think it fits really well with hunters. We used to have aspect of the fox that let us use our "cast time" steady/cobra shots on the go. Also blizzard has stated that they want the hunter's niche to be their mobility and being able to fully DPS at all times (even to the detriment of competitive DPS in Patchwork style fights) The idea of being able to pass on the hunters strengths to the rest of their group/raid, to benefit them in certain times of heavy movement is pretty cool IMO.

As for it not effecting us, well that depends on how you look at it. With the removal of so many instant/on the run heals being removed come WoD, it means that your healers can continue to heal while running out of (Eg.) a badly dropped Defile, that could be pretty beneficial if you've got an Infest chewing your ass off. A dead hunter = 0 DPS.

And regarding DPS, although minor, this is actually a DPS cooldown, which have all but been removed from all other classes. (apart from Timewarp/Bloodlust/Heroism) This allows the rest of your casting DPS to run and DPS at a time in a fight where their DPS may be seriously compromised due to movement (Which again will be cut right back in WoD with the removal of many on the go casting spells) Also, more DPS uptime means no more 1% wipes, which also helps the hunter
(Unless they've already FD in the corner )

In a heavily coordinated groups (such that would most likely be doing Mythic Raiding) this cooldown will be seen as a pretty handy boon, especially as in it's current form that can be chained together by multiple hunters. In less coordinated groups, it will be less impact, but if the hunter knows what, where and when, it will still be of some benefit the raid.

I personally like that this has ZERO impact on my solo play as a hunter. It wont be another button to have to push at all if your by yourself. It truly is the GROUP utility that the class has been missing, even if is it just a minor one.

And as always, We are still in Beta, and everything can change. Love it or hate it, speak up and let them know.

Oh and don't forget to Macro "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" into raid chat for the button you put in on, just saying

[Wain]

Yeah. Hrm. I've never done serious raiding on my hunter, just fairly basic stuff. My first reaction was:
- it'll be useless without coordination and announcement. Nobody in LFR, or flex is going to be expecting it and I don't think it'll become so commonplace and essential that people will look for it or bother announcing it. When you're not in voice chat you don't have time to type much except the essentials. It's also another complication to the timing of a fight where the "bother" of everyone timing it may outweigh the benefit.
- Maybe if it becomes a widespread power (i.e. several classes have it) people may get used to expecting it during "run for your life" phases
- even in coordinated raid groups I wonder how much it'll be used and if it'll be enough for groups to even consider it unless they're hardcore. Maybe they will... just musing on it.

[SpiritBinder]

Yeah I doubt it will be anything major in LFR/Flex at all. But then I'd still use it during particularity bad parts of fights (like last phase of Garrosh and those cruddy Mind Controls)

What I really hope, and this will potentially make or break the effective acknowledgment of "You can now run and cast!" (for those it effects), is if and what visual/audio they attach to the ability. It will need to be a pretty darn obvious sound/graphic for those it effects to be recognize it, and then be able to use it to it's fullest.

If this falls short, for it's intended 6 second window of use, it could potentially be used and gone before you know the benefits of it are available. Personally, I'm just glad those whom wanted a raid cooldown now have it, but I'm also glad it's not another button I'll be worrying about in my typical game play style atm.

[Krysteena]

Personally I think, that on all fronts and all round, it's pretty good.

Originally blizzard said they were going to give hunters a new MINOR raid/group cooldown. Is this a major cooldown... or even medium? Answer = Not really in the hands of an average group/raid, but it's a good minor one.

Thematically i think it fits really well with hunters. We used to have aspect of the fox that let us use our "cast time" steady/cobra shots on the go. Also blizzard has stated that they want the hunter's niche to be their mobility and being able to fully DPS at all times (even to the detriment of competitive DPS in Patchwork style fights) The idea of being able to pass on the hunters strengths to the rest of their group/raid, to benefit them in certain times of heavy movement is pretty cool IMO.

As for it not effecting us, well that depends on how you look at it. With the removal of so many instant/on the run heals being removed come WoD, it means that your healers can continue to heal while running out of (Eg.) a badly dropped Defile, that could be pretty beneficial if you've got an Infest chewing your ass off. A dead hunter = 0 DPS.

And regarding DPS, although minor, this is actually a DPS cooldown, which have all but been removed from all other classes. (apart from Timewarp/Bloodlust/Heroism) This allows the rest of your casting DPS to run and DPS at a time in a fight where their DPS may be seriously compromised due to movement (Which again will be cut right back in WoD with the removal of many on the go casting spells) Also, more DPS uptime means no more 1% wipes, which also helps the hunter
(Unless they've already FD in the corner )

In a heavily coordinated groups (such that would most likely be doing Mythic Raiding) this cooldown will be seen as a pretty handy boon, especially as in it's current form that can be chained together by multiple hunters. In less coordinated groups, it will be less impact, but if the hunter knows what, where and when, it will still be of some benefit the raid.

I personally like that this has ZERO impact on my solo play as a hunter. It wont be another button to have to push at all if your by yourself. It truly is the GROUP utility that the class has been missing, even if is it just a minor one.

And as always, We are still in Beta, and everything can change. Love it or hate it, speak up and let them know.

Oh and don't forget to Macro "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" into raid chat for the button you put in on, just saying

I think this will be a macro I'll be making when you get into the raid, you should have a code word/sentence before you use it. So the raid leader could yell "WHAT DOES THE FOX SAY?!" and then you pop the macro. Or add it to part of your macro. It'd bring some amusement to the group, I'd imagine. We all know many groups for dungeons and raids end up miserable

[Castile]

Oh and don't forget to Macro "Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!" into raid chat for the button you put in on, just saying

I'd personally go with "Ha Ha Ha! Boom! Boom!"

[pop]

Casters want to be friends with hunters now.

[SylviaDragon]

Its an interesting development. I think the cooldown is so long and the benefit so incredibly brief that I would not see it being very important. convenient, yes, but I'm not sure how I will work it into my plans as it currently stands. obviously it would need vent-based coordination to make the most of it and even then six seconds is not a very long time. you could get a few good casts off but six seconds of running with instant casts would not be that bad. With a three minuet cooldown they probably would not make a reoccurring raid mechanic that made this mandatory unless this ability was given to other classes as well, the cooldown was lowered, or the 6 second buff lengthened.
I am interested by the concept but kind of confused as to how we are expected to make the most of it. only time will tell I suppose.

[Bendak]

This is huge for healers, and also caster DPS now that they can do less on the move in WoD. Also don't forget many raid teams have 2-3 hunters. If you chain these together you can have 18 sec of it with 3 hunters. Or if there's a periodic ability the boss does where it would be beneficial, the hunters could have a Fox rotation.

There's no doubt it'll require a lot of coordination over vent/mumble, etc. but hopefully they add visual/audio cues, kind of like Stampeding Roar except more prominent. Serious raiders will probably set up weakauras to let them know when it's active anyway.

I look at it as allowing the lesser classes experience what it is to be a hunter for a short period of time. But only if they ask nicely.

Some other stuff you'll be able to do on the move with it:

- Focusing Shot
- Powershot
- TAME BEAST
- Revive Pet
- Dismiss Pet
- Mounting!

[Boven]

"Aspect of the Fox is a new ability for all Hunters.

Aspect of the Fox: Party and raid members within 40 yards take on the aspects of a fox, allowing them to move while casting all spells for 6 seconds. Only one Aspect can be active at a time. 3 minute cooldown."

From: http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/134234 ... id_utility

Anyone else confused by this?

Okay, I was and still am pretty miffed that they are taking away mobility for casters-ie my elemental shaman is no longer able to cast lightning bolt while moving unless I use her spiritwalker ability which has a stupid-long cooldown. I understand that they are trying to lower the amount of move-while-casting abilities, but that is a pretty painful one. And I haven't seen them make mage's huge arcane explosion uncastable while moving-but that is another rant for another time.

I am super confused by this buff and what it is going to mean for hunters. We are not spell casters, and as far as I know, we are still going to be able to shoot while moving with no trouble. But now we are given a 6 second movement buff with a 3-min cooldown. Am I the only one reading this and thinking it is just another thing for use to have to do while in combat-watch the casters for when they have to move and pop this ability?

Am I the only one thinking this is a really silly buff to be giving to a non-caster class?

Has anyone logged into beta yet to check this out and can provide feedback on it? Just reading the ability in the patch notes has me confused as heck.

It seems kind of pointless. 6 seconds isn't long enough to make a significant difference for casters, especially in a fight that involves a lot of movement. To be really useful, it'd need a longer duration and shorter cooldown. It just seems like a bandaid to try to cover for the removal of caster mobility. I suspect elemental shamans, which aren't the best raid performers as it is, are going to be fairly useless in WoD. One of the few benefits they had was being able to fire off some lightning bolts during fights when movement was required. As things stand in the beta at the moment, it's looking like they'll be heavily reliant on instant procs like Lava Surge.

[Xota]

It's probably just my raid group's level of skill, but 6 seconds doesn't seem like a time, especially when you factor in reaction time. It sounds more useful for healers than caster, does 5 seconds give casters enough time to set up instant casts for the rest of whatever moving phase there is? It'd be good for part of a divine hymn, though, or a couple of prayers of healing.

Maybe if it gave everyone a 3 second 'ready' buff, and their next spell with a cast time consumed the 'ready' buff and gave them a 6 second 'go' buff where they can cast while moving.

[SylviaDragon]

It's probably just my raid group's level of skill, but 6 seconds doesn't seem like a time, especially when you factor in reaction time. It sounds more useful for healers than caster, does 5 seconds give casters enough time to set up instant casts for the rest of whatever moving phase there is? It'd be good for part of a divine hymn, though, or a couple of prayers of healing.

Maybe if it gave everyone a 3 second 'ready' buff, and their next spell with a cast time consumed the 'ready' buff and gave them a 6 second 'go' buff where they can cast while moving.

That would be interesting. instead of having six seconds to react and spew out as many moving casts as possible it could just give the raid a stacked buff that wold makes the next X amount of casting spells capable of being cast while on the fly. each spell consumed a charge of the buff. I could see that being fairly handy.

[Rawr]

This, like the song, seems rather silly to me

[SpiritBinder]

Some other stuff you'll be able to do on the move with it:

- Focusing Shot
- Powershot
- TAME BEAST
- Revive Pet
- Dismiss Pet
- Mounting!

O_O The mind... it BOGGLES!

Rocket boot off a cliff, Fox, Goblin Glider, Mount up..... FLYING MOUNTS IN WOD!!!!

Someone flagged and AFK in the sky...? Mount up to just above them, Fox, Hardened Shell, Disengage for landing.

etc, etc, etc.

[Akyo]

for someone who doesnt raid with a guild and only do LFR once in a while i see this as a skill that wont be used.
There is little cordination in LFR and this aspect switch will most likely go unoticed by the casters.
You could shout it out before hand, but considering that those who main on a caster often dont know the moves/skills of others wont even be avare of what it does.
Espesially on the start of a expansion.

I see it possible in a guild that use vent/skype/others all the time but not in the LFR randomness.

It will however make it easier to tame the Porkypine spiritbeasts if you can walk and tame for 6 seconds(with the tame glyph).

[Boven]

Even in an established raid group that works well together, this would be a very tight window. On top of that, you'd have to make sure all the casters had their big cooldowns ready all at the same time. Even then, 6 seconds is barely enough time to get off more than a couple casts when taking the gcd into account. I suppose you could hold it in reserve for healers in case they needed to cast a big cooldown while moving in order to keep a tank alive, but even the small delay between it being called for, the hunter hitting the aspect, the healer recognizing that the aspect was up, and the healer actually casting would probably mean a dead tank.

[Bendak]

Put this video together of fun things to do with Aspect of the Fox

http://youtu.be/FBkRWSGl9Rg

[Vephriel]

Put this video together of fun things to do with Aspect of the Fox

http://youtu.be/FBkRWSGl9Rg

Nice thinking!