Old Aspect of Cheetah *effect* now a talent on 7.1 PTR

[Quiv]

The old Aspect of the Cheetah granted a speed boost and if talented, removed the speed boost for 4 seconds if you were hit. The 7.1 PTR has added a very similar effect as a talent, replacing the current Cheetah talent.

New Hunter talent (replacing Dash):
Trailblazer: Your movement speed is increased by 25% anytime you have not attacked for 3 seconds.

It competes with Posthaste (Disengage/harpoon remove snares/roots and give a speed boost) and Farstrider (crits have a change to reduce Disengage/Harpoon CD).

Aspect of the Cheetah itself appears to remain unchanged.

I am glad they saw the overwhelming outpouring about the old Cheetah effect, but I am conflicted with it now competing with Posthaste. Its a step in the right direction. Trailblazer isn't as fast as old Cheetah, but its something, right?

Source: MMoChampion, Wowhead, typical sites.

[Lupen202]

Should be 30% ... and I don't know if I'm willing to give up posthaste. I don't want to complain when it is something but... you ripped it away from us for no reason. Why not make it baseline.

[Kalliope]

Oh, that's a step in the right direction! I'm not sure it's enough to get me to swap from Posthaste, since it deactivates in combat (when I need it the most), but it's certainly more appealing than Dash is right now.

Ideally, I would like it to work like the old glyphed Cheetah: the boost works in combat, but deactivates for a short period of time when you get hit. I'd take the 5% hit for that functionality again. Then it comes down to using Cheetah intelligently and kiting still requires effort to pull off. (And it would theoretically be okay in PvP because other classes' speed boosts are more powerful.)

I didn't like how Turtle worked until I got the related artifact points for it. Now I love it and wouldn't want to go back to Deterrence! I'm willing to work with Trailblazer, especially knowing that eventually, the artifacts will shave a minute off of Cheetah.

I've still got concerns that so many important abilities are specifically tied to the artifacts, but I assume we'll all cross that bridge when we come to it.

[Vephriel]

I like the idea of this, but like others, I'm too attached to Posthaste to swap over.

[zedxrgal]

Ditto again. Right direction but does not entice me enough to change.

[Rhyela]

I think I would use it in PvE when questing or whatever, since I do spend more time running aimlessly than using Harpoon (although when I get the trait that Harpoon resets on kill, that might change things). In PvP the current Posthaste is far too useful to change to something else.

[Quiv]

I must have missed something, why doesn't Trailblazer not work in combat?

[Kalliope]

I must have missed something, why doesn't Trailblazer not work in combat?

I'm guessing some sort of balance related issue we don't have a full POV on.

While other classes get better speed boosts, hunters have the best combination of range, mobility, and sturdiness of the ranged classes. Disengage still exists on a short cooldown, even without the speed boost, so I'm guessing that's a factor too. (Even though it's relatively unsafe to move backwards like that.)

Maybe the team wants to see how we react to the change before buffing it. It's better to give than to take away (ignoring for the moment that this was an ability already taken away).

Plus, we need to keep in mind that Thas'dorah has a passive speed boost for the group. That could also be a factor.

[Quiv]

OH good grief I have been misreading it. I thought it said anytime you have not been attacked, as in the player hasn't taken damage in 3 seconds. However it says as long as you haven't attacked. Oy!

[Kayb]

Will gladly drop posthaste to be able to flippin move again. I feel like a damned snail.

[Xella]

Oodles better than Dash, still way worse than old Cheetah and not worth giving up Posthaste for. I would absolutely consider it if it worked like WoD glyphed Cheetah did (when you GET hit), but moving from mob to mob in world quests or old raids typically doesn't last 3s, even at the hyperbolic snail's pace we move at on live, and that's where having old Cheetah came most in handy. Maybe if it had an effect on mounted speed as well, I dunno. Then again, at that point it'd be Yet Another Talent You Have To Remember To Change Before Leaving Dalaran For Your Raid, and I haaaaaaaaaate that almost as much as I hate You Have To Change Talents For Every Boss Because What Do You Mean They Aren't Actually A Pure Playstyle Choice?

(For the record, I have the artifact trait for the CD reduction on Cheetah—I use cheetah just as much as I did prior :( The only way to make current Cheetah worth it would be to have 2-3 relics boost that one trait, and even that might not be enough in addition to all the Jaws of Thunder goodness you'd have to give up to swing it :P I mean, it's still nice to have if you ever find yourself traveling on foot for longer than two minutes but shorter than three, but those instances are pretty rare; Withered Training's the only one I can think at a glance where it'd be nice, except that even Cheetah's dash puts me in danger of losing all my withered due to distance :\)

[Maizou]

I really hope they fix the in combat thing.

I'd rather they make it so it's as long as you haven't attacked (as it says) or haven't been attacked by a -player-. I'd enjoy being able to outrun mobs like I could with the old cheetah if I trapped them.

[Xota]

I think it will probably be more useful for my survival hunter than for my beast master. Especially for trap-and-flee. The 3 second wait after attacking is probably because a lot of the criticism was about how you couldn't just jog through old content like we used to. This is a new variation of the 'sustained run', but with a different combat penalty than before, so it's not just identical to what we had before.

It's still in testing, so maybe they'll try a 2 second delay, or including/excluding placing traps as triggering the delay. To make it useful without being overpowered.

But for BM, I have too much fun with the jump-spin-disengage. Even if it would net a slower speed.